Sets the default time for autosaving the project. Set interval to 0 to disable autosave.

Controls how many backup files are created. Each time a project is saved, a copy is stored in the project folder.

Sets the amount of extra pixels to save around the ROI in the Cache.

Sets the amount of RAM to be used for playback. The default is 50% and the range is 10-90%.

Sets the caching mode.

Caching is disabled.

When playing or scrubbing, it will only cache the currently active node. When parked or editing, it'll cache the immediate upstream node and the active node. In all cases, Silhouette will cache nodes that have multiple downstream branches.

Every node that can will cache.This is the behavior in 2024 and below.

When selected, the cache is purged when a Project is loaded.

The Local Cache automatically copies media from a slow network drive to a fast local drive once you specify the source and storage locations. Then, when you load a sequence from the slow network drive, the source node will see that it’s in the source path and copy it to the local storage path. The next time the media is requested from the network drive, it will read it from the local cache instead.

Sets the maximum size of the local cache in gigabytes.

Sets the location of the media to be cached.

Adds a source path.

Deletes a source path.

Sets the local cache’s storage location.

The Render Server preferences are used by the Silhouette plug-in.

Sets the maximum image cache as a percentage of physical memory. The default is 10%.

Sets the buffer size for both input and output between the host and the plug-in. The default is 500MB.

Controls whether or not Cineon and DPX images are converted to scene linear.

Converts the Cineon/DPX images to scene linear.

Cineon/DPX images are kept in log space.

This preference is a path to a global configuration file to use. The default is “$(OCIO)”. Silhouette will initially look for $SFX_OCIO and will use that first. Otherwise, it will use whatever the configuration preference is set to and finally it will check for $OCIO. If it still can't find a configuration, it will fall back to the embedded configuration in the resources/ocio folder.

Sets the default color of the active point (the point that the cursor is hovering over) through the use of a standard color picker.

Sets the color of the alpha overlay.

Sets the color of the Transform tool anchor point.

Sets the border color in the Viewer.

Sets the default color of shape bounding boxes through the use of a standard color picker.

Sets the Notes view callout line color.

Sets the default color of control points through the use of a standard color picker.

Sets the default color of the shape outline through the use of a standard color picker.

Sets the default color of the hull (lines that connect tangents) through the use of a standard color picker.

Sets the default color of the layer’s on-screen transform controls.

Sets the default color of Markup objects.

Sets the color of the mask.

Set the opacity of the Mask Fill Color by clicking on the percentage field (to the right of the color picker) and typing in a new number.

Sets the color of the mask outline.

Set the opacity of the Mask Outline Color by clicking on the percentage field (to the right of the color picker) and typing in a new number.

Sets the color of the motion vectors in the Optical Flow ML node.

Defines the colors used in the color grid when you right-click on color pots in the Object Window as well as the colors used for the Edit > Auto Color action.

Sets the color of the point groups.

Sets the background color for premultiplied display modes. You can premultiply the image in the Viewer by using Shift-0.

Sets the default color of selected points through the use of a standard color picker.

Sets the default color of the layer Surface.

Sets the color and opacity of unselected shapes. This Template feature is enabled by using Shift-W.

Adds a new variable

Remove the selected variable.

Display the internal variables used by Silhouette. These cannot be changed.

The GPU preference determines whether or not GPU acceleration is enabled.

At a value of 0, GPU images are not cached. This means the GPU images will flow through from the first GPU image to the last without going through RAM, but it means every GPU node in the chain will render in sequence any time something changes. Increasing the value allows GPU images to be stored in the cache like RAM images, making editing faster.

Controls whether GPU results go in the cache.

Automatically chooses either GPU or CPU acceleration based on your graphics card.

Forces GPU acceleration on. If your graphics card is not capable of GPU acceleration, this setting will have no effect.

Forces CPU acceleration on.

The Silhouette Shapes export format was changed in 5.0 so that settings normally stored in the Silhouette node can be accessed.

Exports Silhouette shapes in the 5.0 format.

Exports Silhouette shapes in the 4.5 and below format.

Connects layers together in Nuke using Merge nodes. However, if you set a layer in Silhouette to Subtract for example, you will have to manually adjust the corresponding Merge node in Nuke to Minus.

If checked, a Nuke lifetime is enabled ending at either the work range end or the first transition to zero Opacity. The start of the lifetime is either the work range start, if the starting value was 100% opacity, or the frame on which it went from zero to 100% opacity.

