Align Nodes



  • Where to find them: 


    • NodeGraph / Right Mouse Click / Layout / 


    • Main Window / Extension Pack / Nodegraph /  Layout /



  • Shortcut (Nodegraph Only): CTRL+ALT + Arrow Left/Right/Up/Down

  • Shortcut (Nodegraph Only): Q + Mouse Move Up, Down, Left, Right

   



Using the Node Alignment Options you can align Nodes or Backdrops with each other (Left, Right, Top, Bottom).

Alignment can be done using the Right Mouse Click Menu or the Hotkeys CTRL + ALT + Arrow Left/Right/Up/Down.
Alignment of nodes is also available in the Mouse Movement based Align & Distribute feature


Node Alignment reacts differently depending on context. Please find the different behaviors explained below.






The Functions are available in multiple ways


  • Use the assigned Shortcuts e.g. CTRL+ALT+Arrow Left/Right/Up/Down
  • Access it via the Nodegraph Right Mouse Click Context Menu in the "Layout" Subsection.
  • The most intuitive method is to use the Mouse Movement based Align & Distribute feature

    This can be done by holding down Q and moving the mouse in a direction



If you press the Modifier Key ALT+Q the Alignment Features run per Node Stream.





The basic functionality is easy - detect the highest or lowest x or y coordinate of any node in your selection and move all nodes to that particular x or y value.


Example of using Align Top, Align Bottom,Align Left, Align Right to align a selection of nodes to the highest or lowest position


By using the the "Node Stream Aware" modification of Align Nodes - accessible for example by pressing ALT+Q - alignment is evaluated per Node stream, allowing you to align nodes without snapping them all to a common axis position



If your selection includes a Backdrop, the tools will automatically work in 'Backdrop Mode', even if normal nodes are selected.

Backdrops will be aligned with each other, Nodes move with Backdrops and aligning works based on Height & Width of Backdrops as well.


Example of aligning Backdrops 

If only a single node is selected, while executing top/bottom align, the Node will step through the different positions of the neighboring nodes.


Depending on if ports are visible on a neighboring node, the node will align to the port it is connected to first before aligning with the top of the connected node.

Repeated executing of the alignment will step through all available positions.




If you use left/right align with a single node selection, the node will nudge against the connected node forming a straight line.




Many of the "Single Node" align behaviors can be batched, if selecting multiple nodes from different, unconnected node streams and using the "Stream Aware" Version of the Node Align Tools (for example accessible via

ALT+Q+Mouse Move)




If your selection consists of dot nodes that share a common input port connection, aligning dot nodes to the same location will automatically merge the dot nodes into a single dot.





Node Thumbnails created via the Image Annotation System exhibit some special behavior when aligned. You can use node align top/bottom to pin a thumbnail to the top/bottom

of its target node. The pinning is maintained when regenerating the thumbnail




Align Top and Align Bottom are available in two flavours - Node Stream Aware and Node Stream unaware


Difference between classic Align and Stream Aware Alignment



Many of the "Single Node" align behaviors can be batched, if selecting multiple nodes from different, unconnected node streams and using the "Stream Aware" Version of the Node Align Tools (for example accessible via ALT+Q+Mouse Move)