Yanobox Nodes - User Guide

Nodes User Guide Introduction

Yanobox Nodes provides a comprehensive interface to produce a large selection of motion graphics, including networks, diagrams, connected particles, points or text clouds, wireframes, fantasy user interfaces, organic forms and abstract universes.

The plugin runs in Final Cut Pro X and Premiere Pro, alongside Motion and After Effects.

Based on procedural geometry, Nodes offers a unique workflow to combine text, images, connected lines or beziers curves in a single environment. The GPU accelerated rendering engine supports 200,000 particles, and provides a unique font acceleration pushing huge quantities of real time text layers.

Nodes 3 supports the After Effects Camera functionality. This allows for a seamless integration with other industry-standard plugins that are also compatible with the 3D environment offered by AE. All parameters are defined in pixels for better accuracy.

Point clouds, called forms are created from geometric primitives, footage, and 3D models, allowing for infinite possibilities.

The connection module provides several algorithms to dynamically link the nodes according to a very customisable set of rules. Lines, bezier curves and curved tubes can be attached randomly, according to distance, in series, parented to a particular node or a free point. You can also render wireframes with hidden lines on imported 3D models.

The orientation system for nodes and text affects the angle of the elements with Fixed, Look at Camera, Look at Center options, and maps nicely around spheres as well. The shapes (node images) are procedurally generated up to a resolution of 4096 pixels, and include glowing shapes dedicated to particle creations. Particles are also customizable by loading your own images.

The animation module provides 4 slots that you can assign to 40 destination parameters, coupled with keyframes if necessary. This auto-animation system lets you quickly experiment and finalize advanced kinetics.

FInally, a set of 3D effects coordinate projection, noise, and wave oscillations in order to apply organic or orbital motion to original forms.

What’s new in Nodes ?

Replicator

The major feature of this update is the Replicator which is part of the Effect Group. The Replicator allows you to instantiate forms or scenes while preserving the original features.

Orientation of the nodes and text can be preserved during replications. A secondary orientation system lets you orient and rotate the duplicated forms through the replicator forms. For example, you can distribute nodes and text around a circle, replicate this circle around another circle, orient the form and get a torus.

The rendering engine now supports 200,000 particles with a unique font acceleration.

Presets Browser for all Hosts

This update also unveils a new Presets Browser featuring categories and keyword search. Quickly explore the large library or save your own composition as a preset, then load it with a simple click in any compatible host.

Final Cut Pro X provides the best of both worlds. All the presets are exposed as classic Final Cut Pro generator templates but the plugin interface lets you open the browser and load preset from any template. Finally you can save your creations as a reusable preset and share it with any compatible host.

300 Presets and Templates

Yanobox Nodes 3 is supercharged with a huge collection of procedural motion graphics, all modifiable to promptly adapt to your needs.

Revamped Animation Module

The Animation Group now provides 4 slots that you can assign to 40 parameter destinations. Choose a parameter from a slot menu and simply adjust its animation speed with a positive or a negative value. You can temporarily bypass all animations using the Animate switch.

Probabilities

In addition to the Completion Parameters to reveal the elements, we’ve implemented a new feature that lets you randomly hide or reveal nodes, text, lines or replicas with separate percentage parameters for each of these element categories. The multiple probability parameters have a global/unique Seed Parameter (located in the Rendering Group).

Transform

The transform Group has 2 new features. Rotation Origin can be based on the center of the form or the center of the canvas. This is very useful to achieve orbital motion. The new Scale parameter let you resize the whole scene.

Grid Gap and Offset

The grid form now provides row and column offsets coupled with a gap parameter to achieve nested patterns with points or form. These features are included in both the Form Group and the Replicator.

Radial offsets

Added Radial Offset and Radial Randomness to the Circle and Sphere Forms. Radial offset acts like a simple Z Rotation when Radial Randomness is zero. The fun starts when increasing the value of the randomness which applies a different angle to each point of the form.

Colors

Added a Gap parameter to affine the color distribution of the complementary, triad or 360 Color Modes.

Connections

Create stroked forms with the new Close Path option. Constrain random connections to any axis or avoid diagonals.

Fixed size points

Included in the Nodes Type menu, the fixed size point renders the nodes with super-fast perspective unaware points.

Organisation of the Plug-in

Master Completion - Draws the nodes progressively.

Render Lines, Nodes, and Text - 3 buttons to enable the generators.

Background Color - Add a solid color to the background or set it transparent.

Oscillator - A comprehensive 3D deformer with noisy, wavy, and random motion.

Transform - Manages the global position and the rotation of the nodes.

Camera - Lets you set a Field of View and fly around the scene.

Animation - A couple of auto-animation modules attributable to different parameters.

Form - Sets the distribution of the nodes from primitives, 3D models, or footage.

Nodes - Renders different choices of shapes and custom images into the nodes.

Effects - Creates projections, morphing, highlight the of nodes or replicates the forms.

Connections - Defines the connection rules linking the nodes.

Lines - Renders lines, curved lines, or tubes which connect the nodes.

Text - Renders text attached to the nodes.

Rendering - Manages depth effects, node hiding, motion blur, and anti-aliasing.

Indicative Methodology

1 - Choose a distribution in space (Form Group) for the elements:

start from a 2D/3D primitive (circle, sphere, spiral, sine, random, grid, regular polygons)
(or) create a 2D location from the luminance of a footage
(or) use the vertices of an imported 3D model

2 - Deform the initial form:

use the Oscillator to apply wavy effects, noise, or randomize the node locations
(or) perform morphing (Effects Group) to a secondary form
(or) project to spherical, cylindrical or radial coordinates (Effects Group)
(or) replicate the forms (Effects Group) to create even more complex compositions

3 - Customize the aspect:

choose textures, colors and sizes of the particles (nodes)
set the text font, size, alignment
connect the elements with lines or curved lines (Connections and Lines Group)

4 - Animate the layout:

make the composition grow with the completion parameters
play with the probability parameters (nodes, texts, lines) to randomly reveal or hide elements
use the Animation module to auto-animate a choice of parameters
change the form location, move the Camera, change the field of view
oscillate the curved lines or the nodes ( Oscillator and Curves Oscillator)
highlight nodes and text to create headlines (Effects Group)
add keyframes for any parameter

5 - Fine-tune the composition:

add depth (fog, opacity, luminosity)
hide, disable or reveal nodes
apply motion blur

Oscillator

The oscillator is a powerful multi-purpose module. You can simply use it to spread the nodes in infinite space according to a particular 3D axis, or animate and deform the point clouds and the forms to create organic wavy or blast effects.

