Network Navigation and Basic Rules

The basic rules of the Network view are quite simple. Once you understand them, a lot can be accomplished.

About Modules
Input and Output Ports
Adding Modules
Composite Module
Organizing Modules
Connecting and Disconnecting Modules
Cable Styles
Navigator Display
Panning the Network View

About Modules

Each element in the Network view is called a module. Modules are often referred to as nodes. There are several different types of modules:

Module

Description

Drawing Transfers drawing information.
Effect Processes effects on drawings and transfers drawing information.
Input/Output Act as the interface between each module and network.
Move Controls the camera and element transformations over time.
Compositing Combines multiple source images.

Input and Output Ports

Each module has an input port at the top and an output port at the bottom. Some are blue and others are light-green or bright green.

Blue indicates drawing information.

Light green indicates position and movement.

Bright green shows the element on top of the composition and outputs that element’s Z position to the Composite module. When many elements have different Z positions (multiplane, different distances from the camera) and are placed through a Composite module that flattens them together (producing one image with one Z value), the system needs to give a Z position to this new image. It uses the bright green port information.

Finally, some modules contain more than one input port. These are usually effect modules needing different drawing or position information in order to perform their calculation. When the two ports are blue, the Drawing is on the right and the Matte is on the left. If it is light green, the drawing needs extra position information.

Viewing Port Information

On each port is a tooltip which displays the source of input ports and the destination(s) of the output ports.

Navigating the Network View

You can navigate to the parent or child module of the selected module or selected cable in the Network view.

Adding Modules

Each module used to build a network is available in the Module Library view. In addition, each time you create a layer from the Timeline or Xsheet views, the corresponding module is created in the Network view.

Composite Module

The Composite module allows you to use several images and output a single image. You can compare that to doing pre-compositions in editing software. You connect several drawing modules in your Composite module and one bitmap comes out of it—see Composite Module.

By default, the image resulting from the Composite module is a bitmap. The layers are composited together depending on their position on the Z-axis (forward-backward) first, then their order in the Composite module. If two images are at the same position on the Z-axis, their order in the Composite will determine which one is displayed in front and which one is displayed behind.

Organizing Modules

When you are working in the Network view and adding many modules, your scene may look a bit messy and be difficult to follow. Harmony provides scripts which organize and display the modules in a more orderly fashion.

Connecting and Disconnecting Modules

Making or removing connections between modules is quite simple.

Cable Styles

You can customize the look of the cables in the Network view to fit your style of working. You can display the cable lines as Bezier (curved) lines or straight lines.

Navigator Display

The Navigator is a small square window inside the Network view that displays a bird's eye view of the network. The view displayed in the Network view is shown framed in the Navigator display. You can drag this frame to pan the current Network view display.

Showing or Hiding the Navigator

You can show or hide the Navigator from the Network view.

Positioning the Navigator

The Navigator display can be placed in any corner of the Network view.

Magnifying the Network view:

The magnifier helps you view the entire network so you can navigate and view the different modules.

Panning the Network View

When your networks grows more complex, you can pan the Network view to locate and work on specific modules.