Understanding Process Trees

Shake is composed of a collection of image manipulation enginescompositing, color correcting, warping, and so on. Each engine can be driven by a series of different commands, called nodes, or processes. These nodes are arranged into a treelike structure called a process tree. Shake saves a process tree into a file called a script. The terms process tree and script will be used interchangeably throughout this book. Nodes can be added or inserted at any time, building up an effect in a nonlinear fashion. It is a very flexible way to create an effect, and it's easy to change. So your clients can endlessly noodle with their shots, and you can make changes quickly thanks to Shake's flexibility.