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Chapter 10: Setting Preferences

You can set preferences in RAYZ to customize the interface and specify default parameter settings. General Preference settings apply to all RAYZ project files, while Project Settings apply only to the current file.

Preferences can be edited in the General Preferences panel and in the Project Settings panel, both of which are accessed from the RAYZ Edit menu.

The General Preferences and Project Settings panels use the same interface, which is divided into three main panes. The pane on the left lists preference categories, in alphabetical order. When you select a category, a list of preference items for that category (also in alphabetical order) appears in the upper right pane. And when you select a preference item in the upper right pane, editable parameters for that item appear in the lower right pane, along with a description of the purpose of that preference.

Image showing panes into which preference panels are divided, with purpose of each pane explained.

Editing General Preferences

The General Preferences panel is used to customize the look of the interface and edit the default file paths, hotkey assignments, and file browser behavior. You can also specify how nodes are grouped into menus.

File Paths

This category specifies the file path RAYZ should use to search for various directories and files. To change a default path, select a File Path preference and a text entry field will appear in which you can type a new search path.

File Path Preference

Description

Temporary Directory

path to directory RAYZ should use to write temporary cache, if necessary, while application is running

Theme Search Path

path to directory of themes, which are sets of settings that specify the look of the RAYZ interface in terms of colors, border styles, and icons used

Layout Search Path

path to directory of custom layouts saved by the user

Help Search Path

path to directory containing the RAYZ HTML manual used for online help

Plugin Search Path

path to directory containing RAYZ plugins

Node Preset Search Path

path to directory containing node presets saved by the user

Custom Node Search Path

path to directory containing custom nodes saved by the user

System Search Path

path to directory containing system binaries

Where Preference Settings Are Saved

The file that holds the current Preferences Panel settings is located by default in your home directory in /.rayz/1.0/Preferences/Defaults.pref.

To change the path to the Defaults.pref file, set an environment variable by typing the following at the prompt in a shell, replacing "[pathname]" with the actual path to use:

setenv RAYZ_PREFERENCES_PATH /[pathname]

To restore the factory default preferences, delete the Defaults.pref file and RAYZ will create a new one with the factory default settings.

You can copy the Defaults.pref file from one RAYZ workstation to another to share preference settings with other users.

You can also copy or delete other user settings, such as custom layouts, custom nodes, and node presets, using the corresponding files in the Layouts, Presets, and Custom directories.

Settings

This category specifies autosave and help options, as well as how mouse events should be interpreted. Most of these preferences offer numeric data entry parameters.

Setting

Description

Autosave Days to Keep

specifies how long to keep autosaved files

Autosave Directory

specifies directory in which autosaved files should be stored

Autosave Enable

turns autosave on and off

Autosave Interval

specifies the interval between autosaves

Button Repeat Delay

specifies the interval before buttons that repeat start repeating

Button Repeat Speed

once a button starts repeating, specifies the interval between repeats

Double Click Timeout

specifies maximum time that can elapse between consecutive mouse clicks and still be interpreted as a double-click

Help Browser

specifies the HTML browser application in which to open the online help files

Help Tag Enable

sets the default state of the help tag toggle

Help Tag Start Timeout

specifies the delay time before help tags pop up

Marking Menu Delay

specifies the delay time before menus pop up

Mouse Sensitivity

specifies how close to an object the cursor must be to affect it

Window Border Sensitivity

specifies how far past a window border the cursor can range while autoscrolling without being interpreted as being outside the window

Image Viewer Settings

The Image Viewer settings specify the scale factor to use when Medium or Low is selected from the Size menu in the Image Viewer. These values also apply to Medium and Low proxies that are created in the Image In node.

By default, Medium is set to 50 percent of full size, and Low to 25 percent, where "full size" is defined as the native spatial resolution of the image.

Hotkeys

This category is used to create or modify keyboard shortcuts--keys that can be pressed to issue commands in place of using the mouse to manipulate the RAYZ interface. Virtually every command in RAYZ can be assigned a keyboard equivalent, or hotkey. And default hotkey assignments can be modified or eliminated.

Hotkey Editor

When you select a command from the Hotkeys list, a hotkey editor is displayed. The top line of the editor consists of a checkbox that turns the hotkey assignment on and off for the command. When the box is checked, the controls on the second line become active.

Image showing the hotkey editor panel.

Modifier Keys

The first three checkboxes are used to assign an optional modifier key: Control, Shift, and/or Alt. These keys are held down while the assigned key is pressed. Typical examples would be the ubiquitous cut, copy, and paste hotkeys: Ctrl-x, Ctrl-c, and Ctrl-v.

Grab Key Button

The final button is used to assign the hotkey. This button is labeled "Grab Key" unless a hotkey assignment has already been made, in which case it is labeled with the current key assigned (such as ESC in the illustration above).

Assigning a Key

  1. Start by checking the box for any modifier keys you want to use (this is optional).
  2. Then click the Grab Key button to tell RAYZ that the next keyboard key you press should be assigned as the hotkey.
  3. Finally, press the key on the keyboard that you want to use.

If that key (or key combination, if you also specified one or more modifier keys) is already assigned to another item, a dialog box will pop up to inform you of this. You then have the option to reassign the key to the current item or to cancel, in which case you can try another key.

Default Hotkeys

The following is an alphabetical list of the commands for which hotkey assignments have already been made. However, these "factory default" hotkeys can be changed and you can add hotkeys for many other commands, which are all listed in the Hotkey preference pane.

