Understand the Canvas.

The Canvas is the grid you see when you open Altar. Everything on it is a Tool, and it sits in one of two places.

Loose Tools and Groups

• A loose Tool sits directly on the Canvas.
• A Group is a titled box that holds several Tools. Click its header to fold it away. A folded Group shows how many Tools it hides.

Groups are optional. Any Tool can live loose or in a Group, and you can drag it between the two. On a fresh install the Canvas has a few loose Widgets and two folded Groups, Selection and Keyframes.

Buttons and Widgets on the Canvas

A Button is one cell. Hover it and a card shows its name, what it does and any modifier keys. Click to run it.

A Widget has two presentations, and you choose per placement:

• Inline - the controls sit on the Canvas. Resize it to see more of them.
• Overlay - a single small cell. Click it and the Widget opens over the panel at full size. Close it with the X in its header. If you reopen it, the values you had typed are still there.

Inline Widgets have an info icon with a short description of the Tool. It sits beside the name, or in the top right corner on hover when names are hidden.

The grid scrolls

The Canvas keeps its own width. If you dock Altar in a narrower panel the Canvas crops and scrolls sideways instead of rearranging your Tools. Widen the panel and the Canvas grows to match.

To repack everything into the current panel width, right-click the Canvas and choose Fit to panel. It only appears when there is something to change, and it cannot be undone.

View mode and Edit mode

Altar opens in View mode. Click Tools to run them, and click a Group header to fold it.

Edit mode is for changing the Canvas itself, and nothing runs while it is on. Turn it on from the right-click menu.

In Edit mode each Tool shows a handle along its top edge to drag it, a corner control to resize it and an X to remove it. Built-in Tools also have a gear that opens their settings. For a Button you made, right-click it instead. The next page covers each one: Arrange Tools and Groups.

Pointer first

After Effects keeps the arrow keys, Return and Space for itself, so Altar’s panels cannot rely on them. Everything in Altar works with the mouse.