Panels & Layout
Every part of the DNA window is a panel you can split, tab, resize, and rearrange to fit how you work.
DNA's workspace is built from panels — the node graph, the viewport, the layers list, the parameters, the asset browser, and more. They aren't fixed in place. You arrange them into whatever layout suits the job, and DNA remembers it for next time.
How the layout works
The window is a set of panels packed together by splits. A split divides an area into two, side by side or stacked top and bottom, with a thin splitter line between them. Each area can hold a single panel or a stack of tabs — several panels sharing the same space, one visible at a time.
Because any area can itself be split again, you can build almost any arrangement: a big viewport with the node graph tucked beneath it, a tall parameters column down the side, a tabbed corner holding the console and a data view together.
A typical starting layout has the viewport and node graph on the left, the timeline and layers along the bottom, and the asset browser and parameters down the right.
Rearranging panels
Drag a panel by its tab to move it. As you drag over another panel, DNA shows where it will land:
Drop onto the tab bar to add it as another tab in that stack.
Drop near an edge (left, right, top, bottom) to split that area and place the panel on that side.
A ghost preview and a highlighted drop zone follow your cursor so you can see the result before you let go. When you move the last tab out of an area, the empty space closes up automatically — no dead gaps left behind.
Need a panel on a second monitor? You can pop it out into its own floating window. See Pop-out windows.
Resizing
Hover the splitter line between two panels and the cursor changes to a resize handle. Drag to shift the balance between them. Panels won't shrink below a sensible minimum, so nothing collapses to an unusable sliver.
Saving your layout
DNA saves your whole arrangement automatically — which panels are open, how they're split, the splitter positions, the active tab in each stack, and your window size — and restores it the next time you launch. You don't have to save anything by hand.
This means you can build a layout for one kind of work and trust it'll be there tomorrow. A few common profiles:
Node-editing layout — a large node graph, parameters alongside, a smaller viewport for spot-checking.
Rendering layout — a large viewport front and centre, layers and the render settings close to hand.
Switch your arrangement whenever the task changes, and DNA keeps whatever you last left it as.
Per-node viewers — the extra view that opens when you double-click a node in the viewport — are treated as temporary and are not restored on launch, so you never reopen the app to a stray second viewport you didn't ask for.
What panels can show
Panels are views onto your graph, not separate places to make things. Everything you create lives in the node graph; a panel just shows or edits part of it. Some of the panels you'll reach for:
Node Graph — build and wire your nodes.
Viewport — see the live result. See The viewport.
Layers — visibility, lock, solo, bypass, opacity and blend mode per layer.
Parameters — the controls for the selected node.
Asset Browser — your library of files and assets. See The asset browser.
Data Viewer — inspect a collection as a sortable table.
Console — messages, warnings and errors.
Performance — frame timing and scene stats. See The performance panel.
Plugins can add their own panels too; they show up in the panel menu beside the built-in ones. See Plugins.