Effect

Inherits: Group , UserParamHolder

Synopsis

This object represents a single node in Natron, that is: an instance of a plug-in. See Detailed Description

Functions

Detailed Description

The Effect object can be used to operate with a single node in Natron. To create a new Effect, use the app.createNode(pluginID) function.

Natron automatically declares a variable to Python when a new Effect is created. This variable will have a script-name determined by Natron as explained in the Python Auto-declared variables section.

Once an Effect is instantiated, it declares all its Param and inputs. See how to manage user parameters below

To get a specific Param by script-name, call the getParam(name) function

Input effects are mapped against a zero-based index. To retrieve an input Effect given an index, you can use the getInput(inputNumber) function.

To manage inputs, you can connect them and disconnect them with respect to their input index with the connectInput(inputNumber,input) and then disconnectInput(inputNumber) functions.

If you need to destroy permanently the Effect, just call destroy().

For convenience some GUI functionalities have been made accessible via the Effect class to control the GUI of the node (on the node graph):

Creating user parameters

See this section

Member functions description

NatronEngine.Effect.addUserPlane(planeName, channels)
Parameters:
  • planeName – str
  • channels – sequence
Return type:

bool

Adds a new plane to the Channels selector of the node in its settings panel. When selected, the end-user can choose to output the result of the node to this new custom plane. The planeName will identify the plane uniquely and must not contain spaces or non python compliant characters. The channels are a sequence of channel names, e.g.:

addUserPlane(“MyLayer”,[“R”, “G”, “B”, “A”])

Note

A plane cannot contain more than 4 channels and must at least have 1 channel.

This function returns True if the layer was added successfully, False otherwise.

NatronEngine.Effect.beginChanges()

Starts a begin/End bracket, blocking all evaluation (=renders and callback onParamChanged) that would be issued due to a call to setValue on any parameter of the Effect.

Similarly all input changes will not be evaluated until endChanges() is called.

Typically to change several values at once we bracket the changes like this:

node.beginChanges()
param1.setValue(...)
param2.setValue(...)
param3.setValue(...)
param4.setValue(...)
node.endChanges()  # This triggers a new render

A more complex call:

node.beginChanges() node.connectInput(0,otherNode) node.connectInput(1,thirdNode) param1.setValue(…) node.endChanges() # This triggers a new render
NatronEngine.Effect.endChanges()

Ends a begin/end bracket. If the begin/end bracket recursion reaches 0 and there were calls made to setValue this function will effectively compresss all evaluations into a single one. See beginChanges()

NatronEngine.Effect.canConnectInput(inputNumber, node)
Parameters:
  • inputNumber – int
  • node – Effect
Return type:

bool

Returns whether the given node can be connected at the given inputNumber of this Effect. This function could return False for one of the following reasons:

  • The Effect already has an input at the given inputNumber
  • The node is None
  • The given inputNumber is out of range
  • The node cannot have any node connected to it (such as a BackDrop or an Output)
  • This Effect or the given node is a child of another node (for trackers only)
  • Connecting node would create a cycle in the graph implying that it would create infinite recursions
NatronEngine.Effect.connectInput(inputNumber, input)
Parameters:
  • inputNumber – int
  • input – Effect
Return type:

bool

Connects input to the given inputNumber of this Effect. This function calls internally canConnectInput() to determine if a connection is possible.

NatronEngine.Effect.destroy([autoReconnect=true])
Parameters:autoReconnect – bool

Removes this Effect from the current project definitively. If autoReconnect is True then any nodes connected to this node will try to connect their input to the input of this node instead.

NatronEngine.Effect.disconnectInput(inputNumber)
Parameters:inputNumber – int

Removes any input Effect connected to the given inputNumber of this node.

NatronEngine.Effect.getAvailableLayers()
Return type:dict

Returns the layer available on this node. This is a dict with a ImageLayer as key and Effect as value. The Effect is the closest node in the upstream tree (including this node) that produced that layer.

For example, in a simple graph Read –> Blur, if the Read node has a layer available named “RenderLayer.combined” but Blur is set to process only the color layer (RGBA), then calling this function on the Blur will return a dict containing for key “RenderLayer.combined” the Read node, whereas the dict will have for the key “RGBA” the Blur node.

NatronEngine.Effect.getBitDepth()
Return type:ImageBitDepthEnum

Returns the bit-depth of the image in output of this node.

NatronEngine.Effect.getColor()
Return type:tuple

Returns the color of this node as it appears on the node graph as [R,G,B] 3-dimensional tuple.

NatronEngine.Effect.getCurrentTime()
Return type:int

Returns the current time of timeline if this node is currently rendering, otherwise it returns the current time at which the node is currently rendering for the caller thread.

NatronEngine.Effect.getOutputFormat()
Return type:RectI

Returns the output format of this node in pixel units.

NatronEngine.Effect.getFrameRate()
Return type:float

Returns the frame-rate of the sequence in output of this node.

NatronEngine.Effect.getInput(inputNumber)
Parameters:inputNumber – int
Return type:Effect

Returns the node connected at the given inputNumber.