All selected shapes are exported into one Nuke Roto node.

Selected shapes are exported into separate, unconnected Nuke Roto nodes.

Shapes are exported into their respective layers as separate, unconnected Nuke Roto nodes. Shapes not located in a layer will be combined into a Nuke node called Roto. If a layer has blur or invert settings applied to it, blur and invert nodes will be created in Nuke and connected to the layer’s node.

Silhouette may break shapes in a single layer into more than one Nuke Roto node if these shapes are interrupted by a Silhouette sub-layer. This is intentional so that the correct depth order can be maintained. For example, if the Silhouette Roto node contained Shape 1, Shape 2, Layer 1, Shape 3: The “Embed each layer in its own node” mode will break Shape 3 into its own Nuke Roto node so that the user has the option of ordering the contents of Layer 1 in between Shape 1, Shape 2 and Shape 3.

Shape control points are fully baked on every frame of the work range. While this creates larger files, it works around a known Nuke motion blur problem.

If checked, a Nuke lifetime is enabled ending at either the work range end or the first transition to zero Opacity. The start of the lifetime is either the work range start, if the starting value was 100% opacity, or the frame on which it went from zero to 100% opacity.

Copies the alpha channel into the RGBA channels in the exported file.

The Silhouette project name is exported and displayed in the Nuke node name.

Writes the export out in hexadecimal format resulting in a smaller file size.

Writes the export out in human readable format resulting in a larger file size.

Shape and transform data are baked together.

Nuke does not accurately import the width of open shapes, but we automatically account for this. If needed, use this multiplier to fine tune the width of open shapes when exported.

Searches for floating licenses only.

Searches for nodelocked licenses only.

Displays the currently entered floating license server port@host.

A Stability API Key is required to run Stability. To obtain a key, sign up for a DreamStudio account, copy your API key and paste it here.

Sets the default size of the arrow head.

Controls how accurate the final stroke is to the drawn stroke. Larger values are more accurate.

Sets the number of phantom lines between correspondence points. This is useful for visualizing how the various parts of the shapes are warping.

Sets the correspondence lines’ color.

Sets the correspondence points’ color.

Sets the size of correspondence points.

Sets the default color of target shapes.

Sets how many pixels an object moves when the Arrow keys are used.

Sets how many pixels an object moves when the Arrow keys are used in conjunction with the Shift key.

Sets how many fractional pixels an object moves when the Arrow keys are used in conjunction with the Ctrl/Cmd key.

Sets the color of the brush outline.

Controls the display of the cursor crosshair while painting.

The cursor crosshair is not displayed.

The cursor crosshair is always displayed.

The cursor crosshair disappears while painting a stroke, but is visible otherwise.

Hides the brush outline while painting.

Automatically locks imported Paint presets.

Normally, when using the Paint Only output, only painted frames are rendered. This preference renders the blank, unpainted frames as well, so there is a complete sequence.

Controls how hard the pen has to be pressed before opacity kicks in. The preference is from 0-1. When the threshold has been reached, the calculated pressure is scaled into the new range from threshold to 1.

Turn tablet pressure sensitivity on or off.

When activated (the default), displays the actual frame number in the Clone > Frame field. When turned off, it uses the old Silhouette v2.3 behavior where an offset in relation to the current frame was shown instead of the actual frame.

When in Align mode, the Viewer appears black when the Clone source and destination are perfectly aligned.

When in Align mode, the Viewer appears gray when the Clone source and destination are perfectly aligned.

Allows the other grade controls to be used in conjunction with Auto Grade. With this preference off, turning on Auto Grade will reset the other grade controls to their defaults and disable them.

Sets the default filter for new paint nodes.

Sets the default clone source.

Sets whether Clone > Subpixel is enabled or disabled by default.

Controls whether the Clone offset starts at last offset or at click location.

Sets the color of the Clone transform on-screen controls.

Resets the Clone > Frame Offset when Clone > Reset is used.

Forces the Clone Offset connecting line to always be displayed.

Sets the color of the Clone brush outline.

Sets the color of the secondary Clone brush outline. This is the color of the second Clone source activated by using Dual in the Clone presets.

Enables the Silhouette v6 and below Clone transform on-screen controls.

Uses the Stereo Offset when painting from right to the left view.

If paint strokes are selected in the Paint History, they become un-selected when you change frames. If you enable Lock Selection, the strokes stay selected when changing frames.

