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For example, the info window for geometry nodes shows the number of points, primitives, and vertices, as well as the groups and attributes in the node’s geometry. This is often very useful for figuring out what’s going on.
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Show the info window temporarily to quickly check some information |
Hold Tip If you hold ⇧ Shift + |
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Open the info in a window |
As soon as the info window loses focus (for example, you click somewhere outside the window), it closes. This lets you scroll the information and interact with the controls in the window. Tip You can set a preference so an unpinned info window always requires manually closing, instead of disappearing when it loses focus. In the main menus, choose Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Network editor and turn off Node info windows close when losing focus. Linux On Linux, the default is for the info window to persist even if it loses focus, requiring you to close the window manually. This is because some Linux users turn on a “focus follows mouse” preference, making the info window lose focus immediately and close. If you don’t have “focus follows mouse” on in your window manager, you can turn on the Node Info Windows Close When Losing Focus option in Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Network Editor, Nodes, and Trees. |
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Keep an info window open persistently |
Click the |
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Pause updates |
By default, while the info window is open it updates to show changes to the node caused by time changes, parameter changes, and input data changes. (Info window updates are limited to roughly 50 times per second in an attempt to avoid affecting Houdini performance.) If you click the pause button in the window window, the information in the window will not automatically update. If something in the node changes, a Refresh button will appear in the window. You can click the Refresh button to update to the current state of the node, or turn off the Pause button to resume automatic updates. See controlling updates below for more information. |
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Visualize SOP attributes and groups |
If you open an interactive info window (by ⌃ Ctrl + You can also click the switch next to the name of a group. This will show the group box in the viewer and set it to highlight the group contents. |
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Copy information from the info window |
If you open an interactive info window (by ⌃ Ctrl + |
pin icon in the info window. You can click the pin icon again to “unpin” the window.Showing SOP attribute changes ¶
The info window for SOP nodes displays lists of attributes in the node’s geometry.
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By default, if a SOP node’s first input is connected, the node’s info window shows attributes added by the node in bold. You can turn this off by clicking the gear menu and turning off Highlight New Attributes.
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You can switch the attribute list to a “diff” mode that highlights new, deleted, and changed attributes. To switch to diff mode in the info window, turn on the Show changes to attributes switch below the attributes, or click the gear menu and turn on Show changes to attributes in the menu.
The show changes mode highlights new attributes in green, deleted attributes in pink, attributes with the same name but different metadata (such as a different default or number of components) in purple, and attributes with changed values in yellow.
Note
Diff mode can potentially be slow if the node’s geometry has a large number of attributes or the geometry is very large, for example comparing point attributes on a node with millions of points. This is why showing differences is off by default, and you probably want to turn it off when you're finished using it.
Controlling info window updates ¶
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By default, the info window updates every 0.25 seconds. You can choose a different update frequency in the gear menu.
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To stop automatic updates in the info window, turn on the Pause button, or open the gear menu and set the update frequency to Manual.
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While updates are paused, you can manually refresh the window by clicking the Refresh button at the top next to the Pause button.
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Sometimes, for example if a node has an error and then you clear the error, the info window may not automatically reload. You can open the gear menu and choose Cook and Refresh to force the node to recook and the info window to refresh the node info.
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If the Edit ▸ Live Parameter Display During Playback preference is off, the info window does not update during playback either.