node editor, nodes keep rearranging

[reniferziolo]

Hello everyone,

Whenever I connect nodes to chosen "channels" they jump around the node editor viewport, making me loose track of my progress. It's really confusing. I don't know how to fix this. Any help appreciated!

[Anonymous]

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@sketchaholic wrote:

I think I found it.  Setting this made it so that the graph is not re-arranged (even when unit conversion nodes are added).  Specifically checking "Pin all Nodes by default" AND un checking "Auto-Size Nodes."  This was on my mac.  I'll try on a windows machine later.  Does this work for any one else? 

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Windows 10 in Maya 2019.1

This... kinda works. The nodes don't move around, but they also cannot be cleared when they are pinned. And if you just move to a different area of the graph to start a new connection to leave your original network, any auto created nodes (such as unitConversion) are shunted back to the 'origin' point. If your network is large, this could be an issue. 

However, if you turn on the Pin by Default and are working within a single network at a time, this is an okay workaround solution for now (thanks!). Pin by Default option does not seem to be perpetual between Node Window sessions, much less Maya Sessions, though the Auto-size Nodes does seem to maintain it's state. Personally, I found Pin by Default to be much more useful then the Auto-size Nodes option. In addition, I can see why Pin by Default doesn't remain, as if it's on at the start of a graph session, all of the nodes just... stack on one another when a graph is first brought in.

The best solution for me is to start my node editor window up, select what I want to work on, let it start a graph naturally, arrange things, pin them, then turn on Pin by Default from the Options menu. As long as the nodes are pinned, they stay within the node editor window, even when closed and reopened (though you do have to turn on Pin by Default between sessions, as noted before). With Pin by Default turned on, you can move any auto-created nodes to where you want them as they are created and things stay put. 

I wish it remembered my preferred node arrangement between sessions even without the nodes pinned, but at least I'm not getting crazy movements while working on a graph network at a given time. Thank you for the comments that let my small brain figure this out!!

[BenediZ]

I recommend also to use your voice and vote in the ideas section,

for example here:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/maya-ideas/maya-2020-new-node-graph-please/idi-p/8827835

[peerke88]

i have had this problem all the time, not only do i dislike the unitconversion node (it should be an option to add these), autorearranging the nodes is a pain to work with
if i setup a scene to connect rotate x y and z to different nodes and arrange them in that order from top to bottom to connect them to another node the rearrangement does not adhere to my original setup and i have to trace my node connections again. I script this out in a later stage but for quick r&d this is a pain.

the gif attached shows an everyday setup i work with, i work with rigs that use container nodes to compress the amount of nodes in the outliner (which in my opinion should work similar to houdini but thats another topic)
but as you can see there are already a lot of connections added to the scene and when i connect extra nodes by hand it makes all the nodes in the connection created jump. if it was just the unit conversion node that is placed somewhere offscreen it would not affect my workflow as much.

[benm3d]

report as a bug. As has been pointed out above, this forum does NOT get
passed to the tech teams

[g2m.agent]

User calls it glitch, Autodesk calls it feature. 
You have to get used to it.

[Anonymous]

Select all of the nodes in the "Node Editor", go to "Edit" - "Pin". 

Snaps will only occur every time you connect a node, and another node shows up between the connections and you will still see the snap but only on the new node. To solve... place the new node wherever you want and pin it. 

[Martin_L_A]

Almost everyone here knows the "pin" option. This is NOT a solution as it does not fix the problem, it merely removes a small part of it. This doesn't solve anything for new nodes created, which means any time you work with rotation (and this is very often for a lot of people working with nodes), your new conversion unit node will jump in a completely random place, and you will need to rearrange your whole graph manually as the pin option prevents the reorganizing of the graph.

With all due respect, it would be more productive (and respectful of others) to read the thread and not just the first message before answering it.

[Anonymous]

So, this is still a thing...

[serenitee12345]

I always had issues with the jumping nodes from all the versions of Maya. The nodes jump into infinity when I just adding a new node or moving around in the node editor. It happens randomly and is very distructive to my workflow.

[serenitee12345]

Maya 2021 node editor with nodes jumping around. This is still better than sometimes the nodes jump to infinity. Please fix this. 

[benm3d]

That's because Autodesk still haven't got round to fixing the node editor
in any version of maya yet....

You need to report it as a bug - these forums don't have any effect on
Autodesk policy - they're here so users can find out about broken stuff

[benm3d]

you need to go through the Help/ Speak Back/ Report a Problem in Maya - or
https://www.autodesk.com/company/contact-us/product-feedback

the forum isn't monitored by the problem solving team and doesn't get
counted in the number of reported issues beancount, which decides if things
are a priority

sadly, riggers are not a priority as there's not enough of us to complain
in sufficient numbers...

/cynicism off

[serenitee12345]

I found a reliable way to reproduce nodes in node editor dump thousands of units off. Just pin some nodes in a network and then graph one of pinned node and graph it.

[benm3d]

You need to report this as a bug to Autodesk.

This forum doesn't get monitored by the development teams, so anything you
report is useful to other users, but has no effect on getting it fixed.

[ashimkumal061]

you can pin them 

shortcut key inside node editor is P

[johnkeates2865]

As discussed above, that doesn't work well (nodes still end up pinging
around) and it is a clunky workflow

[benm3d]

does this now solve the issues with the node editor detailed above by
various people, because it didn't prior to maya 2022?

[ccrocker2]

So this might seem a bit redundant and if it was answered somewhere here I'm sorry, I had the whole screen jump when I added a new node and now after panning and scrolling , I can't seem to find any of my well-organized nodes in the massive editor. Is there some sort of hotkey for locating the nodes you had created?  Like selecting the object in the outline and clicking something in the node editor to find them fast? 

[benm3d]

Hi ccrocker

select the node through the Outliner, usually with DAG objects only OFF to
show everything , then F to frame selection works in the node editor.

Unfortunately, they still haven't solved the "my carefully laid out node
tree gets destroyed at Autodesk's whim" problem that is what most of the
thread is complaining about.

Submit it to Autodesk as an issue - this thread/ forum doesn't feed into or
inform Autodesk's dev team, it's more of a self-help group.

Sorry if that's a not particularly useful reply.. 😞 bm

(If Nuke did this, Foundry would be hung out to dry, but the number of
people creating complex node layouts in maya seems to be limited to those
riggers in this thread, which isn't a large enough demographic for A/d to
care... )

[ccrocker2]

Awesome , thank you so much! I'm currently in school for animation and vfx
and the rearranging and jumping around is rather frustrating. Your tips
were super helpful though.