These functionalities exist already, but they only affect the backdrop:
I agree they are not consistent with other parts of blender though so I like your proposal.
I’m not sure about the saving though. What should it save, the backdrop image (i.e. viewer node) or the composited image (composite node)?
I’m glad you like it Izo. The current layout doesn’t optimize screen space and hides some basic buttons that should be visible.
I think it could also work well in the image editor too. Especially the save button, the zoom percentage, and the button to fit the image to the screen space (shortcut: Shift+Home).
Regarding the save button, I believe it should save what you see; what you see is what you get. If you’re only viewing the node tree up to a certain point, it should save that image.
Yes yes yes and yes!!! It all sounds amazing and really needed additions to the compositor. One thought related to the layout you’re using:
I was teaching compositing in blender to a beginner the other day and it got hard to defend why we need to open a panel set as an image viewer set to the viewer node to see what we’re doing. Wouldn’t it be more intuitive to go the sequencer route and have the node graph and the viewer as modes of the same panel type? I don’t know if I’m making my self clear.
I think it could help building the UI needs of the compositor without working around the image viewer. Right now it feels, and I think is, a bit of a workaround.
I am experimenting with gizmos for the backdrop:
I noticed it might be confusing to have some navigate gizmos for backdrop whereas mouse scroll and middle mouse button navigate nodes. So maybe we should add a set of gizmos, for example:
What do you think?
What about this: leave the zoom and movement icon of the nodes as it is, but for the backdrop, let the shape of the box be the main one and in its corner be the zoom and move icons.
I think gizmos for zooming and panning the image result is great, but I don’t need them to navigate the node interface itself.
That´s great. A button or something - perhaps a ctrl-click on the icons - to center the image and to bring the zoom factor back to 1:1 would be great.
I agree with thorn-neverwake that icons for node navigation are not necessary.
they are
all node editors should have the navigation gizmo, they are useful on touch screen devices
as for backdrop navigation, this could be done by using the navigation gizmos while holding a modifier key. no need for new gizmos
On a NON touchscreen, you can navigate with a mouse. Therefore, I believe the default should not require a modifier key to zoom and pan the background.
It goes to the number of users who are using the platform, and on what device. Touch screens are an incredible minority.
Cool! I’m personally not a fan of the backdrop preview (I find it very annoying, having the nodes on top of the image I’m working on) but for the people that does use it I’d assume it would be better to have just one set of icons, and change between node/backdrop navigation with a modifier key, as @ThinkingPolygons said. This wouldn’t change anything for people whi navigate with the mouse but it would be nice to have the functionality in the UI.
This is needed too, not only on the backdrop, but also on the Image Editor when set to Viewer node
nice zoom controls are coming, and should work on all editors
@thorn-neverwake modifier key for backdrop makes total sense, trust me. i wish we had a build with that to test
In the image editor it is “numpad 1” to set it back to 1:1. But perhaps an icon would be nice for people who prefer that.
Ok, good point.
Perhaps a “hide all nodes” hotkey would solve this. I hope this does not derailing the thread into feature requests.
Yes, I’m aware of the zoom shortcuts and the “home” key to center the image and scale it to the available space, but most of the people at the studio have a hard time learning the shortcuts and navigating in some editors without clear UI buttons, specially when they come from Maya or C4D. I think in general Blender still needs to work on having clear UI options for things that us old-time users do purely with shortcuts.
Yeah, I think that would be useful, I wouldn’t use it still because my problem with the backdrop on the node editor is that it gets visually distracting, I prefer to have both nodes and preview visible at all times, but not on top of each other hehe
I already have that modifier key in Blender. No trust needed - i’ve used it, i don’t like it, and i wish i had gizmos on the screen.
How did you use it if it doesn’t exist in blender? 
I believe you’re not understanding what ThinkingPolygons is saying.
He means using a modifier key on the navigation gizmos itself (those Pan and Zoom buttons)…
So using those gizmos as usual (without pressing any key) would navigate the nodes as expected, but using those gizmos while pressing and holding a modifier key (Ctrl, Shift or Alt) would move the backdrop…
Sounds neat to me…
Ah, I misunderstood that it was modifier + gizmo.
I still don’t love the idea. Blender already hides common functions under a modifier key, and I don’t think another one is the best idea.
And as his original point involved touch screen users, I don’t see how a modifier key factors into it. My previous point (though I misunderstood him on the Gizmo) was that I can already Pan the background with a modifier key and a mouse. So modifier key plus Gizmo does nothing for my life.
I think it makes sense to be consistent with other 2d editors and have navigation gizmos affect nodes. So I went for extra navigation buttons for backdrop, also with fit to view:
I understand the need for fit to view, but why do you need both 1:1 zoom and fit to view?
Because a lot of times you can only check the result of some compositing effects when the image is at 100%, so switching between “fit to view” and “1:1” quickly (from the UI, without knowing or using the shortcuts) would be pretty handy.
Krita, Photoshop and After Effects have specific shortcuts and UI buttons to do exactly that, because it is very useful to switch between those specific “zooms”
I see, thanks. But you probably don’t need this for the nodes navigation right?
Oh no, not for nodes, sorry if I wasn’t clear; I was talking just about the image backdrop or the image editor set to viewer node. For the nodes I don’t see why you would need the 1:1 zoom tbh