Notice a second oscillator (Curves Oscillator Group) appears in the interface when the curved Lines or Tubes are selected. It provides the same functionalities and is dedicated to the animation of the curve’s tangents.

Oscillator Menu - The module is powered by 3 distinct effects:

Wave - a classic wave oscillator creating sinusoidal motion.
Random - a sine wave oscillator with random values for each point, ideal for spreading and/or animating the nodes with unpredictable locations in a given range and axis.
Noise - a gradient noise generator producing uniform oscillated surfaces.

Each effect has its special set of parameters based on the same principles :

The amplitude (in pixels) drives the effect in a single or multiple Axis with a negative, positive or in both Directions. The frequency of the oscillations is set by the Period or the OSC Sizes parameters. Finally, the OSC Evolution parameter changes and animates the phase of the effect.

Oscillator Axis

This menu affects the oscillation to a particular or multiple 3D axis and also provides a Radial option.

This option works well with spheres, circles, and radius-based forms. It creates a direction passing through a line, starting from the origin of the form and going towards a given node.

Oscillator Direction - Determines if the oscillation is Positive, Negative or around the origin (Spread) for a given or multiple axis.

Oscillator Destination - Sets the destination form(s) for the oscillator :

Start Form - oscillator only affects the form defined in the Form Group.
End Form - affects the auxiliary form defined in the Morph option of the Effects Group.

Skip Even Indices - This option bypasses the effect on the nodes with an even index in order to create interesting split forms or animations.

Oscillator Attribution - When using the replicator (Effects Group) oscillations are added with the following options:

Nodes - oscillator affects all the elements
Replicas - oscillator affects the only the replicated forms (where elements are attached)

Notice that the option to skip, align and modulate characteristics or indices are also provided by other Groups. Combining these parameters allows you to change the visual aspect (modulate nodes size, add text to a limited set of nodes, connect nodes with symmetry).

This interesting explained is shown in this video Tutorial

Animation

The Animation Group provides 4 slots (destination 1, 2, 3, 4) that you can assign to 40 destination parameters. This feature lets you quickly animate a set of parameters without using keyframes. Each channel includes a menu to choose a destination and a speed parameter adjustable with positive or negative values.

Example: Effects Projection OffsetX

Affects the animation to the Offset X parameter of the Projection effect in the Effects Group.

Animate - Toggle all the animations. Also useful to deactivate the pre-configured animations of a preset.

Destination 1, 2, 3, 4 - set parameter destination for the auto-animation.

Speed 1, 2, 3, 4 - Control the speed of the animation. A positive value results in an increased value, starting from the original value of the destination parameter. With a negative value, the speed decreases from the original value.

Notice that changing the original value of the destination parameter lets you offset the animation.

Camera

Nodes provides a virtual 3D space with both camera and object transformations.

Nodes supports the After Effects camera and lets you fully integrate the motion graphics elements generated by the plugin in your 3D compositions. Integration into live action footage is also possible by using the After Effects 3D Tracking feature.

Notice that the Camera Group only appears in Motion, Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro.

In Afters Effects, composition cameras are automatically detected and force the plugin to match the AE 3D space.

Field of view - Sets the view angle of the camera and creates zoom effects, changing the visible area on the screen. Angles with low values simulate lenses with long focal lengths, framing very restricted areas. High values simulate wide angles lenses, covering large areas.Extreme values produce interesting effects, dramatically impacting the perspective.

Camera Type Menu

Pan/Tilt/Roll - Rotation axes are centered on the camera and create the classic Pan/Tilt/Roll orientations, changing the direction of the point of view.
Framing - The rotation axes are always centered on the world’s origin, producing spherical displacements of the camera. If the Form is located at the origin (default position values of the Transform Group), the camera will rotate around it.

Position X, Y, Z - Sets the position of the camera in the 3 axes.

Rotation X, Y, Z - Rotates the camera in the 3 axes.

Transform

The Transform Group parameters rotate, move and scale the forms around in the canvas.

In After Effects, additional parameters (Create AE NULL and Run Script) let you automatically create an AE Null and attach the form to it. When this operation is done, the Null axis interactively controls the position and rotation of the form in the canvas.

Tip: In the After Effects timeline, setting the Name Column to “Layer Name” will display the created Null as “Null (index) Nodes Transform.”

Position X, Y, Z - Sets the position of a single form or to a group of replicated forms.

Rotation Origin

Form - Forms rotate around their origin. Replicated forms rotate around the replicator form origin.

Canvas - Forms rotate around the canvas origin. Useful to apply an orbital motion to the forms.

Rotation X, Y, Z - Rotates the forms in the 3 axes.

Scale X, Y, Z - Resize the entire scene.

Form

This group lets you set up the spatial distribution and orientation for the nodes and texts. A second form module is also available through the Effects Group when the Morphing effect is selected.

Notice the Replicator (Effect Groups) also provide a subset of geometric primitives (circle, sphere, grid, random, spiral, sine, regular polygons) based on the same parameters.

Forms are created by 3 methods:

- 2D/3D primitives (circle, sphere, spiral, sine, random, grid, regular polygons)

- Generated from the luminance of a footage

- Using vertices of an imported OBJ 3D model (single or multiple frames)

Note that the integrity of the form can be affected by the Oscillator or the Effect (projection, morphing, highlight) when those parameters are activated.

Orientation

The orientation of the nodes and texts is managed with 3 Menus.

Orientation - provides a global direction

Fixed - Orientation is fixed and rotates with the transformations.
Look at Camera - This mode is generally used to keep particles or text parallel to the viewer.
Look at Center - Elements are oriented toward the origin of the form. This mode works well to distribute nodes and text around a sphere.

Nodes(or)Text Angle - offer several variations for the angle following the Global Orientation rules.

Face X,Y,Z - are the default modes to flip the nodes and text to the right, left, top or bottom.
Side View X,Y,Z - orients the elements from the side and flips them according to a direction.
Ground X,Y,Z - fix the elements to the ground and flip them according to a direction.

Notice the Nodes Angle Menu also offers the special Forced Billboard option which forces the nodes to always look at the camera.

Primitives

The Form Menu provides a set of distribution primitives with dedicated parameters.
Each form supports the Align Even/Odd option, aligning the points with even and odd indices onto the same position.
This feature can be combined with the Sphere and Circle “Inner Offset” parameter and the Oscillator “Skip Even Indices“ option. Using then the “Serial” connection mode with a Loop Step of 2 creates very nice radial connections between splitted forms.

See the “Fiber Optic Sphere,” “Fiber Optic Map,” or “Circle Inner Outer Radius” presets/templates for illustration.

