Your first graph
Place a shape, tweak it, animate it, and watch it render — in about five minutes.
This is the quickest way to get a feel for DNA. You'll make a circle appear, change how it looks, and give it a little motion. Nothing here is permanent, so feel free to poke around.
1. Add a circle
Press Tab anywhere on the node graph to open the search palette. Type circle, then press Enter (or click the result) to drop a shape.circle node onto the canvas.
That's it — the circle is already showing in the viewport. Every node you add cooks and previews live, so you see results as you build.
The palette searches names, descriptions, and tags. If you're not sure what a node is called, describe what it does — blur, noise, bounce — and see what comes up.
2. Change its parameters
The circle's controls live right on the node body. Find the radius field:
Drag left or right on the number to scrub it up and down.
Or click the number and type an exact value, then press Enter.
Try changing the radius and colour. The viewport updates as you go. These inline controls are the same ones you'll find in the Parameters panel when you want more room.
3. Animate one parameter
Let's make the radius pulse over time.
Move the playhead to the start of the timeline.
Hover the radius field and press K to drop a keyframe at the current value.
Move the playhead forward (drag it along the timeline).
Change the radius to a new value, then press K again.
You've just authored two keyframes. DNA fills in the motion between them.
Press Space to play. The circle now grows and shrinks as the playhead loops. Press Space again to pause.
A keyframed parameter shows a small marker so you can tell at a glance which controls are animated. To shape the in-between motion, open the curve editor.
4. See it render
Everything you've done is already rendering in the viewport — there's no separate "render" step to wait for. As you wire up more nodes, the viewport always shows the live result of the whole graph.
When you're ready to build something real, connect a second node: drag from the circle's output socket to the input of another node to chain them together. That's the whole idea of DNA — small nodes wired into bigger results.
A few handy keys
Tab — open the node palette
Space — play / pause the timeline
F — frame the selected nodes
K — set a keyframe on the hovered parameter
Cmd+Z — undo
Cmd+S — save your
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