Adding & Editing¶

Adding¶

Reference

Mode:     All Modes
Panel:     Tool Shelf
Menu:     Add
Hotkey:   Shift-A

Nodes are added in two ways to the Node editor:

By using the Tool Shelf which has buttons for adding nodes, organized with tabs.
By using the Add menu Shift-A.

Transform¶

Reference

Mode:     All Modes
Menu:     Node ‣ Translate, Rotate, Resize
Hotkey:   G, R, S

Move a single node by click and drag it around. A node can be clicked almost anywhere to start dragging. Multiple nodes can be translated after pressing G.

In general it is recommended to arrange your nodes within the view such that the data flows from left to right, top to bottom.

A node can be resized by dragging the edges on the left or right side.

Connecting Sockets¶

Interactively¶

LMB-click on a socket and drag. You will see a line coming out of it: This is called a link.

Keep dragging and connect the link to an input socket of another node, then release the LMB.

While multiple links can route out of an output socket, only a single link can be attached to an input socket.

To reposition the outgoing links of a node, rather than adding a new one, hold Ctrl while dragging from an output socket. This works for single as well as for multiple outgoing links.

Nodes that have no connections can be inserted on a link. Just move the node over the link and release when the link turns orange.

Make Links F: Select multiple nodes with open sockets, then use the Make Links to create links between them. Use Make Links again if there are other nodes which can be connected.
Make and Replace Links Shift-F: Make and Replace Links replaces similarly to Make Links, but it will replace existing links if any exist.

Disconnecting Sockets¶

Interactively¶

Drag the link from an input socket and let it go keeping it unconnected.

Cut Links¶

Reference

Mode:     All Modes
Menu:     Node ‣ Cut Links
Hotkey:   Ctrl-LMB

To break a link between sockets Ctrl-LMB-click in an empty area, near the link you want to disconnect, and drag: You will see a little cutter icon appearing at your mouse pointer. Move it over the link itself, and release the LMB.

Detach Links: Use Detach Links in order to cut all links attached to selected nodes at once.

Duplicate¶

Reference

Mode:     All Modes
Menu:     Node ‣ Duplicate
Hotkey:   Shift-D

Click LMB or RMB on the desired node, press Shift-D and move the mouse away to see the duplicate of the selected node appearing under the mouse pointer.

Note

When you duplicate a node, the new node will be positioned exactly on top of the node that was duplicated. If you leave it there (and it is quite easy to do so), you can not easily tell that there are two nodes there! When in doubt, grab a node and move it slightly to see if something’s lurking underneath.

Delete¶

Delete X, Delete: Deletes the selected node(s).
Delete with Reconnect Ctrl-X: Delete the node(s) without loosing the connections.

Mute¶

Reference

Mode:     All Modes
Menu:     Node ‣ Toggle Node Mute
Hotkey:   M

Muting a node removes the contribution of the node to the node tree, and makes all links pass through that node without change. Links will appear red as an indicator of passing through the muted node.

Show/Hide¶

Hide: H
Toggle Node Preview: Shift-H
Toggle Hidden Node Sockets: Ctrl-H
Toggle Node Options
Collaps and Hide Unused Sockets

Layers¶

Read Render-Layers: Ctrl-R
Read Full Sample Layers: Shift-R