Annotations


  • Where to find it:


    • NodeGraph / Right Mouse Click / Annotations /

    • Main Window / Extension Pack / Nodegraph / Annotations /


  • Shortcuts (Nodegraph Only): 

    • Image Note from View                  Scrolllock
    • Image Note from Library                  ALT + Scrolllock
    • Image Note from Node                  SHIFT + Scrolllock



Image Annotations allow you to add screenshots, arbitrary images or Icons to your Nodegraph, to visually document different parts of your Nodegraph.

The System gives several different options to add images

Image Notes are saved into your project directory in a Subfolder ImageNotes.

They will be deleted from that location if you delete an image note from your project and save.


Since files are saved in the project, handing an archive off to another artist wil retain the images



Video

See all the Image Annotation Features in Action here:


.. and a full tutorial here





Annotation Types

Text Notes are simple Mari Sticky Notes. 

The option has been added to the Annotation menu for completion



"Node Changes" Annotations are Text Nodes that automatically get filled with non-default Node Values.
This can be useful for example if you wish to share screenshots and easily document what is going on inside a node or node network.



You can remove all "Node Changes" Text Nodes from the current Graph by using the "Remove Node Changes" Option





Use Image Note from View to capture your viewport and crop the image to your liking. 


To use cropping, press and hold your left mouse button and drag a selection.

To force a square selection, press and hold either SHIFT or CTRL.

To move an existing selection, hold the SPACE bar.


The initial Image Note size in relation to the original capture size can be set in the right corner of the dialog, but can be changed later via the Node Properties

of the Image Note.




Use Image Note from File to import arbitrary images from disc.

Supported file formats are:


  • BMP
  • GIF
  • JPG, JPEG
  • PNG
  • BPM
  • PGM
  • TIF
  • TGA
  • SVG
  • PPM
  • XBM
  • XPM


The initial Icon size is defined by the Image Resolution but can at any point later be changed from the Image Notes Node Properties.

SVG Vector Files are rendered into 1k images for display in the Nodegraph


Use Node Thumbnail from View to quickly generate Node Thumbnails for selected nodes.

Node thumbnails retain a permanent link to the original node, meaning if you regenerate a thumbnail the original Image Annotation updates.

Most Node types will be rendered with a flat shaded lighting model.Only Shaders and Materials will be rendered fully lit.


You can adjust the Size of the Thumbnail fro the Note's Node Properties. By Default Thumbnail size will default to the width of the Node it is generated from


Node Thumbnails created via the Image Annotation System exhibit some special behavior when used with Node Align. You can use node align top/bottom to pin a thumbnail to the top/bottom

of its target node. The pinning is maintained when regenerating the thumbnail





Use Image Note from Library to use one of the many Vector Icons shipping with Extension Pack or add your own.


You can add an icon to the Nodegraph by pressing the "Create Image Note" Button at the bottom of the dialog or double clicking an icon


You can colorize icons using the "Colorize Icon" Feature and the available Blend modes.

The initial Icon size can also be defined and changed at any point later from the Image Notes Node Properties.




A simple method to remove all Image Notes from your current Node graph




You can remove all "Node Changes" Text Nodes from the current Graph by using the "Remove Node Changes" Option





Image Note Controls

To rescale an  Image Notes change the Scale Factor in the Note's Node Properties



To change the image of an existing Image Note, simply select the Note you want to update and launch any of the Image Annotations.

You will be prompted if to create a new one or replace the old one



Image Library Viewer

The Icon Library Shelf allows you to choose from one of Extension Pack's Standard Libraries of Icons or add your own.

New Shelf Tabs can be added globally and shared among team members.





Icons can be colorized with a color and a blend mode to make it more representative of your actual material.

Press the "R" Button to reset it to the default white color.


The initial Node Size can be defined relative to the original icon size, but can be changed at any time later in the

Node Properties




Tabs are the visual representations of Folders on your hard disc.You can add as many tabs as you wish to organize your icons.

By default the Icon Library has several Tabs containing pre-made icons for you to choose from.


