Preview Panel
The Preview Panel shows the output of the selected node in real time. It updates automatically as you change parameters, make connections, or select different nodes.
Zoom & Pan
Section titled “Zoom & Pan”Zoom with the mouse wheel. The image zooms toward the cursor position, so the pixel under your mouse stays in place.
Zoom snaps to clean stops for artifact-free display:
6.25% · 12.5% · 25% · 50% · 75% · 100% · 150% · 200% · 300% · 400% · 600% · 800% · 1000% · 1600% · 2400% · 3200%
| Action | Control |
|---|---|
| Zoom in / out | Mouse wheel |
| Fit to window | F or Ctrl+0 |
| 1:1 actual pixels | Ctrl+1 |
| Pan | Left-click drag or middle-click drag |
The toolbar also has zoom in, zoom out, fit, and 1:1 buttons.
Pixel Grid
Section titled “Pixel Grid”At 10x zoom (1000%) and above, a pixel grid appears showing individual pixel boundaries. This is especially useful for pixel art and precise editing work.
Preview Resolution
Section titled “Preview Resolution”A Preview Resolution control next to the zoom controls sets how much detail the main preview (including the single-frame batch view) draws:
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Auto (default) | Draws large images at reduced detail while you are zoomed out or actively editing, and at full detail once you zoom in close. |
| Full | Always draws at full detail. |
| 1/2 / 1/4 | Always draws at reduced detail, for the smoothest editing on very large images. |
Auto keeps large images responsive, so scrubbing a parameter or panning a large photo no longer briefly pauses the editor. The control only affects how the preview is drawn; processing and exports always use the full-resolution image.
Channel Isolation
Section titled “Channel Isolation”View individual color channels to inspect your image data. Each channel displays as a grayscale image.
| Channel | Shortcut | Shows |
|---|---|---|
| RGBA | (default) | Full color composite |
| Red | R | Red channel as grayscale |
| Green | G | Green channel as grayscale |
| Blue | B | Blue channel as grayscale |
| Alpha | A | Alpha/transparency as grayscale |
Press the same key again to return to the full RGBA view. The channel buttons also appear in the toolbar with color-coded text when active.
Histogram
Section titled “Histogram”Press H to toggle a live histogram overlay at the bottom of the preview.
- Color images show separate Red, Green, and Blue channel distributions overlaid with additive blending.
- Mask / grayscale images show a single luminance histogram.
- The distribution draws as a smooth filled shape, using square-root scaling to show detail across the full tonal range without compressing highlights.
- Hover a pixel to mark it on the histogram: a line at the pixel’s brightness, tinted with the hovered color, plus thin red, green, and blue lines at each channel’s value.
- Drag the top edge of the histogram strip to resize it.
Tile Preview
Section titled “Tile Preview”Press T to toggle a 3x3 tiled grid that repeats the image in all directions. This is essential for:
- Checking seamless textures for visible seams
- Previewing patterns and noise for tiling artifacts
- Verifying offset wraps look correct
Tile boundaries are shown with subtle double-line borders (black + white) for visibility on any background. The borders are hidden when overlays are turned off.
Background Modes
Section titled “Background Modes”Click the background button in the toolbar to cycle through three modes:
| Mode | Use case |
|---|---|
| Checkerboard (default) | See transparent areas clearly |
| Black | Preview how the image looks on a dark surface |
| White | Preview how the image looks on a light surface |
Preview Lock
Section titled “Preview Lock”By default, the preview updates to show whichever node you select in the graph. Locking pins the preview to a specific node so you can edit other nodes while watching the locked node’s output.
| Action | Control |
|---|---|
| Toggle lock | L or click the lock icon |
When locked:
- An orange border appears around the preview panel.
- A “Preview Locked” badge shows the locked node’s name.
- Selecting other nodes in the graph does not change the preview.
- If the locked node is deleted, the lock automatically releases.
Viewer Slots
Section titled “Viewer Slots”Viewer Slots let you compare up to nine node outputs side by side in a live grid. Hover a node in the graph and press a number key 1-9 to pin its output to that numbered slot. The preview splits into a grid showing every pinned slot, and each slot keeps its own manipulator so you can pan and zoom them independently.
| Action | Control |
|---|---|
| Pin node under cursor to a slot | 1-9 |
| Solo a single slot | Shift+1-9 |
| Make a slot follow the current selection | Shift+0 |
Slots update live as you edit, so you can tweak one node and watch the result against the others. Slot assignments are saved with the project and every change is undoable.
Overlay Visibility
Section titled “Overlay Visibility”Interactive nodes (Corner Pin, Mesh Warp, Roto, Paint, etc.) draw manipulator handles over the preview. Press O to cycle through visibility modes:
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Always (default) | Handles always visible |
| Auto | Handles appear only when your mouse is over the preview |
| Never | Handles completely hidden |
A status badge in the corner indicates the current mode when it’s not “Always.”