Circle - Spreads the dots around a circular path. Parameters are equivalent to the Sphere form (see below).

Sphere - Spreads the dots around a sphere.

Nodes Count - the quantity of nodes from 0 to 200,000.
Radius - the radius in pixels.
Inner Offset - offsets the nodes with an even index to create an inner or outer circle/sphere.
Roll up - roll up to close or open the circle/sphere.
Align Even/Odd - aligns the points with even and odd indices onto the same angular position.
Radial Offset - Acts like an auxiliary Z Rotation when Radial Randomness is zero.
Radial Randomness - Increasing the value of the randomness applies a different angle to each point of the form.

Spiral - Aligns the dots along a spiral.

Nodes Count - the quantity of nodes from 0 to 200,000.
Radius - the radius in pixels.
Depth - the amplitude of the spiral into the Z axis.
Rolling - roll up to close or open the spiral.

Sine Curve - Spreads the dots on a repetitive sine oscillation.

Amplitude - this is the peak of the sine curve.
Extend - the width of the sine curve from the first to the last point.
Period - the frequency of the sine curve, or the oscillations between the first and the last point.
Phase - specifies where in its cycle the oscillation begins.
Axis - defines the orientation of the path.
Align to Origin - anchors the first point to the origin instead of centering the whole form.
Progressive Amplitude - applies a linear curve to the amplitude values, creating an increasing sine curve.

Random - Distribute the points in the XYZ axis randomly.

Size X, Y, Z - the respective amplitude for each axis.
Random Seed - generates a new seed for the random distribution.
Align Even/Odd - aligns the points with even and odd indices onto the same position. This option helps to split the form using the oscillator “Skip Even Indices“ option.

Grid - Creates a uniform distribution of the the points in the XYZ axis. The Nodes Count is adjustable for each dimension and lets you set up 2D, 3D grids and lines of points.

Nodes Count X, Y, Z - adjusts the quantity of points for each axis.
Size Represents

Extend - XYZ sizes represent the total size of the grid.
Gap - XYZ sizes represent the gap between points - The grid is anchored at the bottom left.
Gap Centered - XYZ sizes represent the gap between points - The grid is centered.

Row & Column Offsets -slide the even/odd lines off the grid. Very useful to create nested patterns with points or forms (replicator).
Size X, Y, Z - the respective amplitude of the form for each axis.

Regular Polygon - Creates triangles, squares, hexagons or regular forms with any number of sides.

Sides - Sets the number of sides for the regular primitive.
Points per sides - Subdivide each side with a given number of points.
Radius - Adjusts the radius of the form.
Angle - Set the orientation to the form.

From Image Colors - Extracts the nodes from the luminance of a footage. The input supports both videos and images.

Notice that the plugin embeds 3 images by default for testing purposes when no footage is loaded. If this is the case, selecting Red in the Component Menu will display a World Map, Green displays a Line Structure, and Blue displays the Nodes Title.

In Final Cut Pro X, some templates that already use a default image (World Map, Nodes Title, etc.), are locked. To use your own footage to extract nodes, we recommend you start with the first template (called Nodes) or any other template that doesn’t already use a default image.

Image (layer input) - lets you choose footage to extract the nodes in After Effects or Premiere Pro.
Image Well - lets you choose footage to extract the nodes in Motion or Final Cut Pro X. Notice that in FCP X, the Image Well is located at the bottom of the plugin below the Rendering Group and is called Form From Image.
Component - sets the channel that will specify the luminance value to drive the effect.
Resolution - changes the scanning grid modifying the number of horizontal and vertical nodes.
Threshold - adjusts the sensitivity to luminance for producing nodes.
Size - sets up the size in pixels for the final geometry.
Use Image Colors - tints the nodes with the original color of the footage.
Luma to Nodes Sizes - this option takes the luminance values from the footage and uses them to drive the original size of the nodes. When this option is activated, the “ Influence to Size” slider appears to adjust the amplitude of this action.
Displace - creates a displacement in the Z axis for each node using corresponding luminance values of the footage. Center Displacement corrects the global position of the form to keep it centered to the origin.

Import OBJ 3D Models - This option lets you create nodes from the vertex positions of a 3D Model. Both single models and sequences of animated 3D models are supported. The files must be in Wavefront (OBJ) format. These 3D objects can be created in Cinema 4D or any popular 3D software.

A set of 50 free 3D primitives that we have created can be downloaded here.

Nodes supports 200,000 vertices. Vertices that exceed this maximum value will not be displayed.

The plugin also reads the face-information and can render connected lines, reproducing the original wireframe of a 3D object. (See the explanation in the Connections Group “Triangulate” method).

Size - sets up the size in pixels for the final geometry.
OBJ Sequence Run Menu - this parameter is useful for playing sequences of 3D models in several ways:

Loop - reads the sequence in loop.
Hold Last Frame - reads the entire sequence and stops with the last frame.
Play Manually - displays a particular frame that you choose with the “OBJ frame” parameter.

OBJ Model Size -

Original - The original size of the model is not corrected. Notice that if the model is very large or tiny, it may not appear in the canvas.
Normalize - The size of the model is normalized and always fits the canvas. This is the default value recommended for single OBJ files.
Normalize from First Frame - This mode is recommended for animated models to avoid resizing during each frame of the animation. With this option, all the 3D Models from the sequence are normalised from the first frame onwards.

OBJ File List - Opening this parameter provides an interface to load single or sequences of OBJ files representing the 3D Models. Clicking the “Choose” button will bring up a file window.

Nodes

This module renders a shape or a custom image on every connection or point of the form.

The built-in shapes are procedurally generated, up to 4096 pixels. The default texture size is generally 512 pixels, depending on the preset or template. To change this value, go to the Rendering Group and choose a different resolution from the Nodes Texture menu. This parameter also manages the texture size for custom images.

Notice that the orientation of the nodes is controlled by the Orientation and Nodes Angle parameters, located in the Form Group.

Probability Parameters

In addition to the Completion parameters revealing the node, text or line primitives, in a linear way, a probability feature has been implemented for each of these primitives. This option is very helpful to randomize the graphic elements’ presence, avoid symmetry or break repetitions in a composition.

Nodes, text and lines have their own probability values but a unique Seed parameter located in the Rendering Group drive the randomness. It helps to synchronize the apparition of points, texts, and lines, associated to a particular node, by applying the sames values to all the probability parameters.

When using the Replicator, probabilities can be affected to hide nodes or group of nodes owned by a replica.

Nodes Probability - Hides or reveals the nodes in a random way.

