Doc:2.6/Reference/Nodes/Node Editor

The Node Editor

This section explains the window in general, and its header menu options. It also tells you how to enable nodes for use within Blender.

Accessing The Node Editor

Select the Node Editor window.

First let's enter the node editor by changing our window type to Node Editor. As shown in Select the Node Editor window, click on the window type icon and select Node Editor from the popup list. Node maps can get quite large, so use or create a big window. The window has a graph-paper style background and a header.

Each scene within your blend file can have multiple Material Node maps and ONE Compositing Node map. The Node Editor window shows either type of map, depending on the selector position.

Hint You might want to add a new window layout called 6-Nodes (the list is shown on the User Preferences header at the top of your screen) comprised mostly of one big Node Editor window. My layout has the buttons window at the bottom and a text editor window on the side for me to keep notes. If you have a widescreen display (or even a regular one), you might also want to add a 3D view or UV/Image Editor window to the left side of the Node window layout, so you can work with images or your model while you're manipulating nodes. Having the 3D Preview Render panel open on top of an object is quite useful if you're tweaking material nodes.

Node Editor.

By default, the header, when first displayed, is uninitialized as shown:

Default Node Editor header.

Activating Nodes

• What nodes to use?
  • If you want to work with a material node map, click the ball in the Material/Compositing node set selector. (See Node Editor Header with Material Nodes enabled.)
  • If you want to work with a compositing node map, click the overlaped pictures on the Material/Compositing node set selector. (See Node Editor Header with Compositing Nodes enabled.)
  • If you want to work with a texture node map, click the checker on the Material/Compositing node set selector. (See Node Editor Header with Texture Nodes enabled.)
• To actually activate nodes, click the Use Nodes button.
• The first time that you select either a Material, Compositing or a Texture node map, the Node Editor window will be instantly filled with starter input and output compositing nodes already connected together.

Node Editor Header with Material Nodes enabled.

Node Editor Header with Compositing Nodes enabled.

Node Editor Header with Texture Nodes enabled.

Node Editor Window Actions

When the cursor is in the window, several standard Blender hotkeys and mouse actions are available, including:

Popup menu

Space - Brings up a main popup menu, allowing you to add, view, select, etc.

Delete

X or Del - Deletes the selected node(s).

Box select

B - Starts the bounding box selection process. Position your cursor and LMB click & drag to select a set of nodes.

Cut connections (lasso)

CtrlAltLMB click & drag - Starts a lasso selection, BUT when you let up the mouse button, all threads (connections) within the lasso are broken.

Undo

CtrlZ Very helpful if you forgot to press B before box-selecting, eh?

Redo

CtrlY or Ctrl⇧ ShiftZ - You can use this if you used "undo" a bit too often :)

Select multiple

⇧ ShiftLMB or ⇧ ShiftRMB - Multiple node select.

Grab/Move

G - Moves your current selection around.

Standard Window Control Node maps can get pretty hairy (large and complicated, that is). The contents of the window (the node map) can be panned just like any other Blender window by clicking MMB and dragging about. Wheeling Wheel up/down or using the keypad + NumPad/- NumPad will zoom in/out. The window can be resized and combined using the standard window techniques (see Navigating in 3d Space).

Node Editor Header

At a glance

On the window header, you will see header options:

• View - to see things more clearly;
• Select - to do things more clearly;
• Add - to walk with...err..to add Nodes, organized by type;
• Node - to do things with selected nodes, akin to vertices;
• a Material, Compositing or Texture node set selector;
• a Use Nodes button;
• a Use Pinned button;
• a Go to Parent button;
• a Snap button;
• a Snap Node Element selector;
• a Copy Nodes button;
• a Paste Nodes button.

Node Editor Header with Material Nodes enabled.

Node Editor Header with Compositing Nodes enabled.

Node Editor Header with Texture Nodes enabled.

Menus

View, Select and Add

These popup menus provide the basic functions:

View

This menu changes your view of the window, standing in for the standard keyboard shortcuts + NumPad (zoom in), - NumPad (zoom out), ↖ Home (zoom all) or equivalent mouse actions.

Select

This menu allows you to select a node or groups of nodes, and does the same as typing the hotkey to select all A or start the border select B process.

Add

This menu allows you to add nodes. Please see the next section for a discussion on the types of nodes that you can add, and what they do. Clicking this menu item is the same as pressing Space when the cursor is in the window

Node

Hide

H - Hides your selected nodes. Just like vertices in a mesh.

Grouping

Most importantly, this menu option allows you to create a user-defined group of nodes. This group can then be edited and added to the map. To create a group, select the nodes you want, and then Node → Make Group, or just use the keyboard shortcut CtrlG. Edit the name using the little input box in the group. Groups are easily identified by their green header and cool names you have picked for them.

Delete

X - Deletes selected nodes.

Duplicate

⇧ ShiftD - Makes an Unlinked copy, with the same settings as the original.

Grab

G - Moves the little nodes around according to your mouse, just like with meshes.

Duplicate - Faked you out The new copy is placed exactly over the old one. But it isn't the connected one, so playing with the controls will do nothing to your images, even though it looks like it's connected with the little threads coming out of the node that is underneath. You have to move the duplicated node to reveal the connected node beneath it.

Grab - Reminder Only Just like my mother-in-law, the menu item does not actually do anything; it's just there to remind you that you can press the G key when your cursor is in the window and actually accomplish something with your life (like rearranging nodes in the window).

Buttons

Material/Composite/Texture Selector

Nodes are grouped into two categories, based on what they operate on:

• to work with Material Nodes, click on the ball,
• to work with Compositing nodes, click on the overlaped pictures,
• to work with Texture nodes, click on the checker.

Use Nodes Button

This button tells the render engine to use the node map in computing the material color or rendering the final image, or not. If not, the map is ignored and the basic render of the material tabs or scene is accomplished.

Use Pinned Button

This button tells the render engine to use pinned node tree.

Go to Parent Button

This button allows you go to parent node tree.

Snap Button

Toggle snap mode for node in the Node Editor window.

Snap Node Element selector

This selector provide the follow node elements for snap:

Grid (default)

Snap to grid of the Node Editor window.

Node X

Snap to left/right node border.

Node Y

Snap to top/bottom node border.

Node X/Y

Snap to any node border.

Snapping to node border takes into account snap target:

Snap Target.

Snap Target

Which part to snap onto the target

Closest: Snap closest point onto target.

Center: Snap center onto target.

Median: Snap median onto target.

Active: Snap active onto target.

Copy Nodes Button

This button allows you copy selected nodes to the clipboard.

Paste Nodes Button

This button allows you paste nodes from the clipboard to the active node tree.

Layout Nodes

Layout nodes are designed for enhanced arrangement your nodes in Node Editor window. They are available from menu Add -> Layout.

Examples of the Layout Nodes.

Blender provides the following layout nodes:

Frame

This node is used for simple join a several nodes in the single place.

Reroute

It's intended for branching threads with the purpose of optimization of Node Editor window's space.

Switch

This node is applied for switching between color values. Available only for Compositing nodes.