By default, Continuum OFX plug-ins are disabled except for Particle Illusion as they have not been officially qualified to run in Silhouette. This preference exposes all Continuum plug-ins.

Silhouette includes Mocha Pro, Particle Illusion, and Sapphire plug-ins. These plug-ins are installed and loaded from the Silhouette installation folder by default. Optionally, you can load these plug-ins from the public OFX location.

Loads Mocha Pro from the public OFX location.

Loads Particle Illusion from the public OFX location.

Loads Sapphire from the public OFX location.

Compress project data to save space.

Saves a limited set of data analytics in the project file.

Sets the default suffixes that are appended to the Filename in the Render Options menu.

Sets the default alpha suffix to _alpha.

Sets the default depth suffix to _depth.

You can now override the output filename structure. The format for the output name is now defined by the Format preference.

The default is: $(NAME)$(SUFFIX)$(VIEW)$(PREFIX)$(FRAME).$(EXT) which matches the previous format.

Sets the default Left View suffix to _L.

Sets the default Paint suffix to _paint.

Sets the default Right View suffix to _R.

Sets the default color background when viewing Color Comp in the Roto node.

Enter the path to Tweak Software RV’s “rvpush” command. For instance, depending on your OS and the RV version number, you would enter:

When a path is entered, a “Send to RV” option appears at the bottom right of the Render window. If that is enabled, after rendering, the rendered clip will be sent to the RV playback software--if installed.

Enable the loading of external scripts.

Aids installing external Python packages (such as numpy, torch, scipy, cv, PIL, etc.). This defaults to $(SFX_PYTHON_PACKAGES) which can also be set with an environment variable. When using the tools.installer script, it will first check for this preference and attempts to install packages there instead of in the built-in Python library which only works if there is write access.

Add one or more paths where your scripts are stored.

Add user-defined code to run during startup. Note that the changes take effect immediately after dismissing the Preferences window. This is good for testing custom keyboard shortcuts.

After closing a new shape, you will switch to the Reshape tool automatically.

Sets the default blur type: Center, Inner, Outer.

Sets the size of control point handles.

Sets the default keyframe interpolation type.

There is no interpolation and abrupt switches in value occur at keyframes.

When values change, a straight line with sharp, abrupt angles from one keyframe to the next is drawn.

Eases in to the selected keyframe.

Eases out of the selected keyframe.

Eases in and out of a selected keyframe.

Smooth (Catmull-Rom) creates a smooth curve between keyframes.

Sets the default mode for the Reshape tool.

Selected points all move the same amount.

Points near the cursor move more than points farther away.

Uses a circular brush to automatically select and then move points when you click and drag them using the Magnetic Reshape behavior.

Enables the Silhouette v5 and below Feather tool. Once enabled, the Feather tool appears in the user interface.

Go to Appendix E - Legacy Feather to see how it works.

Draws unselected/inactive shape outlines using the shape opacity value. Alternatively, the V key toggles the Fade Outline with Opacity behavior.

When enabled, point selection is done by freehand selection. Press Ctrl while dragging for rectangular selection.

When disabled, point selection is done by rectangular selection. Press Ctrl while dragging for freehand selection.

When activated, tangents/hulls hide when editing.

When activated, the shape outline is hidden when editing.

Enables all interpolation types except for Smooth (Catmull-Rom).

Interpolation types are limited to Smooth (Catmull-Rom), Hold and Extrapolate. This ensures that shapes using Smooth (Catmull-Rom) interpolation in Silhouette exactly match the result in Nuke when exported.

Control points are not numbered.

Only control points that have been tagged using the Reshape tool > control point pop-up menu are numbered.

All control points are numbered.

Sets what shape type is used when circles and squares are created.

Bézier shapes are used for circle and square creation.

B-Splines are used for circle and square creation.

X-Splines are used for circle and square creation.

Drastically improves the curvature of shapes and reduces artifacts when using feathering. You can return to the previous behavior of v4.0.4 and below which used a fixed-step iterator by turning this preference off, if for some reason it causes shape artifacts.

Controls whether the automatic anchor point is set to the center of the collective bounding box or to the opposite handle.

Displays feather handles on shape points. Shift-F toggles this setting.

Displays the shape name in the center of the shape.

Turns Bézier tangents on or off. Turns B-Spline and X-Spline hull drawing on or off.

Controls whether the automatic anchor point is set to the center of the collective bounding box or to the opposite handle.

Controls the default weighting of X-Spline points when they are created.

X-Spline points have B-Spline weighting.

