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Comp networks

Put part of a comp inside one node - a Houdini-style container you can dive into, with its own inputs and output.

A Comp is a whole comp inside one node. From the outside it is a tile with up to four inputs and one output. Inside, it is an ordinary node graph that you build, view and edit like any other. Comps can hold Comps, as deep as you like.

A Comp is not a precomp. Nothing is baked: the nodes inside render with the rest of the script, on the GPU, cached tile by tile. Putting nodes in a Comp costs no speed.

Getting started

  1. Add a Comp (Tab, "comp"). It is born with an Output inside.
  2. Double-click it (or select it and press I or Enter) to go in. The breadcrumb at the top of the graph says where you are: Comp ▸ Comp1.
  3. Build as usual. Tab, the shelves, hotkeys, templates and paste all add nodes inside the Comp you are in.
  4. Add a CompInput for each thing the Comp needs from outside. Its index (1–4) is the pin on the Comp's tile it reads.
  5. Wire your result into the Output.
  6. Press U, click Comp in the breadcrumb, or double-click empty canvas to go back up. Wire the Comp's pins like any node.

Each level keeps its own pan and zoom, and a network you open for the first time is framed for you.

Collapse and explode

  • Shift+C collapses the selected nodes into a new Comp. Wires coming into the selection become pins and CompInput nodes, and the wire going out becomes the Output. The picture does not change.
  • Explode (a button on the Comp's panel) puts the contents back where the Comp was.

Both are one undo step.

Names and expressions

Names are per network: two Comps can each hold a Merge1. An expression reads Merge1.mix from its own network first, then its parents, then the top level. To reach into a Comp from anywhere, write the path: Comp1/Merge1.mix.

Viewing

The viewer can show any node at any level. Select a node inside a Comp and press 1, as usual. The Comp's own tile shows its output.

Known edges

  • A Comp uses the project's format, frame range and fps. A per-Comp format is not built.
  • One Output per Comp. The lowest-numbered Output inside is the one that counts.
  • A Comp with no Output inside says so on its tile ("no Output inside: nothing comes out").
  • 3D scene lookups by name are still project-wide.