Overview of the Interface

The main elements of the combustion user interface are the Workspace panel, Schematic view, Timeline, operator controls panel, Toolbar, and viewports.

You display and interact with operators in viewports. For example, you can show a composite and move layers, or you can show a Paint operator and move objects (shapes, masks, text). A viewport can also show the Schematic view.

Use the viewports to display operators at any point in the process tree, and to play clips in real time. As you work on projects, the results of your changes dynamically update in the viewport.

The Schematic view, Workspace panel, and Timeline offer different ways to see the process tree. Changes in one are reflected in the others. Use the Timeline to animate your projects over time.

You can select an operator to set its parameters in the operator controls panel. This panel and the Timeline are context sensitive, so they show parameters for the selected operator. For example, when you select the Composite operator or one of its layers in the Workspace panel, the Composite Controls panel appears.

The Toolbar shows the tools that you use as you work with operators. The Toolbar is also context sensitive; it shows the tools for the current operator.

When an operator appears in the viewport, it is the current operator; a selected operator is not necessarily the current operator.

Note: To see which operator is the current operator for a viewport, look at the title in the upper left corner.

There are several ways to display an operator in the viewport, or make it the current operator. One way is to double-click the operator in the Workspace panel.

When you make the Composite operator the current operator, for example, the context-sensitive Toolbar shows the tools for transforming layers and changing your view of the composite.

Detailed information on these, and the other elements in the combustion interface, is provided in the following sections of this chapter.