Start
The menus
Every item of the menu bar, menu by menu. The keys shown are the defaults. Right-click any menu item to give it another shortcut (see Everyday tools); every key is also listed in Keyboard shortcuts.
File
| Item | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| New... | Ctrl+N | Starts a new project. With the preference on, it first asks for the project's settings, name and folder, and saves it there at once. |
| Open... | Ctrl+O | Opens a project (.joscomp), or a Nuke script or gizmo as a new comp. To add files to the comp you have, use Import File. |
| Open Recent | The projects opened last. Clear recent empties the list. | |
| Import File... | Ctrl+Shift+O | Brings any file JOS reads into the comp, exactly as dropping it in the middle of the node editor would: a Nuke script (.nk) is rebuilt with JOS nodes and matching settings, with a report of what didn't come across, and a .gizmo becomes a Nest (see Everyday tools); a JOS project (.joscomp) has its nodes pasted in, not opened; images, sequences, movies and .braw clips become Reads; sounds AudioReads; .svg files Vector Graphics (see SVG import); DaVinci Resolve grades (.drx) a DaVinci Resolve Renderer node applying them (see Everyday tools); USD, Alembic, FBX and OBJ files ReadUSD; splats ReadSplat; .vdb volumes ReadVDB. Pick several files at once, or press Next to bring each in and stay in the browser for the next one. Each import is one undo step. |
| Export Nuke script... | Writes the project as a .nk script. Nodes Nuke has no equivalent for go out as NoOps; it says which first. |
|
| Path Manager... | Lists every file path in the project, finds missing files and repaths them by folder or prefix. See Everyday tools. | |
| Save | Ctrl+S | Saves the project. |
| Save As... | Ctrl+Shift+S | Saves it under another name or folder. |
| Save Incremental | Ctrl+Alt+S | Saves it as the next version: shot_v003 becomes shot_v004. |
| Exit | Closes JOS Compositor, asking first if there are unsaved changes. |
Edit
| Item | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Undo / Redo | Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y | Every change in JOS is one undo step: a drag, a typed value, a gesture in the node graph, an AI assistant's edit. |
| Cut nodes, Copy nodes, Paste nodes | Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V | Copied nodes are text: they paste into another project, or into a message. |
| Delete nodes | Delete | Removes the selected nodes. |
| Find nodes | Ctrl+F | Puts the cursor in the node graph's search field: the nodes whose name or type contains what you type are ringed and framed. |
| Project settings | S | The project's frame range, frame rate, format and colour management. |
| Paste knob values | Ctrl+Alt+V | Sets the copied node's values on every selected node of the same type (linked settings are left alone). |
| Duplicate | Ctrl+D, Alt+C | A copy of the selected nodes beside them. |
| Clone | Alt+K | A clone of the selected node: the two share their settings from now on, change one and the other follows. |
| Copy as clones | Ctrl+K | Copies the nodes so that pasting makes clones of them. |
| Force clone | Ctrl+Alt+Shift+K | The selected nodes of one type become clones of the one you clicked last, taking its values. |
| Declone | Alt+Shift+K | The selected clones become independent nodes again, keeping their values. |
| Link | Alt+L | A new node whose every setting follows the selected one, one way: change the original and the copy follows; the copy can't change it. |
| Unlink | Alt+Shift+L | Removes the links of the selected nodes, keeping the values they showed. |
| Copy as links | Ctrl+Alt+L | Copies the nodes so that pasting makes nodes linked to them. |
| Nest selected | Ctrl+G | Puts the selected nodes in a Nest: one node holding them, with Nest Input and Nest Output nodes inside. |
| Leave Nest | Goes back up from inside a Nest (double-clicking the background inside does the same). | |
| Preferences... | Projects, Performance (caches, GPU, the hardware test), Interface, Plugins (pipeline plugins, gizmo folders), AI assistants and Live link. |
Node
Every node, by category: 3D, Analysis, Blender Filters, Channel, Color, Deep, Depth, Draw, Filter, Image, Keyer, Math, Merge, MetaData, Other, Time and Transform. Choosing one adds it after the selected node. Tab in the node graph does the same with a search box. What each node does, with every setting: the node reference.
Render
| Item | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Execute selected Write... | F7 | Renders the selected Write over a frame range you choose, in the background: progress and Stop are in the status bar, and a render started while another runs waits its turn (Rendering). |
| Cache > Clear memory cache | Empties the RAM cache and the GPU viewer's textures. Frames come back from the disk cache where it has them. | |
| Cache > Clear disk cache... | Deletes every file in the disk cache folder, after asking. It runs in the background. | |
| Cache > Clear cache for selected nodes | Renders the selected nodes again, and everything after them, in memory and on disk; the rest of the cache stays. |
For farms, jos-render renders a project's Writes from the command line, without the app.
Viewer
| Item | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Show red, green, blue, alpha, luminance | R, G, B, A, Y | Shows that channel alone (luminance: R, G and B weighted by the colour config's luma coefficients, as grey); the same key again goes back to the colour picture. With the wipe on, the key changes only the side under the mouse. |
| Wipe compare | W | Compares the active Viewer with another Viewer, side by side under a wipe line. |
| Hide overlays | Q | Hides the handles and tools drawn over the picture, and shows them again. Creating a node you draw in the viewer (Roto, SplineWarp, a tracker...) shows them again. |
| Fit | F | Fits the picture to the viewer. |
| Play / stop, or full-screen panel | Space | Over the timeline, plays or stops. Over another panel, makes it fill the window; Space again restores the layout. See The interface. |
| Actual pixels | Ctrl+1 | One image pixel per screen pixel (1:1). |
Window
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Node Graph, Curve Editor, Dope Sheet, Material, Properties, Outliner, Script Editor | Shows or hides that panel. A closed panel comes back from here. |
| Dock floating panels | Puts every floating panel back into the tab group it came from. |
| Workspaces | Default puts back the layout JOS comes with; your saved layouts are listed under it. Save workspace as... saves the current layout under a name, Delete workspace removes one. |
More on panels: The interface.
Help
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Python API Reference | The jos Python module's functions, for scripts and pipeline plugins. |
| Report a Bug... | A short form sent to Jungle of Sharks and filed in JOS's public issue list, with your version, system and graphics card. No GitHub account is needed; an email, if you leave one, stays private. |
| Make a Suggestion... | The same, for an idea. |
| Community Forum... | Opens the JOS community forum (forum.jungleofsharks.com) in your web browser. |
| Licence... | Your licence: who it is for, until when, and loading a new one. |
| Check for Updates... | Says whether a newer version is out, with its download. |
| About JOS Compositor | The version, and the licences of the libraries JOS uses. |
When pipeline plugins are installed (Preferences > Plugins), their menus join the menu bar too, and they can add entries to the node picker (Tab): the Kitsu plugin adds Kitsu Write, listed under Kitsu plugin. Choosing one adds its node where the picker puts a node, connected to the selected node, in one undo step. The entries are there only while the plugin is loaded.