UI Panels and Windows

When you start RealFlow for the very first time you will see a standard layout with several panels. The size, position, and type of these panels can be configured freely, and saved as a template.

“Panels” are elements of the RealFlow UI. They can be rearranged, made to float, resized, collapsed, and closed.
“Windows” are tools, operating in a separate window. These tools cannot be docked and added to RealFlow's layout. In most cases, a window has to be closed to get access to the underlying UI panels.

Please bear in mind that all changes to panels are only temporary and will be lost the next time you start RealFlow. Therefore it is necessary to → save the layout.

Resizing

Move your mouse over a panel's borders. Now, the mouse pointer changes its shape, and you can resize the panel by holding the left mouse button pressed, and dragging the mouse.

Changing a Panel's Type and Splitting the Viewports

In a panel's headline bar you can see several small icons:

A panel's type can be changed with the first icon (1). Simply choose the panel's content from the drop-down menu. Panels that are already visible are greyed out.

The second icon (2) in the upper left corner is used to split an existing panel, and add a new panel. You have up to three options:

Collapsing, (Un-) Docking, Closing

Every panel contains another set of icons (3-5) in the upper right corner. With the first symbol, the panel is collapsed, the second one converts it to a floating window (“undocking”), and a click on the last icon closes the panel, and removes it from the UI. The interface will reconfigure automatically.

Floating panels can be dragged to other positions and docked again. To do this, drag the panel's title bar, e.g. “Nodes” or “Messages” to the desired position. RealFlow will show you through semi-transparent, and magnetic frames, where the panel will be placed. In order to attach the panel, release the mouse.

Adding Floating Panels

A new floating (= undocked) panel can be created from the “Layout” menu. There you will find the entire range of available panels. Simply choose one item from the list, and it will appear. A floating panel can be docked by dragging its title bar to a new position.

Tool Windows

In RealFlow's → “Tools” shelf you will find a wide variety of helpers, e.g. selection, retiming, or measuring tools. All these tools will open in new windows, but they cannot be attached to the user interface. You have to close a tool window before you can access the underlying layout panels again. Here is an exemplary screenshot from the → "Create Array" tool window: