Open Settings › Background and click an image, video or gradient, and it appears behind your graph at once.
Where: Settings › Background
What it is
A background is the image, video or gradient behind the graph canvas. It's separate from the theme, which styles Filamental's own panels and toolbars (see Themes). We ship a set of simple ones, and you're very welcome to bring your own. Wallpaper sites and Pexels in particular have great free content, and Pexels search is built right into the gallery. All of it is free on every plan.
Custom UI & Backgrounds1:05 · plays from YouTubePlay videoCustom Background Tweaks1:07 · plays from YouTubePlay video
How to use it
The page has four sections.
Images opens with Void, the near-black starry sky Stars start on, then Upload (your own image) and Pexels (search for a free photo), then the images you've added, then the ones we ship.
Adjust has two sliders. Blur softens a busy background so cards stand out, and Dim darkens a bright one so text reads clearly.
Videos works the same way as Images, with Add video and Pexels first, then your own and ours.
Gradients are plain colour washes, light and dark among them.
Click any tile to use it. A Pexels pick downloads into your project and becomes one of your own, and a placeholder tile shows while it arrives. To take one of your own off the list, click the × on its tile, which deletes that file from the project.
Images can be JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, AVIF or APNG, and videos MP4 or WebM.
Tips
Cards and Stars each keep their own background, so switching node style never loses one. The line under Images tells you which style your pick is for: the one on show. See Cards and Stars.
Each project remembers its own background on this computer, so different projects can look completely different. The files you add are stored in the project folder, but the choice itself stays on your machine, so someone opening the same folder elsewhere starts from their own.
Shared links and HTML downloads can carry your background, blur and dim included. See Sharing a Document.
As a general rule, keep it simple while working (with the grid on), and save branded or animated backgrounds for presenting.
How this helps you
Use a plain gradient for close, distraction-free work, a client's or a brand's own image when you're handing a project over, a video behind Present for an exhibition stand, and a different look for each project so you know which one you're in before you read a word.