Probability Affect - Affects the probability of a particular selection

Nodes - Probability affects all nodes
Replicas - Probability affects groups of nodes owned by a replica.

Nodes Completion - Draws the nodes progressively.

Nodes Type Menu - Lets you choose a type of texture or geometry for the nodes:

Image List - this option lets you load custom image(s) to be displayed as nodes.

Entering this mode will display the Image List parameter located at the bottom of the Nodes Group (After Effects, Premiere Pro, Motion), or the Choose Image List button located below the canvas (Final Cut Pro X). Clicking the “Choose” button will bring up a file selection window. Once you have selected the files that you want to animate, you will be able to make further adjustments through the interface.

To Display the image title in the canvas, assign the Text Source menu of the Text Group to "Image List Editor."

The window can be used to add or remove files from the nodes. You can also perform the following actions:

Reorder images by dragging them up or down the list to the desired location.
Double-click the “Title” column value to enter a new image title. By default, the title starts out as the file name (stripped of its extension).
Select a file and click the “Relink” button to link the image to a different file. This option is helpful in fixing missing media errors.
Select a file and click the “Reveal in Finder” button to navigate to the location of the file in a Finder window.

Solid Shapes - this mode creates simple flat shapes such as circles, squares, rounded rectangles, and crosses with an adjustable number of spikes.

Roundness - adjusts the roundness of the shape to create a plain circle or rounded borders
Thickness - controls the height of the shape
Branches - sets the number of spikes when creating crosses
Shape Softness - adds a tiny blur to soften the shape

Soft Shapes - soft shapes are circles composed of 3 elements: a bulb located at the center, a custom stroke, and a corona background. Each component is customizable and animatable, and lets you create various graphic looks for the nodes:

Bulb Radius - adjusts the radius of the centered bulb
Stroke Radius - adjusts the radius of the stroke
Stroke Width - adjusts the thickness of the stroke
Stroke Opacity - sets the opacity of the stroke
Corona Luminosity - sets the luminosity of the circle background
Corona Opacity - sets the opacity of the circle background
Shape Softness - adds a tiny blur to soften the shape

Glowing Shapes - like the Soft Shapes, this mode composes a node from several components (bulb, halo, corona) and is dedicated to the creation of glowing particles. It provides separated softness values for each element.This mode has an interesting property. The bulb is always white, coupled with a color of choice for the halo and corona. It creates nice lighting overlaps between the particles when used with the Add Nodes Blending mode.

Bulb Radius - adjusts the radius of the white bulb
Bulb Softness - controls the softness of the white bulb
Halo Soft Curves - provides 2 different curves for the halo softness
Halo Radius - sets the radius of the halo
Halo Softness - adjusts the softness of the halo
Halo Opacity - sets the opacity of the halo
Corona Softness - adjusts the softness of the circle background
Corona Opacity - sets the opacity of the circle background

3D Sphere - renders the nodes with 3D spheres.

Sphere Subdivision - sets the quality of the mesh.

Fixed Size Point - Renders the nodes with super-fast perspective unaware points.

Nodes Size

Nodes Size - Sets the size of the nodes in pixels.

Size Attribution - When using the Replicator (Effects Group) Size options can be applied to Nodes or Replicas.

Nodes Size Mode - Controls the size of the nodes with several modes:

Uniform - sets the nodes to equal sizes.
Random - generates random sizes for the nodes with Size Phase changing the seed of the random generator and Size Random Amount controling the amount of randomness.
Sinusoidal - produces a sinusoidal distribution of the sizes with Size Period controling the frequency of the sinus curve and Size Phase changing the phase of the sinus curve.
Modulate - alternate between 2 different sizes (Nodes Size, Secondary Size):
Size Modulo - changes the step-size of of the alternation.
Size Phase - changes the phase of the alternation.
Increase & Decrease - enables an increasing or decreasing size effect from the first to the last node.

Nodes Color

Nodes allows you to easily create color combinations and to explore different color schemes. The color module is present in the Text and Nodes groups, and provides several discrete approaches for coloring these elements.

Color - Sets the initial color for all modes.

Dynamic parameters appearing with particular Color Modes :

Nodes Hue Range - (360 Color Mode) which modifies the effective range of the color gradient

Nodes Color Gap - modifies the gap between the opposite colors of the mode.

Color Random - The amount of randomness for the color mode.

Color Random Seed - Sets new seed values for the random calculation.

Color Attribution - When using the Replicator (Effects Group) Color options can be applied to Nodes or Replicas.

Nodes Color Mode - This pop-up menu provides different coloring methods.

Single Color - Lets you set a single color for the Nodes.
Complementary - This mode returns an alternation of the base color and its 180 degrees opposite on the color wheel, producing high color contrast.
Triad - Takes the base color and returns 3 colors spaced equally on the color wheel. These colors are then repeated around the generator indexes.
360 - Provides a complete loop around the color wheel, producing a rainbow effect. Interesting color cycling effects can be achieved by varying the initial color.
Randow Hue - Creates a random hue for each new index, taking the initial color as a base for the calculation.
Randow Saturation - This mode creates a random saturation for each new index, taking the initial color as a base for the calculation.
Randow Saturation - Returns an ensemble of random lighting values, producing nice light and dark contrasts of the same hue.

Nodes Opacity Random - Introduces randomness in the opacity of the nodes.

Nodes Opacity - Sets the opacity of the nodes.

Nodes Blending - This pop-up menu sets a blending method:

Over - blends the texture with transparency according to a matte provided by the alpha channel.
Add - blends the texture with transparency according to a matte provided by the alpha channel and adds the luminance of all the superimposed nodes.

The add mode is interesting when drawing a lot of nodes with low opacities by producing lighting or glowing effects.

Nodes Depth Testing - This pop-up menu manages how the nodes overlap with themselves and with other elements (text, lines). Read Write will force the nodes and the text to render according to their Z positions in space. The far elements render first and the near ones are layered behind. The sorting updates dynamically. In certain cases, a node or text may pass over another node. This parameter appears along with the Depth Sorting option, located in the Rendering Group that indexes the node-sorting strictly according to their Z positions.

Effects

This module provides several 3D effects to affect the behavior, distribution and quantity of elements.

Effect Menu

Replicator

This effect allows you to duplicate forms or complete scenes while preserving the original features. The replicator distributes the original form around another geometric primitive of your choice: Circle, Sphere, Spiral, Regular Polygons, Sine curve, Random and Grid. The parameters of these primitives are based on the same principle as the Fom Group.

Orientation of the nodes and text can be preserved during replications. A secondary orientation system lets you orient and rotate the duplicated forms through the replicator forms. For example, you can distribute nodes and text around a circle, replicate this circle around another circle, orient the form and get a torus.

