Apple Shake 4 Tutorials - Manual (Page 19)

Chapter 1 Shake Basics 19
11 Drag a selection box around all the nodes, then press L on your keyboard to line them
up. You can also right-click in the Node View and choose Node Layout > Layout
Selected from the shortcut menu.
Viewing Images, Parameters, and Channels
Each node represents a function or operation that can be viewed or modified. In this
case, these are FileIn nodes that reference images from your disk directories. As shown
in the previous illustration, image thumbnails appear above the nodes. If there is an
accompanying alpha channel, a thumbnail includes transparency, as well. To test this,
drag the mid node over the background node in the node tree and you’ll create a mini-
composite. Does this help you composite at all? No, but it gives you a quick preview of
what the composite might look like.
To create an actual composite, you must connect the nodes. This happens in a
moment, so stop fidgeting.
Working With Thumbnails
When working with thumbnails, bear in mind the following:
• The thumbnails represent the frame at the time of file loading.
• To refresh for the current frame, select the node and press R with the pointer in the
Node View.