Shelf

Context-sensitive shelf — layer browser on the Viewer, gizmo palette on the Node Graph

Overview

The Shelf is a context-sensitive floating panel triggered by Shift + `. It adapts its contents depending on where the cursor is when you open it:

  • Over the Viewer — Shows all image layers from the active viewer input. Browse, preview, and create channel operations.
  • Over the Node Graph — Shows a customizable gizmo palette for quick node creation.
📷Side-by-side: Viewer Shelf (layers) vs Gizmo Shelf (node graph) — same shortcut, different contextimg/viewer-shelf/vs-overview-dual.png
The same Shift + ` shortcut opens a different shelf depending on cursor position: layers on the Viewer, gizmos on the Node Graph.

Context Modes

Cursor over Shelf content Purpose
Viewer Layer list Browse layers, preview channels, create Shuffle/Keep/Remove nodes
Node Graph Gizmo buttons One-click access to frequently used gizmos and tools

Viewer Shelf (Layers)

When opened over the Viewer, the shelf lists all layers (channels) available in the current viewer input. Each layer appears as a button in a grid layout.

📷Viewer Shelf showing layer list from active viewer inputimg/viewer-shelf/vs-viewer-layers.png
The Viewer Shelf listing all available layers with selection and action bar.

Layer Preview

Hold Alt and hover over layer buttons to instantly preview each layer in the Viewer. This lets you quickly scan through all available passes (diffuse, specular, depth, etc.) without creating any nodes.

Keep / Remove / Shuffle

Click a layer button to select it. Hold Ctrl and click to select multiple layers. When one or more layers are selected, an action bar appears at the bottom with three operations:

Action Result
Keep Creates a node that keeps only the selected layers and removes everything else
Remove Creates a node that removes the selected layers from the stream
Shuffle All Creates Shuffle nodes for each selected layer
📷Action bar showing Keep, Remove and Shuffle All buttons after selecting multiple layersimg/viewer-shelf/vs-layer-actions.png
Select layers with Ctrl+click, then use Keep, Remove, or Shuffle All from the action bar.

Layer Grouping

Layers can be grouped by pattern in the settings. Groups are displayed as separate columns with a title header. You can also hide layers by pattern (e.g. hide all deep_* layers) and optionally strip common prefixes from display names for a cleaner view.

Gizmo Shelf (Node Graph)

When opened over the Node Graph, the shelf shows a palette of gizmo buttons. Click a button to create the corresponding node in the DAG.

📷Gizmo Shelf showing button palette over the Node Graphimg/viewer-shelf/vs-gizmo-shelf.png
The Gizmo Shelf with default and user gizmo buttons.

Adding Gizmos

The shelf loads gizmos from two directories:

  • default_gizmos/ — Ships with the toolkit. Contains a curated set of commonly used gizmos. Restored on update.
  • user_gizmos/ — Your personal gizmos. Place any .gizmo or .nk file here and it will appear in the shelf. Preserved across updates.

Gizmos are automatically detected on the next shelf open. No restart required.

Shelf Editor

The Shelf Editor lets you manage all gizmo shelf buttons. Open it from the shelf header.

  • Add — Add gizmos, .nk scripts, or tools from the file system.
  • Edit — Change a button's label, icon, or associated file.
  • Remove — Delete a button from the shelf.
  • Reorder — Drag and drop buttons to rearrange them.
📷Shelf Editor with drag-and-drop reordering of gizmo, script, and tool buttonsimg/viewer-shelf/vs-shelf-editor.png
The Shelf Editor for managing gizmos, scripts, and tools.

Settings

Access the shelf settings from the NGT Setup panel. Options include:

  • Colors — Customize button colors for layers and gizmos.
  • Labels — Show or hide labels, strip prefixes, rename layers for display.
  • Layout — Adjust button size, spacing, number of columns, and maximum rows before wrapping.
  • Layer grouping — Define patterns to group layers into separate columns (e.g. group all crypto_* layers together).
  • Hidden layers — Hide layers by pattern (e.g. deep_*) to keep the shelf clean.
📷Shelf settings panel showing color, label, layout, and grouping optionsimg/viewer-shelf/vs-settings.png
Shelf settings for colors, labels, layout, and layer grouping.

Shortcuts

Shortcut Action
Shift + ` Open / close the Shelf
Alt + hover (Viewer Shelf) Preview layer in the Viewer

Troubleshooting

Shelf does not appear

  • Make sure the cursor is over the Node Graph or Viewer when pressing the shortcut.
  • Check that the shortcut has not been overridden by another plugin — look for conflicts in the Script Editor.

No layers in Viewer Shelf

  • Make sure a node is connected to the active Viewer input.
  • Check that the input node has been computed (view it at least once).

Gizmos not loading

  • Verify that your gizmo files have the .gizmo or .nk extension.
  • Check that the files are directly inside user_gizmos/, not in a subfolder.