You can find a lot of examples of the replicator in action by exploring presets and templates in the following categories:

Diagram : Circuit Travelling, Complex Radial Orientation, Complex Spherical Orientation, Multiplane HUD Grid, Replicated Diagram, SCIFI Pentagon Tunnel, Mechanical Replicas, Pinky connections, Supa Complex Connectors, Replicated Grid on a Circle….

HUD Elements : Compound Boxes, Compound Cubes, Double Circle, Point Probabilities, Wireframe Radial Hud, Radial Connector…

Nodes in the Sky : Cubes in the Sky, Infinite Triangles, Nodes infinite Hexagons, Sky Hexagon Grid…

Particles : Blue & Red Orbs, Cube Text Travel, Eclosion Radial, Glowing Flower, Hexagon Surfaces, Inside Torus, Paper Trip, Point Tunnels , Space Urchin, UFOS, Wire Bubble….

Spinners : All the presets and templates of this category are based on the replicator.

Wireframe Grids : Circle Grid, Faux Squares Grid, Grid with Circles, Hexagonal Grid...

Wireframe Spheres : Simple Spinner Sphere, SKiwi Sphere, Thorny Sphere, Wire Sphere circle, Wool Ball, Wool Ball Dotted...

Replicators Parameters :

The Replicator Form Menu provides a set of distribution primitives with dedicated parameters.

Circle - Spreads the replicas around a circular path. Parameters are equivalent to the Sphere form (see below).

Sphere - Spreads the replicas around a sphere.

Copies - the quantity of replicas.
Radius - the radius in pixels.
Inner Offset - offsets the replicas with an even index to create an inner or outer circle/sphere.
Roll up - roll up to close or open the circle/sphere.
Align Even/Odd - aligns the replicas with even and odd indices onto the same angular position.
Radial Offset - Acts like an auxiliary Z Rotation when Radial Randomness is zero.
Radial Randomness - Increasing the value of the randomness applies a different angle to each point of the form.

Spiral - Aligns the replicas along a spiral.

Copies - the quantity of replicas.
Radius - the radius in pixels.
Depth - the amplitude of the spiral into the Z axis.
Rolling - roll up to close or open the spiral.

Sine Curve - Spreads the replicas on a repetitive sine oscillation.

Amplitude - this is the peak of the sine curve.
Extend - the width of the sine curve from the first to the last replica.
Period - the frequency of the sine curve, or the oscillations between the first and the last replica.
Phase - specifies where in its cycle the oscillation begins.
Axis - defines the orientation of the path.
Align to Origin - anchors the first replica to the origin instead of centering the whole form.
Progressive Amplitude - applies a linear curve to the amplitude values, creating an increasing sine curve.

Random - Distribute the replicas in the XYZ axis randomly.

Size X, Y, Z - the respective amplitude for each axis.
Random Seed - generates a new seed for the random distribution.
Align Even/Odd - aligns the replicas with even and odd indices onto the same position.

Grid - Creates a uniform distribution of the the replicas in the XYZ axis. The number of replicas is adjustable for each dimension and lets you set up 2D, 3D grids.

Rep Count X, Y, Z - adjusts the quantity of points for each axis.

Size Represents
- Extend - XYZ sizes represent the total size of the grid.
- Gap - XYZ sizes represent the gap between replicas - Grid is anchored at the bottom left.
- Gap Centered - XYZ sizes represent the gap between replicas - The grid is centered
Row & Column Offsets -slide the even/odd lines off the grid. Very useful to create nested patterns with forms.
Size X, Y, Z - the respective amplitude of the form for each axis.

Regular Polygon - Distribute the replica around triangles, squares, hexagons or regular form with any number of sides.

Sides - Sets the number of sides for the regular primitive.
Points per sides - Subdivide each side with a given number of points.
Radius - Adjusts the radius of the form.
Angle - Set a frontal orientation of the form.

Replicator Orientation - Orients the initial form and its points with the these options :

Fixed - The original form keeps its initial orientation and rotates with the camera and transformations.
Look at Camera - The original forms stays parallel to the camera during transformations, camera moves and rotations.
Look at Center - The original form orientations converge to the origin when using the replicator rotation parameters.

Replicator Scale - Start & Scale End rescale the replicated forms applying an interpolation between the start and end values.

Scale Randomness & Random Seed - Applies random values to the size of the duplicated forms.

Replicator Rotation Mode - Defines the distribution of the replicator rotations through the replicated forms.

Uniform - The same angles are globally applied to all replicas.
Per Step - The XYZ rotation values represent the angle of the last form. Intermediate form angles are interpolated from zero to the end Value.
Random - The XYZ rotation values represent a maximum angle. Each form angle is a random value between zero and the maximum value. • Random bidirectional - Equivalent to Random but with a random positive or negative direction.

Replicator XYZ Rotation - Rotate the duplicated forms around their origin according to the Rotation Mode.

Effect Order - determines if the forms are replicated before of after the application of the Oscillator Group effects.

Projection

Transforms the position of the nodes from cartesian to polar, cylindrical, or spherical coordinates. Any form passed through this effect will be progressively projected inside a circle, around a cylinder or a sphere. Projection offers a new kind of exploration in Nodes, from simple spherical world maps (extracting the nodes from an image) to complex mesh structures when coupled with distance connections.

Managing the Projection Effect:

The original X, Y positions of the points are converted to longitude and latitude, and the original size of the form influences the roll-up of the projection.

To cleanly close the projection:

1-Set the original form’s X size to half the canvas width (e.g. 640 pixels for a 1280 x 720 composition).

2- Set the original form’s Y size to a quarter of the canvas width (e.g. 320 pixels for a 1280 x 720 composition).

Time - Controls the progression of the projection. Notice that intermediate values create interesting distortions of the original form, especially when you push the original size to a large amount.

Projection Menu - Sets the destination coordinate system to Polar, Cylindrical or Spherical.

Swap Coordinates - Changes the projection orientation, swapping the original latitude and longitude of the points.

Radius - Controls the radius of the final projection.

Height - This parameter is only available with the Cylindrical projection and controls the height of the cylinder.

Order - Determines if the projection is done before or after the points are passed through the Oscillator (Oscillator Group). This option is interesting for randomizing the longitude and latitude of the points (Post-Oscillator) or for scattering the points out of the projection using the Oscillator values (Pre-oscillator)

Longitude - Offsets the original longitude of the points.

Latitude - Offsets the original latitude of the points.

