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The node editor

The node editor is built around a clear, left‑to‑right signal flow. You build a simple pipeline out of four kinds of nodes and connect them with wires.

The big picture​

Video flows from left to right through four node types:

Input → Process → Switching → Output

  • Input nodes are your sources (video files, images, cameras, screens, shaders, text, etc.).
  • Process nodes apply effects like crop and flip.
  • Switching nodes combine or choose between streams — either stacking them into layers, or picking which stream goes live on the A/B decks.
  • Output node is the end of the chain — what actually shows on your program output.

You connect nodes by dragging from one node's port (the little coloured dot) to another's. Wires come in three colours:

  • Blue wires carry a video stream.
  • Red wires carry an A/B deck selection (only between A/B Select nodes and the Output node).
  • Yellow wires carry a single raw audio stream (clip audio, mic, effect in/out, mixer inputs).
  • Orange wires carry mixed or output-ready audio (mixer output, shader audio-in, Audio Output device ports). See Audio nodes and Audio effect nodes.

Adding nodes​

  • Clips / sources are added through the Add Element menu (including Mic Input…), or by dragging media files onto the canvas. See Clip elements.
  • Everything else is added from the canvas right‑click menu:
    • Add Input Node… – add another source
    • Add Process Node → Crop / Flip / Rotate / Opacity / Chroma Key / Blur / Sharpen / Keystone / Polygonal Masking / Remove Background
    • Add Switching Node → Layer / A/B Deck Select
    • Add Audio Effect Node → (effect list)
    • Add Audio Output, Add Audio Mixer, Add Audio Capture, Add Mic Input, and audio/data nodes. See Audio nodes for routing, mixers, and effects.
    • Script nodes — Script Node, Audio Script Node, and Trigger Node for live data and audio‑reactive visuals.
  • The Output node appears automatically as soon as your graph has at least one node. There is always exactly one, and it can't be deleted while other nodes exist.

The four node types​

1. Input nodes (your sources)​

Each source is now a clean node with a single blue output port on its right edge — that's the video stream leaving the node.

  • Click Edit to open that source's settings (trim a video, pick a camera, edit a shader, etc.).
  • Video and image inputs keep their trim controls but no longer have crop — cropping now lives on a Process node.
  • Sources with audio still have a yellow audio port and can be wired to an Audio Output device port, through mixers and effects, as before.

Inputs no longer have A/B buttons or transform controls — those jobs moved to the Switching nodes.

2. Process nodes (effects)​

A Process node has one blue input (left) and one blue output (right). It applies a single effect to whatever passes through — Crop, Flip, Rotate, Opacity, Chroma Key, Blur, Sharpen, Keystone / Perspective, Polygonal Masking, and Remove Background (on builds with segmentation). Click Edit to adjust each effect's settings.

Chain as many as you like, in any order — effects are applied in the order they're connected. For example: Input → Crop → Flip → Blur → …. You can also drag a Process node onto an existing wire to splice it into the chain.

Tip: Process nodes attach directly to an Input (or to another Process node). Put your crops/flips before you stack things into a Layer.

3a. Layer node (stacking / compositing)​

A Layer node stacks several video streams on top of each other on a shared canvas.

  • It has several blue inputs and one blue output. It always keeps one empty input at the bottom — just connect a stream to it and a new empty slot appears, so you never run out.
  • Each connected input shows a row with:
    • an eye icon – toggle that layer's visibility on/off,
    • the layer name (double‑click to rename),
    • ▲ / ▼ arrows – move the layer up or down in the stack.
  • Order matters: the bottom row is the bottom‑most layer, and the top row sits on top — just like a layers panel in an image editor.
  • Click Edit Layout to open the canvas editor, where you drag and resize each layer to place it. Use Edit Canvas Size to change the composition resolution.

The Layer node replaces the old "transform context" node.

3b. A/B Deck Select node (going live)​

This is the central place to decide what plays on your A and B decks. See A/B Select node.

  • It has several blue inputs (again with an always‑available empty slot) and one red output.
  • Each input row has a name (double‑click to rename) and an [A] [B] pair of buttons — click one to send that stream to deck A or deck B.
  • You can have more than one A/B Select node, and they all behave as one big A/B switcher: only one stream can be on A and one on B at any time across all of them.
  • The [A] [B] buttons are disabled until the node's red output is connected to the Output node — that's your cue to wire it up first.

4. Output node​

The single endpoint of your graph. See Output node. It accepts either:

  • one blue video stream — shown directly, with no crossfade (the crossfader and transitions are disabled); or
  • one or more red wires from A/B Select nodes — this enables the usual A/B crossfader and transitions.

You can't mix blue and red into the Output — it's one or the other.

Two ways to run a show​

Simple single stream (no mixing):

Input → (Process…) → Layer → Output

Whatever you build lands straight on the program output. Great for a fixed composition.

Full A/B mixing:

Input → (Process…) ┐
Input → (Process…) ┤→ A/B Select → Output
Input ──────────── ┘

Assign streams to A and B, then use the crossfader and transitions to mix between them live. Add a Layer node before the A/B Select if a deck should be a multi‑layer composite.

Handy behaviors​

  • No reloading while you tinker. Moving nodes, editing transforms, toggling a layer's eye, reordering layers, or renaming things won't re‑open your video files. Sources are only reloaded when you genuinely change which clip is playing.
  • Swapping A↔B is instant. Moving the same clip between decks (or swapping the two decks' clips) reuses what's already playing instead of reloading from disk, so playback keeps its position.
  • Wires run straight. Connection wires leave and enter nodes horizontally, perpendicular to the node edge.