Panels & Layout

ArcBrush uses a dockable panel system. Drag panels to rearrange them, pop them out into separate OS windows for multi-monitor setups, and save custom workspace presets.

Panels

Six panels are available:

Panel	Purpose
Library	Browse and search all node types. Drag nodes from here onto the canvas. A Favorites section at the top shows nodes you’ve starred.
Node Graph	The main canvas where you build and wire your node graph.
Preview	Displays the output of the selected (or locked) node. See Preview Panel for details.
Properties	Shows parameters for the currently selected node.
Application Log	Scrollable log of app events, warnings, and errors. Useful for troubleshooting.
Generation Log	History of all AI generations with timestamps, models, costs, and prompts.

Rearranging Panels

Drag a panel’s title bar to detach it. As you drag, drop targets highlight to show where the panel will land. You can dock panels as tabs alongside other panels, or split them into their own region above, below, or beside existing panels.

Your layout saves automatically between sessions. The next time you open ArcBrush, every panel returns to where you left it.

Pop-Out Windows

Pop any panel out into its own OS window by dragging it outside the main window, or by right-clicking a panel tab and choosing Pop Out. This is useful for multi-monitor setups where you want the Preview or Properties panel on a second display.

Each popped-out window has an Always on Top toggle in its title bar menu, so you can keep a reference panel visible above other applications.

To return a popped-out panel to the main window, drag it back onto a dock target or close the pop-out window (the panel reappears in its last docked position).

Text and UI elements rescale cleanly when you move a popped-out panel between monitors with different DPI settings.

The Window menu provides centralized layout control:

Show/hide toggles for every panel. Hidden panels can be recalled at any time.
Reset Layout returns all panels to the default arrangement (with a confirmation dialog).
Lock Layout prevents accidental rearrangement. When locked, panel title bars cannot be dragged and pop-out/close actions are disabled.

Workspace Presets

A workspace is a saved panel arrangement. Switch between workspaces to adapt your layout to different tasks.

Open Window > Workspace to access:

Preset	Description
Default	Balanced four-panel layout for general editing.
Big Graph	Maximizes the Node Graph canvas for building large pipelines.
Vertical	Stacks panels vertically for portrait or narrow displays.

Custom Workspaces

Save Workspace As… saves the current panel arrangement under a custom name.
Manage Workspaces… opens a dialog where you can rename or delete saved workspaces. Built-in presets (Default, Big Graph, Vertical) cannot be removed.

Workspace names can be up to 128 characters. Built-in preset names are reserved and case-insensitive.

Parameter Presets

Every node has a gear menu in the Properties panel header for saving and reusing its settings. The menu lets you:

Save Preset… stores the node’s current parameter values under a name.
Load a preset from the list of presets saved for that node type. Loading applies as a single undoable change, so one Ctrl+Z reverts every value at once.
Reset to Defaults returns the node to its shipped values.
Manage Presets… opens a dialog to rename, delete, share a preset as a file, or import one.

Presets are per-node-type: a preset saved on one Blur node is available to every Blur node, but not to other node types.

Compact Properties

By default each parameter in the Properties panel stacks its label above its control. Turn on Compact Properties to put the label and control on one line instead, aligned into a tidy two-column form that shortens the panel. Labels too long to fit on one line keep their own row rather than being clipped.

The option is off by default and toggles from the View menu or Settings > Interface > Display.