Morphing

Gives access to a second series of forms (circle, sphere, spiral, sine curve, random and grid) and performs a morphing of the original Form (defined with the Form Group). With this effect, you can transform a Sphere into a Circle, or nodes with a random distribution into a well-organized Grid.

Time - Controls the progression of the projection.

Interpolation - This parameter controls the interpolation function used to drive the transition. The menu provides options to create linear, exponential or smooth interpolations with ease-in/ease-out equations.

One by One

This option provides a variation, with nodes displacing one after another in a cascading serial movement during the transition, instead of being executed in a synchronized parallel movement.

End Form - This menu lets you choose a primitive form for the end of the morphing. Parameters of the End forms are similar to the Form Group (See Form Group for an explanation).

Highlight by Index

Creates a carrousel effect with the nodes using keyframes that you set with the index parameter. (Use the Auto-Highlight Mode to automatically animate without keyframes).

The highlight effect takes nodes from the original Form distribution, moves it to custom coordinates defined by the Position X, Y, Z parameters, and then replaces it to its original position. This effect is cascaded to all the nodes according to the Index parameter value. This function is designed to highlight text or an image from a cloud of nodes.

Index - The integer value of the index parameter corresponds to the index of a node, and the decimal part matches the transition progress for this particular point.

Example: To highlight the third node, set a keyframe with the value 2.5 (no highlight) first, and a second keyframe with the value 3 (third node is highlighted).

Position X, Y, Z - Sets the final highlighted position of the nodes.

Preview Position - This option lets you force the highlighted position to be displayed and helps to set it up.

Auto - Highlight

Creates an automatic carrousel effect without the need of keyframes.

Total Duration - The total duration (in frames) to cycle through the entire set of nodes.

Start Time - The frame where the carrousel effect begins.

Start Nodes - The first node to be highlighted.

Position X, Y, Z - Sets the final highlighted position of the nodes.

Preview Position - This option lets you force the highlighted position to be displayed and helps to set it up.

Affected By - The highlighted node is generally fixed at the position you defined. In certain cases however, it could be of interest that it moves with the camera or the transformations.

The Affected By option lets you set up different options:

Only Field Of View - This is the default option where the camera and transformation don’t affect the position of the highlighted node.
Camera - Moving the camera affects the position of the highlighted node.
Transform - The highlighted node moves with the transformation of the global form.
Camera and Transform - Both the camera and form transformation affect the position of the highlighted node.

Connections

The Connections Group manages how the nodes are linked together.

When using the Replicator (Effects Group) using the Connect Menu let you restrict the connection inside Replicas or populated throughout the whole scene.

Connections Method - This pop-up menu lets you choose a particular connection algorithm to render lines or curved lines between nodes.

Random

Tosses a couple of points randomly and then verifies their distance before connecting them. Notice that if you want to avoid the distance in the equation, just set a very high value for the Max Distance parameter and adjust the amount of connections with “Max Connections.”

Connectivity - This parameter affects the way the distances between the points are evaluated. This option is useful to deform a mesh or a grid with the oscillator without disconnecting the points.

Dynamic - The distance algorithm considers every transformation created by the Oscillator Group or the Displacement parameter (Form from Image).
Static XYZ - Only the original point positions defined by the original form are evaluated in the distance calculation.
Static XY - Only the original X,Y position axis of the points defined by the original form are evaluated in the distance calculation.

Random Seed - changes the seed of the random generator.

Constraint - This menu provides a set of Constraints for the connections.

None - No particular constraint
Avoid Diagonals - Connect the points only if they have 2 common axes
Connect on X, Y, or only Z planes - Connect the points located on the given planes
Connect only evens, only odds or evens to odds - Connect only the opposite points.

Min Distance - sets the minimum distance between 2 points to generate a connection.

Max Distance - sets the maximum distance between 2 points to generate a connection.

Max Connections - controls the amount of connections.

Text Script

This method allows you to connect the nodes by typing their indices in the Script editor box. To display the nodes indices, be sure to enable Render Text and then select Index by Number in the Text Source pop-up menu of the Text Group. The first index number of a line will be the parent node, followed by all the children indices to be linked. You can enter as many lines as you want. Separate each index with a space, and do not place a space at the end of a line.

Example: 1 10 9 8 7 6

Connect the node with index 1 (parent) to those with the 10, 9, 8, 7, and 6 indices (children).

Serial

Provides serial connections between nodes. Everything is connected in a single line.

Loop Steps - Changes the step size of the loop. For example, with a default value of 1, every point is connected to the next. With a value of 5, only one point along 5 is connected. This parameter is interesting when creating spread connections.

Close Path - Connects the last and the first point of the form. Helps to create stroked shapes rendered only with lines.

Tip: To connect the points located at the inner and outer radius of a circle or a sphere (like the “Double Sphere” Preset), enable the Align Even/Odd option in the Form Group and set the Loop Steps to a value of 2.

Stick to a Point

All nodes are connected to a parent point you decide upon.

Parent Point

This parameter lets you set the index of the Parent Point. To display the nodes indices, be sure to enable Render Text, then select Index by Number in the Text Source pop-up menu of the Text Group.

Free Position

This mode lets you set the custom 3D position of a “virtual point” where all nodes will connect. This is particularly useful if you want to follow an object or a marker in a video sequence with tracking, or when freely animating the attached point of the nodes.

When the Primitive menu of the Line Group is set to Curved Lines or Tubes, additional position parameters will appear to setup the Control Point Position of the “virtual point” tangents driving the curves.

In After Effects, each 3D position (Free Position and Curve tangents) can be automatically attached to a new AE Solid Null object thanks to the “Create AE Null and Attach” option. When open, this parameter displays a button that lets you run an embedded AE Script that automatically writes the necessary expressions in the corresponding properties.

Tip: In the After Effects timeline, setting the Name Column to “Layer Name” will display the created Null as “Null (index) Nodes Free Position” or “Null (index) Nodes Curve Control.”

Distance

Connect the points according to a minimum and maximum distance between them.

Connectivity - This parameter affects the way the distances between the points are evaluated. This option is useful to deform a mesh or a grid with the oscillator without disconnecting the points.

Dynamic - The distance algorithm considers every transformation created by the Oscillator Group or the Displacement parameter (Form from Image).
Static XYZ - Only the original point positions defined by the original form are evaluated in the distance calculation.
Static XY - Only the original X,Y position axis of the points defined by the original form are evaluated in the distance calculation.

Min Distance - Sets the minimum distance between 2 points to generate a connection.

Max Distance - Sets the maximum distance between 2 points to generate a connection.

Quality - Offers two different algorithms optimizing speed or quality for the evaluation of the distance.

