RE - Icon Bar

This is an important element of the “Relationship Editor” and provides the most commonly used commands and functions in the form of small symbols. When you move the mouse over these icons you will see a tooltip.

Add new node

This menu is simply a copy of the “Edit” menu's “Add” entry. All nodes you create inside the “Relationship Editor” will automatically be added to the “Nodes” panel and the viewport(s) as well. The input field on top of the menu also provides a very convenient method for fast access to all nodes which fulfil the given criteria. You can also define whether a new node should be connected with the default “Hub” or not. Furthermore, it is possible to create a new “Hub” or a “Note” icon.

Add new Hub

If you need a new “Hub” node, please click on this symbol. To learn more about “Hub” nodes and their meaning, please take a look at this page.

Group selected nodes

The mode of operation is the same as with the “Group” command of the “Nodes” window: choose the desired objects and group them with this function. In the “Relationship Editor”, groups are represented by rectangular node symbols. When you double-click on it, the contained nodes are displayed in a light-grey area next to the “Group” symbol. The grouped nodes can be moved and arranged freely within this dynamically adapted area.

Explode selected groups

When you use this command, all elements of the selected group are ungrouped. The group node itself will also be removed, but not the contained nodes.

Ungroup selected nodes

To detach a selection of nodes from a group, this command can be used: open the group, choose the nodes and click on “Ungroup selected nodes”. If you want to remove the entire group, simply single-click on it and execute this command. The nodes will be “freed”, although the group node itself will be kept.

Remove selected

Multi- and single-selections of nodes and connections can be removed with this entry.

Frame all nodes

With this function, all nodes will be fit into the canvas. With very large scenes and lots of nodes, the node symbols will become very small, but you will get an overview over the scene’s layout.

Frame selected nodes

All currently selected icons will be resized and rearranged fit them into the canvas.

Center on selected nodes

The currently selected nodes will be positioned around the canvas’s centre.

Move selected nodes to a free place

Sometimes, node symbols are overlapping and hard to identify. This issue can be easily solved with this function: all selected nodes will be moved to a free space, while all existing connections are, of course, kept.

Add new note

This function adds an editable element to the canvas. Notes like this cannot be linked to other nodes, but added to a group. To make it distinguishable from other icons, the note is represented as a green rectangle. To add a comment, double-click on the upper part and type in your text.

Show implicit links/Hide implicit links

When nodes are connected via a “Hub” or gathered in a group, you can only see the links to and from the “Hub”/group, but not the individual lines between the symbols. These so-called implicit connections represent exactly the lines you have to draw when you link the nodes without a “Hub” or group. With these functions, all implicit lines are either made visible or hidden.

Press and hold to highlight nodes connected to selected

If you want to know which nodes are connected to the currently selected node, simply click and hold on this icon. All nodes without a connection are dimmed. Notes are not considered with this function and remain as they are.

Links spreadsheet…

In terms of connections between nodes, a spreadsheet can be seen as a table where all links are listed. But, there is more: it is also possible to remove or establish connections. The idea behind this table is to ease the transfer from the former “Exclusive Links” concept to the “Relationship Editor”, because the spreadsheet works similar as the previous method of creating links. Please see below to learn more about the spreadsheet’s functionality and mode of operation.

Auto Layout…

Very large arrangements with dozens or hundreds of nodes can become confusing and repositioning all elements by hand is a never-ending task. The “Auto Layout” function is a quick and fully customizable way to clear the canvas and separate the nodes from each other. For this purpose, the “Relationship Editor” provides an extra panel where you can control the layout process.

“Links spreadsheet...”

The “Relationship Editor's” spreadsheet provides another method to connect nodes. The idea is to ease the move from the former “Exclusive Links” system to the new editor. For a better understanding of its mode of operation, we start with a simple scene with some arbitrary elements – just to illustrate its mode of operation. Here, all connections have been removed. Now, the spreadsheet is opened with a click on the appropriate symbol of the “Icon Bar”.

The first thing you see is that all elements (except notes) of the scene are arranged in rows and columns. Additionally, some fields are completely grey, while others show a checkerboard background. Nodes, which share a filled field can be connected; nodes with “transparent” fields cannot be linked. You also have to bear in mind that each possible connection can only be established once. This is the reason why some fields are marked as transparent, although a connection between the associated nodes should be possible. Another thing to consider is that “Hubs” only appear in the horizontal row of the spreadsheet, daemons in the vertical column: it is not possible to connect a “Hub” or daemon with another one, or themselves.

Let's say you want to establish an exclusive link between “Triangle01” and “Vase01”. To do this, look for their common grey-filled field, right-click and select “Connect selected”. Another possibility is to double-click – this action can be used to create and remove connections.

The field turns yellow, The colour indicates that the emitter is linked with an object. Now, repeat this action for “Triangle01” and “Gravity01”. In this case, the result is a reddish-coloured field.

You also have the possibility of connecting nodes with groups. Such an action does not move nodes to groups – you will only establish a link between the selected elements and nodes inside the group. If you want to group objects it has to be done manually in the “Relationship Editor” or the “Nodes” panel. Here, “Vase01” and “Triangle01” should be linked with “Group01”. Ctrl-click into the common fields to multi-select the nodes, right-click and choose “Connect selected”.

Finally, click on “Apply” to establish the connections. Once this has been done, the links will be created. The spreadsheet editor remains open and you can proceed with further connections. Now you will also recognize that the colours in the spreadsheet editor represent the colours of the links between the nodes.

In the next step we assume that “Vase01” is a rigid body that can move and interact with “Hemisphere01”. Of course the vase is attracted by “Gravity01” as well. Again, multi-select the appropriate fields and choose “Connect selected”. This is the final result:

This example shows that the spreadsheet editor provides the same functionality as the “Relationship Editor – at least in terms of links. But, please be careful with very large amounts of objects, because in such a case the workflow might become slow. Therefore we recommend you use the “Relationship Editor”. There you have all possibilities and tools at your finger-tips, you can easily group and rearrange the nodes, and create your own “layout”. The spreadsheet is a rather inflexible system and more meant to support you during your first steps. Nevertheless, it is suited to get a quick overview.