Command

Hotkey

Close (window)

Ctrl-w

(Confirm) Cancel

Esc

(Confirm) Yes

Enter

Copy

Ctrl-c

Create Curve View Window

3

Create Image Viewer Window

1

Create Node View Window

2

Current Sample Back One

,

Current Sample Beginning

Shift-,

Current Sample End

Shift-.

Current Sample Forward One

.

Cut

Ctrl-x

Decrement Zoom Factor

-

Delete

Delete

Export

e

Go Center (center contents of view in view frame)

Backspace

Go Home (center contents of view and rescale to normal)

Home

Group

Ctrl-g

Help

F1

Increment Zoom Factor

=

Move Image Down Five Pixels

down arrow

Move Image Down One Pixel

Shift-down arrow

Move Image Left Five Pixels

left arrow

Move Image Left One Pixel

Shift-left arrow

Move Image Right Five Pixels

right arrow

Move Image Right One Pixel

Shift-right arrow

Move Image Up Five Pixels

up arrow

Move Image Up One Pixel

Shift-up arrow

New (file)

Ctrl-n

Open (file)

Ctrl-o

Paste

Ctrl-v

Quit (RAYZ application)

Ctrl-q

Redo

Ctrl-r

Replace (current view with) Clip Editor

F5

Replace (current view with) Curve Editor

F2

Replace (current view with) Image Viewer

F3

Replace (current view with) Node Panel

F4

Replace (current view with) Worksheet

F6

Replace (current view with) Render Control

F7

Set Current Buffer (of Image Viewer) to Display Luminance

l

Set Current Buffer (of Image Viewer) to Display RGB

c

Set Current Buffer (of Image Viewer) to Display Fifth Channel

o

Set Current Buffer (of Image Viewer) to Display Alpha Channel

a

Set Current Buffer (of Image Viewer) to Display Red Channel

r

Set Current Buffer (of Image Viewer) to Display Green Channel

g

Set Current Buffer (of Image Viewer) to Display Blue Channel

b

Target Size Bigger

[

Target Size Smaller

]

Toggle Flipbook

f

Toggle Node Pass Thru

p

Toggle A/B Buffer (A image on top/B image on top)

F8

Undo

Ctrl-z

Unexport

u

Ungroup

Shift-Ctrl-g

Window Maximize

F11

Window Restore Default Layout

F10

UI Themes

A UI theme is a set of values that define the current look of the RAYZ interface, including colors to use for backgrounds, foregrounds, borders, buttons, text, and other elements, as well as the type of bevel and border width to use for buttons, menus, etc. Themes also specify the font to use for labels and other text.

Current Look Settings

The Current Look Settings are used to edit the values assigned to the currently selected theme. You can specify the color to use for interface elements throughout RAYZ by selecting a look preference from the list and adjusting the associated color parameters.

These color parameters work like the equivalent parameters available in a number Node Panels. For more information about them, refer to the section on "Using the Color Parameters" in chapter 13.

The look preferences that set a value other than color, such as font or border style, provide menus in which you can choose a value.

File Browser

The file browser is the dialog box that appears when you open or save RAYZ files or import image files in the Image In node. The File Browser preferences affect the default contents of the navigation menus in the file browser, as well as how files are listed and displayed.

Node Menu Group

These preferences are used to customize node menus by changing the order in which node menus appear and changing the menu to which any node is assigned.

Timeline

This group of preferences controls size and spacing of filmstrips in the timeline of the Clip Editor. You can adjust the horizontal and vertical size of the frames and the spacing of the vertical strips between frames.

With smaller frames and spacers, you can see more frames at once, but larger frames and spacers are easier to manipulate.

Worksheet

The Worksheet preferences are used to specify the size of the nodes in the Worksheet, the size of the (unattached) node inputs, and the size of the invisible grid to which new nodes align when they are placed in the Worksheet.

Editing Project Settings

Project settings are preferences that apply to the current project file only, such as default values for node parameters and swatch values to use in color palettes. A number of these settings are used to set defaults that match the type of imagery you are using on a project. Project Settings are saved in the project file itself.

Image showing the node default settings that can be edited in the Project Settings panel.

Node Defaults

Select Node Defaults in the left pane to access a list of default node parameter settings in the right pane. For example, the default formula for computing luminance is film standard. For a video project, however, you could change the Default Luminance Model preference to NTSC.

Tip:

Whenever you find yourself repeatedly changing the default setting in a Node Panel for parameters that control basic setup or output options, consider changing the default for that item in the Project Settings panel.

Settings

The Settings group contains defaults relating to the type of imagery you are using on a project, such as the playback rate in fps. You can also change the default settings in the Render Control panel for Size and Quality.

You can click the Settings item itself to display a list of settings, or expand the group to access default scale factors used for Medium and Low in the Size menus of the Render Control and Image Viewer.

The Thumbnail Scale Factors parameters specify how thumbnail node images, if displayed, are scaled when you zoom the Worksheet.

Current Colors

The Current Colors group is used to specify the default values of colors used to draw overlays in the Image Viewer, underlays in the Worksheet, and curves in the Curve Editor, as well as the default values of the swatches in the Color Picker.

The individual color preference values are set in the same way as color values are set in a number of nodes. For more information about about using these color controls, refer to the section on "Using the Color Parameters" in chapter 13.

 


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