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Bridging Modeling & Nodes

Reference - model into the node graph

The Reference node feeds a model object into the node graph as a live pointer.

Reference is the other bridge node. It's a live pointer to a model object, feeding that object's geometry into the node graph. Draw a motif by hand, reference it, and the node graph can array, transform, and vary it.

Creating a Reference

Reference has no Add-menu button - you make one from a selection:

1. Select one or more objects in the Modeling window (canvas or Layers panel).
2. Run Reference in Nodes (Edit menu or command palette).

A Reference node appears in the node graph for your selection, labeled with the object's name.

Selecting a group references the whole thing

Referencing a group gives you one Reference node resolving to the group's combined geometry - not one node per member. A directly-selected member still references on its own. So you choose the granularity by what you select.

Referencing an image brings the picture

Reference an imported reference image and the node carries the image itself into the graph - the picture, its size, its opacity and the two corners it is pinned by - the same thing the Image node emits, and the output socket reads Image. Wire it into Image Sample or Blur and they see the picture. It does not arrive as the image's rectangular frame.

It's a live link

Because a Reference is a pointer, editing the model object updates what flows into the node graph. And the link is tracked both ways: deleting the model object also removes the Reference node that pointed at it (a dangling pointer would resolve to nothing). Deleting the Reference node, by contrast, never deletes the object - it's just a pointer.

The matching direction

Reference's counterpart is Realize: Reference points the node graph at real geometry; Realize makes node graph geometry real.

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