Unable to composite Blender Cycles 2.71 as nodes aren't there, working and menus dead

Support Compositing and Post Processing
1

Hey all,

Got an odd one for you all. I’ve just been working on a basic 16 second animation with camera tracking after going through BlenderGuru’s tutorial on the subject. I’m using Cycles instead of basic Blender Render as I’m wanting to keep up with latest changes and all that: I’ve only started in CG so why not?

However I’ve gotten to the stage where I need to add the original footage as a background to my animation. However, when I go into the compositing screen (or even just the node editor) there are NO nodes!

Not only that, but when I go to add a node (any node) it’s all greyed out. Now, I know that it’s most likely something I’ve done but I’ve no idea what it is that I’ve done.

Please note that I’ve only been using blender (or any other 3D software) for about 2.5 weeks, hence the stupidity…

Here’s a screenshot of my need editor and compositor screens. Please note this is with a new project, and in BOTH all ‘Add’ options are greyed out. I can upload a .blend if necessary.

nodes2.PNG1666×991 145 KB

Nodes1.PNG1662×920 128 KB

2

Look at the bottom of your screen. There’s a checkbox there that says “Use Nodes.” Note how it is currently unchecked.

3

FACEPALM! Total noob prob.

The REALLY stupid thing is that I think someone told me that before and my CFS addled brain forgit it lol.

4

In your camera tracking you can also tell it to set up the scene and the nodes. I’m pretty sure he did that in his tutorial.