Pop-out windows

Float any panel into its own window, and send a clean full-screen output to a second display for live shows.

DNA's interface is one big docked layout by default, but you're not locked to a single window. Any panel can break out into a floating window of its own, and there's a dedicated full-screen output window built for performing on a second screen.

Pop a panel out

Every panel can become its own window. Detach a panel and DNA opens a fresh window showing exactly the same thing the docked version showed — the The viewport keeps rendering, the The node graph keeps editing, the Parameters panel keeps tracking your selection. Nothing is duplicated or frozen; the floating window is just another view of your live project.

This is handy when you want to:

Each pop-out opens at a sensible starting size for its content (a Viewport window comes up large and 16:9, Parameters comes up tall and narrow), and you can resize and move it like any normal window from there.

Popped-out windows are full members of the workspace — drag the same panel type back into the main window's dock if you want it home again, or just close the floating window.

The Performance Output window

When you're playing live or showing work on a projector, you don't want node graphs and timelines in the frame. The Performance Output window gives you a clean, full-screen view of your final result — your composited canvas on a black background, nothing else.

Open it from the View → Performance Output menu (or press Cmd+P). Drag it onto your second display and set that display to full screen, and your audience sees only the artwork while you keep working on your main screen.

While the output window is focused:

This is the "show" surface. Keep the main DNA window on your laptop screen for driving the performance, and let the Performance Output window own the projector. See Live performance for the bigger picture on running a live set.

The stats overlay is a quick at-a-glance readout. For the full breakdown of frame timing and what's costing you, use the The performance panel.

Your window layout is remembered

DNA saves where your windows are. When you quit, it records your dock layout and the position and size of every floating window; when you reopen the app, everything comes back where you left it. Set up a two-monitor arrangement once — Viewport here, node graph there, Performance Output on the projector — and it's waiting for you next session.

See also