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Selecting and Deselecting Nodes
In order to work with nodes in the Node Editor in any way, or modify node parameters in the Inspector, you first need to learn to select the node or nodes you want to work with.
Selecting Nodes
Selecting nodes is one of the most fundamental things you can do to move nodes or target them for different operations. There are a variety of methods you can use.
— To select a single node: Click any node in the Node Editor.
— To select multiple nodes one at a time: Command-click each node you want to select.
— To select a whole region of nodes: Drag a bounding box around all nodes you want to select.
— To select all upstream or downstream nodes: Right-click a node and choose Select > Upstream Nodes/Downstream Nodes from the contextual menu.
— To select all nodes in the Node Editor: Press Command-A.
— To select a node from the Keyframe Editor: Click any layer in the Keyframe Editor to select the corresponding node in the Node Editor.
The Active Node
When you select a single node using any of the methods described above, the selected node is known as the active node, and is highlighted orange to indicate that its parameters are currently editable
in the Inspector (if the Inspector is open). This also indicates that node will be targeted for specific operations (such as inserting new nodes).
While multiple nodes can be selected, only one node will be the active node. To indicate the difference, the active node remains highlighted with orange, while all other selected nodes are highlighted with white. Unselected nodes have simple black outlines.
The active node is highlighted orange, while other selected nodes are highlighted white.
— Option-click one of the selected nodes in the Node Editor to make that one the active node.
— Open the Inspector (if necessary), and click a node’s header bar to make it the active node.