QuadSpinner Gaea
Download GaeaTalk to Support
  • User Guide
  • Node Reference
  • Changelog
  • Home
  • Getting Started
    • Install Gaea
      • Regular Installation
      • Portable Installation
      • Mass Deployment
      • Troubleshooting
      • Version Numbers
      • Uninstall or Clean Install
    • License Management
      • Activation
      • Deactivation
      • Hardware Thumbprint
      • Floating License
    • User Interface
      • Graph
      • Viewport
        • Render Modes
        • 2D Viewport
        • Measurement Tools
      • Property Editor
        • Modifier Stack
        • Presets
        • Binding Variables
      • Data Editor
        • Terrain View
        • Export View
        • Automation View
      • Menus and Toolbars
        • Main Menu
        • Undo and Autosave
        • Graph Toolbar
        • Viewport Toolbar
        • Property Editor Toolbar
        • Data Editor Toolbar
      • Lazy Menu
      • Keyboard Shortcuts
    • The Graph
      • Procedural Workflow
      • Toolbox and Search
      • Lock Preview and Underlays
      • Suspending Engine
      • Graph Conveniences
      • Portals and Chokepoints
      • Organizing with Tabs
      • Annotations
      • Groups
    • Managing Gaea
      • Command-line Interface
      • Options
        • Compute
      • Autosave and Recovery
    • For Gaea 1 Users
      • Migration Guide
      • Node Changes
  • Using Gaea
    • Terrain Basics
      • Creating a Snow Mountain
      • Creating a Simple Landscape
      • Exporting Elements
      • Importing Meshes
      • Masks
      • Non-Determinism
      • Scale and Resolution
      • Memory Requirements
    • Crafting the Surface
      • Noises, Primitives, and Landscapes
      • Erosion
      • Surface Nodes
      • Transpose Shapes
    • Understanding Erosion
      • Erosion_2
      • Erosion_1
      • Thermal Erosion
      • Additional Erosion Nodes
      • Nuance
    • Simulations
      • Snowfall
      • Debris
      • Water
      • Vegetation
    • Colorizing and Textures
      • Crafting Masks
      • Working with SatMaps
      • Synthesizing Colors
      • Layering Textures
      • ColorErosion
    • Managing Graphs
      • Using Modifiers
      • Portals and Chokepoints
      • Visualizing Scale
      • Accumulators
      • Navigating Complex Graphs
    • Baking Nodes
      • Linchpin Nodes
    • Build and Export
      • Exporting Nodes
      • Build Options
        • Managing Regions
      • Tiled Builds
      • Using Regions
      • Profiles and Batch Builds
      • Batch Builds
      • Mesh Exports
        • Tangent-Space Normals and Warped Maps
      • Application Specific Export Nodes
        • Unreal Node
        • Unity Node
    • Importing Terrains
      • Universal Instructions
      • Software-specific Instructions
        • Unreal
      • Common Issues
  • Advanced Topics
    • Build Swarm
      • Creating Mutations
      • Build Reports
    • Technical Information
      • File Formats
      • Learning and Predictive System
      • Paths and Storage
      • Dimensions and Scale
      • Calculating Memory Requirements
    • Automation
      • Command Line Automation
      • Managing Input and Output
      • Building a Bridge with the CLI
  • Plugins
    • Gaea2Houdini
      • Installing Gaea2Houdini
      • Using Gaea Nodes
    • Gaea2Unreal
      • Installing Gaea2Unreal
      • Importing Terrains
      • Importing Weight Maps
  • Developers
    • Scripting and Expressions
      • Variables
      • Expressions
      • Math Node
    • TOR Platform SDK
  • Troubleshooting
    • Terrains
      • Common Errors
      • Terrain Quality
    • Diagnostics (Watson)
      • Diagnostics Package
      • CPU Only Mode
      • Benchmark Devices
Powered by GitBook
LogoLogo

Copyright © 2020-2025 QuadSpinner. All rights reserved.

On this page
  • Lock Preview
  • Using Underlays
  • Beware of downstream underlays
  1. Getting Started
  2. The Graph

Lock Preview and Underlays

PreviousToolbox and SearchNextSuspending Engine

Last updated 2 months ago

Lock Preview

Locking preview to a node shows only the that node in the viewport. When a node preview is locked, changes made to the other nodes will force updates to all nodes between that node and the locked node. This allows you to see the end result of a change.

To pin a node, right-click it and select Lock Preview. You can also select the node and press F. Now when you edit any other node before the locked node, the changes will propagate all the way to the locked node every time.

The locked node can be accessed quickly from the Toolbar in the Data Editor. It is shown as a green link.

Using Underlays

By default Gaea will use the nearest "Heightfield"/Terrain node to display the structure beneath the color or mask. However, if your graph splits or follows a secondary path to the color node, then it may use an incorrect node to display the terrain. To prevent this, all you have to do is go to the correct heightfield node, right-click and select "Use as Underlay".

To use a node as the underlay, right-click the node and select Use as Underlay. You can also select the node and press G.

The Underlay node can be accessed from the toolbar in the Data Editor. It is shown as a purple link.

To see a flat preview, click V to temporarily toggle a flat preview in the viewport.

Beware of downstream underlays

Be mindful when you modify nodes that are before the Underlay. If they are part of the chain that leads up to the Underlay node, modifying them will cause all nodes in between to update as well, much like normal Lock Preview. This can make Gaea slow when working in 2K or higher preview resolution.

If Gaea detects such an Underlay, it will show a warning in the Property Editor.

NOTE: Nodes that are not a descendant of the Locked Node will not be updated until the lock is released.
The "top" branch is used by default by Gaea to show the terrain under a color map or mask.
Now the RadialGradient, or bottom branch, is used as the underlay after being marked.