Triangulation (OBJ Only)

This option is only available for rendering wireframes when importing 3D Models (Form menu of the Form Group). Connections are established reading the face-information in the OBJ file, reproducing the original model wireframe.

Hidden Lines - An option to hide the lines located behind the form or the closest faces. Lines are hidden by a default black mask. Applying a Screen compositing blend mode to the host’s layer, clip, or track containing the Nodes plugin, lets you make the mask transparent and unveils the visible lines only. Notice that the Hidden Lines option will force the Primitive menu of the Line Group to straight Line and will disable all Curved Lines or Tubes properties.

The Hidden Line rendering is performed with OpenGL and may be rough depending on the graphics card model, especially with distant and tiny forms.

Mask offset - Adjusts the position of the lines mask.

Mask Color - Sets the color of the mask.

Mask Opacity - Controls the opacity of the mask.

Lines

Draws lines, bezier curves or curved tubes between the nodes or replicas to create connections.

The Lines group generates different primitives for drawing the connections between the nodes. From simple straight lines to organic lines or tentacles, the vast choice of options lets you customize every aspect of this group to achieve versatile graphic effects.

Lines Probability - Hides or reveals the connected lines in a random way. Please see details about the probability parameters in The Nodes section.

Probability Affect - Affects the probability of a particular selection

Nodes - Probability affects all nodes
Replicas - Probability affects groups of nodes belonging to a replica.

Primitive - This pop-up menu sets different types of lines to link the nodes.

The user interface will adapt according to the choice of the primitive. With Curved Line and Curved Tube, new parameters will appear, allowing you to control the tangents of the curves.

Lines - Draws connections with straight lines.
Curved Lines - Draws lines with a spline interpolation, allowing curved connections. To smooth the curve, simply add more samples with the Curve Samples parameter. To manage the curvature, use the Tangent Offset parameters. Drawing straight lines with Curved Lines is possible by keeping all of the Tangent Offset on their default position.
Curved Tubes - Draws connections with a cylinder extruded along a curved path. Unlike Curved Line, the Curved Tube is made up of a full 3D polygon mesh. The Curved Tube provides a Tube Edges parameter to refine the outline of the Tube. With this primitive, the thickness is controllable from the start or the end of the curve, allowing organic line and tentacle drawing.

Start/End Thickness - For the Curved Tube, thickness can be adjusted separately for the start and the end of the line. This parameter sets the diameter of the tube from 1 to 1000 pixels.

Tube Edge - Sets the subdivision of the outline of the tube.

Controlling the Curves

We implemented a way to manage the characteristic of all the curves with a global set of parameters. This allows sophisticated control in 2D and 3D space, symmetry duplication, and curve oscillation.

Bezier curves (namely curved lines and curved tubes) are created with 4 points, 2 points are used to set the location of the line (start, end) and the other couple drives the tangent points which define the curvature.

In Nodes, the tangents of the bezier curves are attached to a virtual copy of the Form (the original distribution of the points). This invisible instance is transformable and scalable in 3D space with the Tangent Offset parameters. At any time, it is possible to display the tangents using the Display Tangents switch.

The Symmetry menu lets you create a projection of the curves (duplication) in any axis.

Finally, a dedicated oscillator allows you to apply randomness, noise, or wavy effects to the tangent points.

Symmetry - Provides a choice of axis to duplicate the curves with symmetry.

Single X,Y, Z axes work well with grids and sine-curve based forms.
Size option is more convenient with radial forms such as circles and spheres, creating inner and outer curves that can be balanced with the Size Balance parameter.

Size Balance - This parameters appears when Size is selected in the Symmetry menu. Size Balance helps to affine the length of the tangents in both sides of the symmetry with radial form. Tangents inside the form generally have to be shorter in order to create nice curves.

Distance Influence - To create nice rounded curves, the distance of the original points have to be considered to determine the length of the tangents. Adding some “distance influence” introduces this factor progressively in the equation.

Display Tangents - Enable this option to display the tangents controlling the curves. Use the Color and Opacity parameters to change their aspect.

Tangent Offset X, Y, Z - This parameter transforms an invisible copy of the original Form, where the tangents are attached, pulling the curves in the chosen direction. This works well with grids and sine-curve based forms.

Uniform Size - Enable this option to manage the Tangent Size equally on all axes.

Tangent Uniform Size - Scales the virtual copy of the Form, where the tangents are attached, pulling the curves inside or outside the form. This works well with radial forms such as circles and spheres.

Tangent Size XYZ - When “Uniform Size” is disabled, this parameters appears, giving access to each axis’s size for a more detailed scaling of the tangents.

Curves Oscillator - The Curves Oscillator lets you apply randomness, noise, or wavy effects to the tangent points. For a more detailed explanation of the oscillator properties, see the Oscillator Group.

Line Color(s) - Sets the color of the lines. With Curved Lines and Tubes, two different colors can be set for the start and the end of the lines.

Line Blending - The blending menu provides several modes with which compositing between lines and other graphic elements of the composition is accomplished.

Over - The lines are blended according to the opacity setting
Add - Adds luminance values while maintaining the opacity setting
Mix - The lines are blended according to the opacity setting

Line Completion - Sets the drawing progression of the lines. Completion lets you switch on the lines one by one or draw them as progressive growing. Different Completion modes are available through the Line Completion Mode parameter.

Line Completion Mode - This pop up menu let you choose a completion mode:

Light up Successively - switches the lines on one by one,
Draw Together - the lines are drawn at the same time, progressively growing,
Draw Successively - draws the lines one by one, progressively growing.

Lines Depth Testing - This pop-up menu manages how the nodes overlap with themselves and with other elements (text, nodes) according to their relative Z-depth positions. Read Write will force the lines to render according to their Z positions in space. The far elements render first and the near ones are layered behind. The sorting updates dynamically. This parameter appears along with the Depth Sorting option located in the Rendering Group that performs a strict nodes indice-sorting according to their Z positions.

Text

Nodes lets you populate text in 3D Space according to the distribution chosen in the Form Group.

Text is attached to the nodes, but can be transformed in any axis with the Text Offset parameters. Convenient functions like Text Loop Step, Text Probability and Text Completion make is possible for the text to scatter onto the form.

Text Probability - Hides or reveals the text layers in a random way. Please see details about the probability parameters in The Nodes section.

Probability Affect - Affects the probability of a particular selection

Nodes - Probability affects all nodes
Replicas - Probability affects groups of nodes owned by a replica.

Accelerated Fonts - This new feature lets you animate more than 5000 layers of text in real time to quickly create opulent-looking text clouds. The only drawback of this feature is a limited set of fonts. When you need a special or custom font that is not provided by “Accelerated Fonts,” you can still use the feature for faster previewing to your advantage, and deactivate the function when rendering.

