Teleporting a Read Node

Oh my!  Is this a Tip of the Week? No.. Well, I guess, it's a short one.. Ever wanted to access a read node or a stack of nodes from somewhere else in your massive script and you don't want it to look like a circuit board or spaghetti pile? Here's a nifty trick to put in your arsenal.

I'm assuming you're using Nuke as your compositing package. If you're not.. Well, uhm.. That could be a problem.  Anyway, grab a PostageStamp node.  Attach it to a dot or stack of nodes or simply a read node.

Under the PostageStamp options, click Hide Input and deselect the node. Goodness, now we can move that PostageStamp anywhere and it references that stack! But, wait, I don't know what it is, what the original file was, and let's say I do (I really do, all the time).

In the label section of the PostageStamp, enter the following:

[lindex [split [basename [value [topnode].file]] .] 0]

Now go ahead and quickly disable and enable the node. Look at that! Now we have a PostageStamp node that references the original Read, and on top of that, I can move it around and not get too cluttered. Wicked. Now all you have to worry about is updating only ONE read should be referenced by a bunch of other nodes. Keep it clean and neat people!