Basics Compositing operation handles

This handle defines a rectangular area. Left dragging a corner or edge moves that corner or edge. Shift Left dragging the box moves the entire handle without changing its shape. Ctrl Left dragging a corner or an edge moves that corner or edge and its opposite pair (in the opposite direction), uniformly scaling the box.

The frame range handle is available on all Generator COPs that do not have inputs.

The thick handles at the beginning and end of the sequence are used to change the start and length of the sequence. Dragging the top part of this handle (with the | symbol) will shift the entire handle in time. Dragging the bottom part of the handle (with the < or > symbol) changes the start or end time.

The thin outer handles control the “Hold For N Frames” extend condition, and only appear if the Pre or Post Extend is set to “Hold for N Frames”. Dragging these handles changes the number of frames the first or last frame is held for.

The ladder handle is an invisible handle which is activated by holding over a number in the interface and dragging on the background. Some COPs do not have a parameter tied to the ladder handle. The parameter tied to this handle is outlined in red in the Parameter dialog.

The Ramp handles are used by the Ramp COP. Left clicking on a Ramp handle pops up a color picker for that handle. Left dragging the handle changes its position in the image. To add more Ramp handles, Shift Left click on the background where you want the new handle to appear.

In the handle menu, the interpolation options for the ramp handle’s segment can be selected, and the ramp handle can be removed.

The range handle defines a range of frames, with optional drop-off regions before and after the range. It works in exactly the same way as the frame range handle.

The resolution handle is available on all Generator COPs which do not have an input. It has three parts - the X control, the Y res control and the XY control (corner handle). Dragging the X or Y res control increases or decreases the resolution of the image in either X or Y. Dragging the XY control changes both. If you Shift Left drag any part of this handle, it will increase or decrease the resolution while maintaining the original aspect ratio.

The rotate handle controls a single rotation value and a pivot location. The center of the handle always sits at the pivot location. To change the rotation, grab the circle at any point and left drag it to its new angle. To constrain to 45 degree increments, hold down Shift while dragging.

To change the pivot location, Ctrl+Left drag the rotate circle until its center is at the desired location.

The scale handle consists of 4 parts, one pair of handles for each axis. Left dragging the horizontal axis scale handles will scale horizontally, while left dragging the vertical scale handles will do the same vertically. Shift+Left dragging any part of the handle will uniformly scale in both X and Y.

The Spline Point handle is used by Roto Spline and has many different parts.

The point itself is the large circle in the center of the spline point. Left dragging this point moves the handle. Left clicking this point “breaks” the continuity of the spline at that point by allowing the tangents to move independently - the point will change to a diamond to indicate this. Left clicking again will tie the tangents back together.

Each tangent has a pin handle, with a line and a end point. Left dragging the end point moves the end point, changing both the length and the angle of the tangent. Shift+Left dragging this point changes the length of the other tangent as well (and its angle, if the tangents are independent). Shift-dragging this point only changes its length, leaving the angle untouched.

Left dragging the line part of the tangent handle only changes its angle. Shift-dragging the line changes the angle of the other tangent, if the tangents are independent.

The shift handle is a simple handle used to shift a sequence in time. Left drag either part of the handle to move the sequence forward or backward in time.

The shuffle handles are used by the Shuffle COP. Left dragging one of the frames' handle will move that frame forward or backward in time, shifting all the frames around it to fill the space left by the frame. Shift+Left dragging swaps the dragged frame with the frame it is dragged to. The number under the handle shows the original input frame number.

The translate handle moves the image in X and Y. Left dragging the center circle moves freely in both directions, while left dragging any of the arrows moves only in that axis.