Accelerated Font Menu - This pop-up menu gives you access to a set of accelerated fonts. Each font has 3 optimized resolutions (80, 200 and 400 pixels). Use the more appropriate size according to your shooting style (full shot, close-up, etc.).

Font Menu - When the Accelerated Font option is disabled, the classic Font and Style menus appear.

Font Size - Controls the size of the font.

Alignment - This pop-up menu provides different alignments for text:

Left - the text is attached to the node at the start of the line,
Centered - the text is centered on the node,
Right - the text is attached to the node at the end of the line,
Modulo - produces alternating right/left attachments.

Text Source - This pop-up menu switches between different text sources:

Custom Text - enables the text editor.
Index by Number - numbers each node by its index. This mode is helpful when scripting connections or when trying to place a word precisely onto a particular node.
Image List Editor - takes the titles of the Image List Editor as a source.

Mapping - Determines how the text is distributed onto the nodes. With the “Line” option, each new line of text is coupled with node. The “Character” option cuts out each letter and assigns them to a node.

Keep Formatting - This parameter appears when the Mapping Character option is selected. This function takes care of the separation between words by assigning a space (no text) to the corresponding node.

Case - Forces the case of the original text to Uppercase, Lowercase or Capitalized.

Text offset X, Y, Z - Offsets the position of the text. The anchor point of the position is relative to the alignment.

Text Color and Color Mode - Please see the Color Page of the manual for more details.

Text Opacity Random - Introduces randomness throughout the opacity of the text.

Text Opacity - Sets the opacity of the text.

Text Blending - This pop-up menu sets a blending method:

Over - Blends the texture with transparency according to a matte provided by the alpha channel.
Add - Blends the texture with transparency according to a matte provided by the alpha channel and adds the luminance of all the superimposed nodes.

The add mode is interesting when drawing a lot of nodes with low opacities, producing lighting or glowing effects.

Text Depth Testing - This pop-up menu manages how the texts overlap with themselves and with other elements (nodes, lines) according to their relative Z- depth positions. Read Write will force the text to render according to their Z positions in space.The far elements render first and the near ones are layered behind. The sorting update dynamically. In certain cases, a node or a text may pass over another one. This parameter appears along with the Depth Sorting option located in the Rendering Group that performs a strict nodes index-sorting according to their Z positions.

Text Loop Steps - Changes the step size of the loop. With a default value of 1, every node is coupled with a text line. With a value of 5, only one node along 5 will receive a text line. This parameter is interesting for scattering the text onto the form.

Text Probability - Adjusts the probability for a node to be coupled with a line of text.

Text Completion - Draws the texts progressively.

Custom Text - This editor provides a basic interface to edit custom text or to import a text file in the "rtf " or "txt " format.

Rendering

The Rendering Group contains several functions controlling the global aspect of the composition.

Depth Sorting - This option performs a strict nodes indice-sorting according to their location in the Z-positions. The far elements render first and the near ones are layered behind. The sorting updates dynamically. In certain cases, a node or a text may pass over one another. To take advantage of this layering feature, each module rendering geometry (Nodes, Text, Lines) must have their Depth Testing parameters set to Read Write.

Depth Effects

With the depth effect you can apply variance in the opacity, color, or luminance of the graphic elements simulating distance from a viewpoint. This results in a better perception of volume and perspective. Nodes provides several depth modes to change the color and the intensity of the graphic element, depending on the position. The amplitude and the offset of the effect are adjustable.

Depth Effects - This pop-up menu provides 4 different effects:

Opacity - Applies a simple opacity variance to the elements based on their Z position.
Luminosity - Applies a variance to the luminosity based on the distance.
Luminosity and Opacity - Combines the 2 previous modes.
Fog - Creates a natural fog effect where the color of the element progressively fades with the custom Fog Color.

Depth Space - This menu offers 2 ways to evaluate the Depth Effects:

Model - The depth effect is evaluated in Model Space and is not affected by camera motion or displacement of the form.
World - The depth effect is evaluated in World Space and is dynamic according to the camera position and form transformation. With this mode, the fog or depth effect decreases in a natural way when the form moves closer to the viewer.

Depth Start Distance - Sets the Z position where the Depth effect starts to increase.

Depth Start Distance - Adjusts the space amplitude of the Depth effect.

Depth Influence - Controls the influence of the Depth Effects on the original colors and opacities of the elements.

Hide Nodes - This pop-up menu lets you hide multiple nodes according to their Z position. The function is interesting for splitting front and back elements into separated layers, with the intention to insert something (image, text, etc.) inside the form.

If Z Position is Greater Than - Hides the nodes with a Z position greater than the Hide Distance.
If Z Position is Lower Than - Hides the nodes with a Z position lower than the Hide Distance.

Hide Distance - Defines a position in Z space to hide the nodes.

Disable Node(s) - This pop-up menu provides several options to isolate a single or a group of nodes according to a condition and an index.

Disable Index - Sets the index to be used as a value by the conditional operator.

Quality Options

Anti - Aliasing - Enables the hardware-assisted anti-aliasing.

Motion Blur - Enables motion blur at different quality settings. The higher the quality, the more samples are used to render the final scene.

Off - the scene is rendered without motion blur
Low - renders a few samples per frame
Medium
High - renders with the highest number of samples (slowest setting, highest quality)

Texture Size

Nodes Texture Size - Sets the resolution of the texture of the nodes.

Text Texture Size - Sets the resolution of the texture of the text when the Accelerated Fonts option is disabled.

Probability

Probability Seed - Change the global seed for the nodes, text and line probabilities. Please see details about the probability parameters in The Nodes section.

Nodes Tutorials and Quick Start Guides

Nodes User Guide Introduction

What’s new in Nodes ?

Replicator

Presets Browser for all Hosts

300 Presets and Templates

Revamped Animation Module

Probabilities

Transform

Grid Gap and Offset

Radial offsets

Colors

Connections

Fixed size points

Organisation of the Plug-in

Indicative Methodology

Oscillator

Oscillator Axis

Animation

Camera

Transform

Form

Orientation

Primitives

Nodes

Probability Parameters

Nodes Size

Nodes Color

Effects

Effect Menu

Replicator

Projection

Morphing

One by One

Highlight by Index

Auto - Highlight

Connections

Random

Text Script

Serial

Stick to a Point

Parent Point

Free Position

Distance

Triangulation (OBJ Only)

Lines

Controlling the Curves

Text

Rendering

Depth Effects

Quality Options

Texture Size

Probability