NatronEngine.Effect.getInput(inputName)
param inputName:
 

str
rtype:

Effect

Same as getInput(inputNumber) except that the parameter in input is the name of the input as displayed on the node-graph. This function is made available for convenience.
NatronEngine.Effect.getLabel()
Return type:str

Returns the label of the node. See this section for a discussion of the label vs the script-name.

NatronEngine.Effect.getInputLabel(inputNumber)
Parameters:inputNumber – int
Return type:str

Returns the label of the input at the given inputNumber. It corresponds to the label displayed on the arrow of the input in the node graph.

NatronEngine.Effect.getMaxInputCount()
Return type:int

Returns the number of inputs for the node. Graphically this corresponds to the number of arrows in input.

NatronEngine.Effect.getParam(name)
Parameters:name – str
Return type:Param

Returns a parameter by its script-name or None if no such parameter exists.

NatronEngine.Effect.getParams()
Return type:sequence

Returns all the Param of this Effect as a sequence.

NatronEngine.Effect.getPluginID()
Return type:str

Returns the ID of the plug-in that this node instantiate.

NatronEngine.Effect.getPosition()
Return type:tuple

Returns the current position of the node on the node-graph. This is a 2 dimensional [X,Y] tuple. Note that in background mode, if used, this function will always return [0,0] and should NOT be used.

NatronEngine.Effect.getPremult()
Return type:ImagePremultiplicationEnum

Returns the alpha premultiplication state of the image in output of this node.

NatronEngine.Effect.getPixelAspectRatio()
Return type:float

Returns the pixel aspect ratio of the image in output of this node.

NatronEngine.Effect.getRegionOfDefinition(time, view)
Parameters:
  • time – float
  • view – int
Return type:

RectD

Returns the bounding box of the image produced by this effect in canonical coordinates. This is exactly the value displayed in the “Info” tab of the settings panel of the node for the “Output”. This can be useful for example to set the position of a point parameter to the center of the region of definition.

NatronEngine.Effect.getRotoContext()
Return type:Roto

Returns the roto context for this node. Currently only the Roto node has a roto context. The roto context is in charge of maintaining all information relative to Beziers and Layers. Most of the nodes don’t have a roto context though and this function will return None.

NatronEngine.Effect.getTrackerContext()
Return type:Tracker

Returns the tracker context for this node. Currently only the Tracker node has a tracker context. The tracker context is in charge of maintaining all information relative to Tracks. Most of the nodes don’t have a tracker context though and this function will return None.

NatronEngine.Effect.getScriptName()
Return type:str

Returns the script-name of this Effect. See this section for more information about the script-name.

NatronEngine.Effect.getSize()
Return type:tuple

Returns the size of this node on the node-graph as a 2 dimensional [Width,Height] tuple. Note that calling this function will in background mode will always return [0,0] and should not be used.

NatronEngine.Effect.getUserPageParam()
Return type:PageParam

Convenience function to return the user page parameter if this Effect has one.

NatronEngine.Effect.isUserSelected()
Return type:bool

Returns true if this node is selected in its containing nodegraph.

NatronEngine.Effect.isReaderNode()
Return type:bool

Returns True if this node is a reader node

NatronEngine.Effect.isWriterNode()
Return type:bool

Returns True if this node is a writer node

NatronEngine.Effect.isOutputNode()
Return type:bool

Returns True if this node is an output node (which also means that it has no output)

NatronEngine.Effect.setColor(r, g, b)
Parameters:
  • r – float
  • g – float
  • b – float

Set the color of the node as it appears on the node graph. Note that calling this function will in background mode will do nothing and should not be used.

NatronEngine.Effect.setLabel(name)
Parameters:name – str

Set the label of the node as it appears in the user interface. See this section for an explanation of the difference between the label and the script-name.

NatronEngine.Effect.setPosition(x, y)
Parameters:
  • x – float
  • y – float

Set the position of the node as it appears on the node graph. Note that calling this function will in background mode will do nothing and should not be used.

NatronEngine.Effect.setScriptName(scriptName)
Parameters:scriptName – str
Return type:bool

Set the script-name of the node as used internally by Natron. See this section for an explanation of the difference between the label and the script-name.

Warning

Using this function will remove any previous variable declared using the old script-name and will create a new variable with the new script name if valid.

If your script was using for instance a node named:

app1.Blur1

and you renamed it BlurOne, it should now be available to Python this way:

app1.BlurOne

but using app1.Blur1 would report the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
NameError: name 'Blur1' is not defined
NatronEngine.Effect.setSize(w, h)
Parameters:
  • w – float
  • h – float

Set the size of the node as it appears on the node graph. Note that calling this function will in background mode will do nothing and should not be used.

NatronEngine.Effect.setSubGraphEditable(editable)
Parameters:editable – bool

Can be called to disable editing of the group via Natron’s graphical user interface. This is handy to prevent users from accidentally breaking the sub-graph. This can always be reverted by editing the python script associated. The user will still be able to see the internal node graph but will not be able to unlock it.

NatronEngine.Effect.setPagesOrder(pages)
Parameters:pages – sequence

Given the string list pages try to find the corresponding pages by their-script name and order them in the given order.