There are a number of common node controls that appear in Silhouette. For simplicity they are listed here.

The image is blurred by a quality blur along the X-axis.

The image is blurred by a quality blur along the Y-axis.

The horizontal and vertical values can be ganged together.

Selects the type of black and white filter to be applied to your color image.

Converts the color image to a monochrome image.

Simulates a red filter in black and white photography.

Simulates a green filter in black and white photography.

Simulates a blue filter in black and white photography.

Simulates a yellow filter in black and white photography.

Simulates an orange filter in black and white photography.

Sets the image width.

Sets the image height.

Sets the left image boundary.

Sets the top image boundary.

Sets the right image boundary.

Sets the bottom image boundary.

Uses the selected Layer > Surface to set the DOD dimensions.

Adds a margin to the boundary of the surface.

Sets the left image boundary.

Sets the top image boundary.

Sets the right image boundary.

Sets the bottom image boundary.

Grad is the gradient transition area between the filtered image and the original. Its direction, corners, size and angle can be adjusted.

Turns the grad on and off.

Darkens the colored portion of the grad.

Controls the direction of the grad.

The direction of the grad is from top to bottom.

The direction of the grad is from bottom to top.

The direction of the grad is from left to right.

The direction of the grad is from right to left.

Horizontal strip grad.

Vertical strip grad.

The size of the grad.

The angle of the grad.

In some of the nodes, a matte is generated to create the desired effect. The Matte controls consist of Position, Range and Blur parameters, and they work the same in all of the nodes. The white areas of the matte are the areas that will be affected by the node, while the black areas remain unaffected. The matte is extracted based on luminance, in most cases, and is created using the Position and Range parameters.

Selects the values to be included in the matte. A higher Position value shows more white values from the original image as white values in the matte. A lower Position value shows more black values from the original image as white values in the matte.

Controls the range of values to be used for the matte. Once you’ve selected the “Position”, you can then add or subtract the “Range” of values to be included in the matte. A higher Range value includes more white values in the matte while a lower Range value includes less values in the matte.

The matte is blurred by a quality blur.

This has the same effect as pressing the D key in the Trees window to toggle the enable/disable state of a selected node.

In the Node window for all nodes, there is an Obey Matte tab with controls that limit the effect of the node based on the node’s obey matte input.

When enabled, the effect of the node is limited by the alpha channel connected to the obey matte input of the node.

Inverts the obey matte input.

Controls the opacity of the obey matte input.

Determines which channel to use as the obey matte source.

Uses the red channel.

Uses the green channel.

Uses the blue channel.

Uses the alpha channel.

Uses the average luminance of the RGB channels.

In the Node window for all nodes, there is an Options tab containing controls that set various node options.

Sets the node color.

Determines whether the node has a vertical or horizontal layout.

Uses the layout specified in the User Interface > Trees > Layout preference.

The node input and output are configured on the top and bottom of the node to accommodate vertical trees.

The node input and output are configured on the sides of the node to accommodate horizontal trees.

Determines whether the node is connected with a curved or straight line.

Uses the connection type specified in the User Interface > Trees > Connections preference.

Displays the node connection as a curved line.

Displays the node connection as a straight line.

A spot in the form of a radial gradient is used to limit the effect of the node.

There is an on-screen control in the center of the image. By clicking and dragging the on-screen control, the position of the spot can be adjusted.

The horizontal position of the spot.

The vertical position of the spot.

The aspect ratio of the spot.

The un-blurred radius of the spot.

The blurred edge radius.

Moves the falloff towards the spot center point.

Inverts the spot.

Sets the color through the use of a standard color picker.

Sets the opacity of the warming or cooling.

Preserves the white areas of the image.

Exposure Compensation adds back the brightness loss as a result of the warming or cooling.

Selects point trackers and tracked layers from the node connected to the Data input for transforming the parameter.

The numeric keys can quickly switch the view. For instance, for the Roto node: 1 is Output, 2 is Foreground, 3 is Background, 4 is Color Comp, 5 is Composite and 6 is Channels.