Colored connections + grid

vvvv beta feature
1

Having huge patches and a lot of nodes in one patch brought me back to the idea of colored connections and a grid where nodes stick to.

Because having just black and grey as colors for connections let patches getting confusing after a while :). Also it would be great for debugging or getting into old patches after some time.
So sorting them with different colors would be cool. And a grid as MAX has would be nice as well.

Just an idea

cheers

2

For huge patches you should really work with subpatches!! Subpatches make your main patch clean and more understandable.
Just select a group of nodes that form a part, and press CTRL + G to make that a subpatch.

Also, if you are getting confused, just type some help text arround your patches, just double click and start typing until it can’t be a node name any more.

I am not aware off colours (except the Kalle node for the background), but we have some other tricks.

If there is an IObox that goes to many nodes, select the connections and press CTRL + Y, that changes the look of the connection from straight to bezier so you can recognize it better. (press it again to get other line modes)

If you have some nodes underneath each other, or besides, select them and press CTRL + L, to line them out in a grid.

Hope it helps a bit.

3

Hey Westbam,
iam aware of subpatches in vvvv and using them as modules or methods later and i always try to stick to software patterns when iam patching. I also know ctrl + y/l but i think ctrl + l would work better with a grid in the back.

Also using S and R nodes as global variables are quite useful to get the patch clean.

But the problem are complex arithmetical calculations that shouldn’t get ripped to several pieces or just big patches especially if your just prototyping.

And i think the good old ctrl + h shortcut is not often used for what it was for, but instead of for getting the patch clean :).

i think it could be somehow something like a syntax highlighting but for patching.

but thanks for the answer

cheers

4

true story

5

for what is for ctrl+h?

6

@sonostrano

pressing Ctrl+E locks patch, but nodes and links which have been Ctrl+H will be hidden

See it.Note sull’Interfaccia Utente, Menù Modifica paragraph - may I have a feedback if translation is clear enough?

ciao