# Overview (https://docs.fuser.studio/docs/compositor)

The Compositor is Fuser's built-in visual editor for stacking images, video, text, vector art, raster paint, and 3D into a single layered **scene**. Think Figma or Photoshop, but living inside a flow node — anything you compose flows downstream to inference, further editing, or export.

A **scene** is the unit the Compositor works with: canvas dimensions, frame rate, duration, and an ordered stack of layers. Saving the editor commits the scene as the node's output; downstream nodes receive that scene as their input.

![Compositor Overview](/compositor-edit-interface.jpeg)

## Opening the Compositor [#opening-the-compositor]

Click the  **Edit** button on a Compositor node to open the full-screen editor. When you're done, click **Save** to commit the scene as the node's output, then **Exit** to return to the flow canvas. The saved scene becomes immediately available to downstream nodes.

> [!NOTE] Desktop and tablet only
>
> The Compositor editor runs on desktop and tablet browsers. On mobile, Compositor nodes still display their output, but you can't open the editor.

## Editor Layout [#editor-layout]

The editor has four primary areas around a central canvas:

*  **Layers Panel** (left) — the layer stack. Reorder, toggle visibility, lock layers, rename. See [Layers](https://docs.fuser.studio/docs/compositor/layers.md).
* **Canvas** (center) — the editing surface where layers render and respond to your tools.
*  **Toolbar** (floating, bottom of the canvas) — eight editing tools for selecting, drawing, painting, and erasing. See [Tools](https://docs.fuser.studio/docs/compositor/tools.md).
*  **Properties panel** (right) — context-aware controls for the selected layer or the canvas. See [Properties](https://docs.fuser.studio/docs/compositor/properties.md).

![Compositor Toolbar](/compositor-toolbar-ui.png)

## Tools at a glance [#tools-at-a-glance]

The toolbar holds eight tools. Each has a single-key shortcut.

| Icon                                                             | Tool          | Shortcut |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------- | -------- |
|          | **Select**    | `V`      |
|        | **Hand**      | `H`      |
|          | **Rectangle** | `R`      |
|          | **Ellipse**   | `O`      |
|           | **Text**      | `T`      |
|  | **Pen**       | `P`      |
|       | **Brush**     | `B`      |
|          | **Eraser**    | `E`      |

Each tool's settings, gestures, and per-tool shortcuts live on the [Tools](https://docs.fuser.studio/docs/compositor/tools.md) page.

## What's Next? [#whats-next]

  - [Concepts](https://docs.fuser.studio/docs/compositor/concepts.md): The mental model — how the scene drives both the editor and downstream nodes, masks vs. clipping, anchors, multiplayer behavior.

  - [Tools](https://docs.fuser.studio/docs/compositor/tools.md): All eight tools with their settings, gestures, and keyboard shortcuts.

  - [Layers](https://docs.fuser.studio/docs/compositor/layers.md): Twelve layer types — shapes, raster, text, image, video, 3D, adjustments, nested compositors.

  - [Properties](https://docs.fuser.studio/docs/compositor/properties.md): Canvas, transform, appearance + blend modes, masks, global alpha mask.

  - [Timeline & Export](https://docs.fuser.studio/docs/compositor/timeline-and-export.md): Animate, scrub, and export PNG or video. How the downstream output works.