Node Studio Overview

While Vellum’s standard formatting tools are incredibly powerful, architectural data is rarely simple. Often, schedule formatting depends on complex, multi-layered logic, nested parameters, or cross-category relationships.

To handle this, Vellum features a built-in, Dynamo-inspired visual scripting engine: The Node Studio.

The Node Studio allows you to build advanced conditional formatting rules, manipulate text, perform mathematical operations, and map parameters using an intuitive, node-based canvas flanked by a searchable library and a contextual properties panel.

Anatomy of the Studio

The Node Studio interface is designed to keep your tools organized while maximizing the area available for drawing logic graphs. It consists of four main regions:

1. The Toolbar: Controls execution (Auto vs Manual routing), history, and workspace docking states.
2. The Node Library: Located on the left. Toggle between Content Nodes (data extraction/math) and Style Nodes (colors/borders), and search for specific operations to drag onto your canvas.
3. The Canvas: The infinite grid in the center where logic is wired together.
4. The Properties Panel: Located on the right. When you select a specific node on the canvas, its advanced settings, limits, and inputs appear here.

Explore the interface: Hover over the different sections in the interactive component below to see how the Node Studio is structured.

Studio Anatomy

Hover over the Toolbar, Library, Canvas, or Properties panel to explore. Click 'Pop Out' to test window management!

Analytical Spaces

Content EditStyle Edit

route Nodes

route

Logic Nodes

AutoManual

play_arrow

open_in_new

grid_onpalette

search

receipt_longGet All Rows

#Intersect Cells

Extract Data

Node Properties

Select a node on the canvas to configure.

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Fluid Workspace Management

Because node graphs can grow quite large, and you need to see your schedule update in real-time, the Node Studio features a highly fluid window management system. It has three distinct states:

1. Docked: Splits the screen horizontally. The Node Studio sits at the top, and your live schedule sits at the bottom.
2. Floating: Pops the Node Studio out into a draggable window, allowing you to see your full schedule canvas behind it.
3. Maximized: Expands the Node Studio to fill the entire workspace for complex graph management.

Try it out: In the Anatomy explorer above, click the Pop Out button in the top right corner of the Toolbar to make the studio float. Once floating, click and drag the header to move it around, or drag it to the very bottom of the screen to snap it back into a docked position!

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What’s Next?

Now that you understand how the workspace is structured, let’s dive deeper into how to place nodes, wire logic together, and utilize the Main Canvas.