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Dropping Connections on Top of Nodes
To make your life a bit easier, you can also drag a connection line and drop it directly on top of the tile of a node to automatically connect to the default input of that node, which is usually labeled “background” or “input.” In the following example, a connection is dragged from the output of a
MediaIn node and dropped onto the tile of a Blur1 node, and the background input is connected first.
Before (top), and after (bottom) dragging a connection line and dropping it on top of a node.
If you drop a connection on top of a node that already has the background input connected, then the second most important connection will be attached, which for multi-input nodes is the foreground input, and for other single-use nodes may be the Effects Mask input.
Before (top), and after (bottom) dragging a connection line and dropping it on top of a node that has
the background input already connected.
Some multi-input nodes are capable of adding inputs to accommodate many connections, such as the Merge3D node. These nodes simply add another input whenever you drop a connection onto them.
After dragging a connection line and dropping it on top of a Merge3D node.
Attaching Connections to Specific Inputs
If you want to make sure you don’t attach a connection to the default input of a node, then you need to drop it right on top of the specific node input you want to attach it to. If you can see the input’s label in the tooltip bar, then you know you’re correctly positioned to make a good connection.
However, there’s an alternate method of connecting nodes together in instances where there are several inputs to choose from and you want to make sure you’re choosing the correct one. Hold down the Option key while dragging a connection from one node’s output and dropping it onto the body of another node. This opens a pop-up menu from which you can choose the specific input you want to connect to, by name. Please note that this menu only appears after you’ve dropped the connection on the node and released your pointing device’s button.
Option-dragging a node connection to drop onto another node exposes a node input menu.