Newbie on Tools question

Hello,
I've been evaluating other VFX software... currently using Hitfilm, but I think I prefer the node based approach that Fusion uses.

In many of the videos I've watched, the person drops a new tool onto the tool area and then it looks like they grab it and drag it into the view panel. Is this what actually activates it? If you drop it on the tool area, and link it up to other nodes, doesn't that perform the needed view updates?

No one ever explained this apparent dragging of the node onto the view surface.
Thanks
Harold

No, the viewer has nothing to do with activating a node or rendering.
It just pictures the result of the composition until the tool you drag
in it plus some controls for other tools like splines and transforms which
you can modify regardless their place in the flow. So just add a tool and
connect it the way you want with the others.

It's not what activates it. It is what 'views it'.
In Fusion you can watch every intermediate step of your flow by dragging the step you want to view to the view. (or click it and press 1 or 2 to see it in the view)
The reason you will see people this in tutorial videos is because usually in a tutorial you want to show the result of the tool you just added to the people following along. But you could also view your loader and add a dozen tools to your comp and still keep on viewing your loader.
I hope this helps.

'technically' it is triggering the render. A tool must be viewed in order to render unless the 'all' option is selected next to transport control. And fusion in 'some' mode will only render up to what the viewer is requesting.
In essence, without 'all' the view is the one responsible for telling the flow to render, clear your views and fusion will completely stop processing the flow

yes, this is semantics at it's best

Rony

Don't you mean 'at its best'?

ok, so to view the effect of a specific node, that single node can be dragged to the viewer... Is that a correct statement?
Thanks for help.
Harold

The effect of the flow up until the tool you're viewing, yes. (the tool does not exist on its own)