X-Spline points have Cardinal weighting.

X-Spline points have Corner weighting.

This is a weight from -10 to 10 that is multiplied by the mouse delta when manipulating the X-Spline point tension. You can reverse the sense of the weight by making this value negative. Also, you can boost the amount the tension is adjusted based on mouse movement by making the value larger, for example closer to -10 or 10.

When enabled, the 3D Preview window supports NVIDIA 3D Vision glasses. After enabling this preference, the 3D Preview window will open full screen.

When enabled, point trackers are placed in the root of the Object list, rather than the selected layer.

Sets the default color of the tracker path.

Sets the default tracker tolerance. Describes the level of accuracy between the Match Area that the Tracker is searching for and the area it actually finds when searching from frame to frame.

Sets the default tracker behavior. Behavior decides what frame should be used as the reference to check the accuracy of the Match Area.

Displays tracker points along the path of the track.

Enables mocha’s Drift Compensation feature where surrounding frames are used to decrease tracker drift.

Enables GPU acceleration if a compatible graphics card is found.

Enables Silhouette’s Drift Compensation feature where surrounding frames are used to decrease tracker drift.

Sets the Trees window’s default color.

Sets the node connection’s default color.

Displays node connections as curved lines.

Displays node connections as straight lines.

Sets the group’s default background color.

Sets the default node color.

During playback, tree render status is provided by highlighting each node as it processes using a blue outline.

The input order of composite nodes is background and then foreground.

The input order of composite nodes is foreground and then background.

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

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

Displays colored dot indicators on the output of nodes that cache. Blue dots are cached in RAM while green dots are cached on the GPU.

Displays a dashed, yellow line to indicate which nodes are connected via expressions.

Sets the maximum number of undos.

Allows all nested docks to be moved at the same time. Disabling this preference moves individual docks only.

Added a User Interface > Automatically Raise Dock Views On Selection Change preference. For instance, when the Paint node is selected, relevant tabs like the Paint History automatically appear.

Checks for new versions and displays an alert on startup.

Colors the timeline tracks the same as the Roto node’s shape colors.

Enables Sentry crash report generation.

Change the user interface’s font size.

Inverts the numerical direction when adjusting sliders with the mouse wheel.

Automatically saves the plug-in project on exit of Silhouette. This removes the need to prompt you to save when you close the window or select File > Exit.

Displays full size sliders in the Parameter views.

When enabled (the default), Source nodes are displayed last in the Node List.

When you select an item in the Object List, the controls for that item are automatically shown in the Parameters window. If you select an item in the Node List, the controls for that item are automatically shown in the Node window. This behavior can be disabled with this preference.

On startup, if this is the first time launching a new version of Silhouette, it will open the What's New. It will only do this once.

Enables the Timebar lock that prevents field dragging.

When enabled, the OS’s native file dialog is used for importing files.

Sets the anaglyph mode when using the Anaglyph Preview in the Viewer. Anaglyphs do not portray saturated colors very well and due to color leaking between left and right images results in discomfort caused by retinal-rivalry. Four anaglyph modes are provided to choose from with Optimized set as the default.

Preserves most of the color but causes retinal rivalry.

Creates a lighter image than a true anaglyph but results in more ghosting. No color is preserved.

Preserves less of the color but reduces the retinal rivalry

Discards all of the red component from the original images and replaces it with a manufactured red channel derived from the green and blue components. The advantages are almost no retinal rivalry.

When enabled, the Viewer Gain and Gamma affect the alpha.

Anti-aliases lines and overlay controls.

If Overlay is turned off, Auto-Show Overlay automatically turns Overlay back on when clicking in the Viewer.

Displays the ROI outline.

Controls how handles are drawn.

Uses a normal blend mode to display layer and shape handles.

Uses an XOR blend mode to display layer and shape handles.

Sets the thickness of overlay lines.

Sets the radius of the threshold for picking points.

Restores focus to the viewer after editing parameters. This ensures that the arrow keys, for instance, continue to work for nudging objects.

Selects either Gray or Black for the Stereo Alignment.

Synchronizes the zoom and pan of multiple viewers from the same node. Synchronization is one way from the main viewer to the additional viewers.

Controls the I/O zoom factor keyboard shortcuts. Default is 2. Range is 1.05 > 2.0.

Interpolates pixels when zoomed into the image. This results in a smoother, but softer image.

Replicates pixels when zoomed into the image. This results in a sharper, but chunkier image.