Trapcode Particular
The Designer has a host of shortcuts and navigation behaviors to help you work more efficiently in the Designer interface.
For your convenience, there are two ways to utilize panes: Locked and Unlocked. In Unlocked mode, the pane will automatically close after moving your mouse away from that section. In Locked mode, the pane stays open even after your mouse moves to another part of the interface.
To illustrate, consider the graphic below. At left, you see the Blocks pane in its default state, unlocked and showing the Inspector, which shows the parameters for whichever block you've selected in the Effects Chain. If you hover your mouse over the word Blocks in the upper-right area of the Designer interface, the Blocks pane will open in Unlocked mode. As shown on the right, this exposes the Blocks pane, which is comprised of the block preset navigation tree and the block preset browser. Move your cursor away from the Blocks pane to revert it back to the Inspector.
If you want the Blocks pane to remain open, you would put it in Locked mode by clicking the chevron next to the word Blocks. The chevron switches direction to indicate that the pane is in Locked mode. To unlock the pane, simply click the arrow again. This same Locked/Unlocked behavior also applies to the Presets pane on the left side of the Designer interface.
Note: The panes can also be opened and closed using keyboard shortcuts, discussed below.
Bonus note: Consider the Designer configuration below. Say you want to change the number of bucky balls being emitted. You know that parameter is in the Emitter group back in the ECP, so where'd it go in the Designer Effects Chain? Actually, it's right where it's supposed to be, to the left of the Particle blocks, but you may not be able to see it if your Presets pane is locked. Unlock and minimize the pane, then your Emitter blocks should be right there.
You can use applied blocks along the Effects Chain to navigate quickly to various parameters.
Single-clicking applied blocks opens that block's Inspector controls if the Blocks pane is not already open. If the Blocks pane is locked open, single-clicking applied blocks does nothing. Double-clicking applied blocks in this situation unlocks the pane and opens the block Inspector.
Double-clicking a category heading in the Effects Chain opens the block preset navigation tree and the block preset browser. Double-clicking it again closes both elements.
To apply a downloaded preset from the Presets pane or a block from the Blocks pane, simply click the item from the corresponding asset browser.
You can use keyboard shortcuts to open and close the Presets and Blocks panes:
If you've clicked within the Preview pane, the C key will both enable Camera Preview Mode and cycle through camera modes. For more information on these modes, see the Preview Pane in the Designer page in this section.