Node Bypass
Section titled “Node Bypass”Press D while previewing a node to bypass it. The preview temporarily shows the upstream input instead of the node’s output. This is a quick way to compare before/after without disconnecting wires. The bypass is a full undo-able action that updates the graph.
Variant Viewing
Section titled “Variant Viewing”When previewing a node that outputs a Batch (like Palette Remap), you get two view modes:
Grid View
Section titled “Grid View”Click the “All” button to see every variant at once in an auto-sized grid. Each variant is labeled with its palette slot name. Click any variant to switch to single view.
Single Variant View
Section titled “Single Variant View”View one variant at a time. Colored tab buttons along the top show each variant’s palette slot color. Click a tab to switch variants. The active variant has a white border highlight.
Pixel Readout
Section titled “Pixel Readout”Hover over any pixel to see its values in a badge at the bottom-left corner:
- Coordinates: X and Y pixel position in the image
- Channel values: R, G, B, A values (0–255)
- Hex color: The pixel color as a hex code
Right-click any pixel to copy its hex color to the clipboard.
When tile mode is on, coordinates wrap to the original image dimensions so you always see meaningful values.
Palette Preview
Section titled “Palette Preview”When previewing a node that outputs Palette data (like the Palette node), the panel shows a grid of color swatches with slot names. Right-click any swatch to copy its hex color.
Interactive Tool Overlays
Section titled “Interactive Tool Overlays”Some nodes provide interactive editing directly in the preview:
| Node | Overlay |
|---|---|
| Corner Pin | Four draggable corner handles |
| Mesh Warp | Grid of bezier control points |
| Roto | Bezier spline editor with control points and tangent handles |
| Paint | Brush cursor with size preview |
| Mask Paint | Brush/eraser cursor with size preview |
| Transform | Translate/rotate/scale manipulator |
| Text | Drag-position and rotation handles |
| Gradient | Start/end point handles |
| Crop | Edge and corner resize handles |
| Scatter | Area region rectangle, or Circular center and radius handles |
Roto & Mask Paint: Show Source
Section titled “Roto & Mask Paint: Show Source”Roto and Mask Paint nodes output a mask (single-channel). The “Show Source” button in their toolbar overlays the upstream image behind the mask so you can see what you’re masking. The mask coverage appears as a semi-transparent red overlay.
Tool-Specific Toolbars
Section titled “Tool-Specific Toolbars”Interactive nodes add a secondary toolbar with their own controls:
- Roto: Select (V), Pen (B), Rectangle (R), Ellipse (E), auto-smooth toggle, Show Source
- Mask Paint: Brush (B), Eraser (E), size ([ / ]), hardness, opacity, Show Source
- Paint: Brush (B), Eraser (E), Eyedropper (I), Clone Stamp (C), color picker, size, hardness, opacity
Manipulator Constraints & Snapping
Section titled “Manipulator Constraints & Snapping”While dragging any manipulator handle in the preview, two modifier keys refine the drag:
| Modifier | Action |
|---|---|
| Hold Shift | Constrain the drag. A move locks to one axis, a scale keeps its proportions, and a rotation snaps to 15° steps. |
| Hold Ctrl (Cmd on macOS) | Snap the handle onto the image frame’s edges, corners, center, and (optionally) thirds. |
Snapping is configured under View > Manipulator Snapping: Enabled (on by default) turns Ctrl-snapping on or off, and Snap to Thirds (off by default) adds the rule-of-thirds lines as snap targets.
On the Paint and Mask Paint nodes, holding Shift while painting draws a straight horizontal or vertical stroke from where the stroke began.
Processing Indicator
Section titled “Processing Indicator”When a node is actively computing, a red border and “Processing…” badge appear on the preview. This only shows for operations that take longer than 150ms to avoid flashing on fast updates.
Empty State
Section titled “Empty State”When a node has no image to show and nothing is processing, the panel displays the reason instead of going blank:
| Message | Meaning |
|---|---|
| File not found. | A source file the node depends on is missing or could not be read. |
| Upstream failed | A node earlier in the chain errored, so there is no input to display. |
| No output | The node ran but produced nothing to preview. |
Quick Reference
Section titled “Quick Reference”| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
F / Ctrl+0 | Fit to window |
Ctrl+1 | 1:1 zoom |
L | Toggle preview lock |
O | Cycle overlay visibility |
H | Toggle histogram |
T | Toggle tile preview |
R | Toggle red channel |
G | Toggle green channel |
B | Toggle blue channel |
A | Toggle alpha channel |
D | Bypass node (show upstream) |
| Mouse wheel | Zoom in/out |
| Left-click drag | Pan |
| Right-click pixel | Copy hex color |