You can add an icon to the nodegraph by double clicking on it or closing  the dialog via the button at the bottom






Buttons in the upper right corner of the Window interact with the Tabs - adding, removing, renaming, thumbnail size



  • Create a new Tab

 

Allows you to add a new Tab to the Icon Shelf

A dialog will appear asking you to specify a Tab Name and a location on disc to load images from



    • Tab Names need to be unique


    • The Destination Path can be a path from an existing tab in which case you get a duplicate


    • The Destination Path can be loaded by multiple people, allowing you to have a shared folder with a common icon library

    • Supported Image formats to load are 


      1. BMP,
      2. GIF
      3. JPG, JPEG
      4. PNG
      5. BPM
      6. PGM
      7. TIF
      8. TGA
      9. SVG
      10. PPM
      11. XBM
      12. XPM

Tabs can be added for all members of team globally using an Environment Variable



  • Create new Tab from Filter

 

Allows you to add a new Tab from the currently active Tab Filter.

A new dialog will appear asking to specify a Tab Name.



    • Tab Names need to be unique



  • Delete current Tab

 

Removes the current Tab. Only the Tab is removed, no actual content is deleted



  • Rename current Tab

 

Renames the current Tab



  • Icon Size

 

Determines the Icon Thumbnail in the Icon Shelf Dialog


Tiny:

35x35 px

Small:

58x58 px

Medium: 

90x90 px

Big: 

125x125 px

Large:

200x200 px

Huge:

400x400 px

                

       



The Filter Bar allows to filter the current tab


  • Clear Filter

Removes the Filtering from the Filtering Field


  • Filter Field


Filter the current Tab. Filtering is done by:


    • File Name
    • Aliases



Filtering Operators are 



    • Comma (,)____________


Separate multiple search terms or search term operators via a comma. If any of the terms is found the icon is displayed


e.g.: architectural, blood will display any icon that has  'architectureal' or 'blood' in its name or aliases



    • Plus (+)_____________


The Plus (+) operator stipulates a combination of terms that are required to be a filter match


e.g.: architectural+gothic will display any icon that has both architectural and gothic in its name or aliases



    • Exclamation Mark (!)_____________


The Exclamation Mark  (!) operator excludes a search term


e.g.: 


      • Search String 'architectural ' will give you three icons as result
      • Search String  'architectural+!marble '  will only give you two icons as result, since the Term 'marble'  is marked to be excluded.



You can combine operators e.g. Scratches+2d+!Vertical,cracks+3d will display any icon that has 


    • 'Scratches' and '2d' in its name or tags but only if it doesn't contain 'Vertical'
    • 'cracks' and '3d' in its name or aliases

You can easily create a new tab from the result of the filtering using the Create new Tab from Filter Button



The Icon Location displays 


    • the current Tab's Data Location on Disc
    • allows the reloading of the current Tab



Additional Image Library Options


A icon can have a custom thumbnail that is displayed in the Tab.

If the Icon Browser discovers two files with the same file name but a .thumb. in its name, it will

use that file for displaying the icon in the Library, while using the second file for the actual Image Note.


This can be handy if you have non-square icons that would disturb the layout in your tab.



It is possible to define aliases for icons.

Aliases are displayed in the tooltip and are also evaluated when filtering a tab.



To add Aliases to a folder with Icons, we need to define a 'Aliases.json' file which can be done with any texteditor such as notepad


A Json file Alias File might look like this


{

       "architectural" : ["building","greek","roman","urban","city","historic"],

       "armor" : ["armour","greek","roman","steel","character"]

}


Its content is enclosed in two curly brackets {}.

Each line then has the identical format


"FILENAME_LOWERCASE" : ["ALIAS A",ALIAS B","ALIAS C"]


Each Text is lowercase and enclosed in " ".

The list of Aliases is all enclosed in square brackets [ ].


"armor" : ["armour","greek","roman","steel","character"]


In the above case the file armor.svg would receive the aliases armour, greek, roman, steel and character.




The Size and Position of the Shelf Window is saved between sessions. If you ever need to reset its size and position to the default

go to


    1. Extension Pack Menu in Mari Main Window
    2. Choose Nodegraph / Annotations / Reset Icon Shelf Size and Position






While adding Tabs manually is easy enough to do, maybe you want to set up a shared icon shelf for all your team members.

The easiest way to do this is by setting a global environment variable that will automatically add a Tab to all your team's shelves.


The Environment Variable to set is called MARI_EP_ICONSHELF_FOLDER and supports multiple paths separated with a semi-colon


Example


MARI_EP_ICONSHELF_FOLDER = \server\library\materialIcons;\server\ourProject\projectIcons


will create two Tabs:


    • a tab called 'materialIcons' pointing to  \server\library\materialIcons
    • a tab called 'projectIcons' pointing to \server\ourProject\projectIcons