In order to better work with Blend Mode Nodes, some helpers are available.
For quicker creation of the most common Blend Mode Nodes, a new Hotbox has been added and assigned to the Shift+C Hotkey. Since it's a Hotbox it can be easily edited and modified via the Hotbox Manager.
The Swap Node Type Tool, available for example by pressing the X Hotkey with a Node selected, has been improved to better work with Blend Mode Nodes.
Running "Swap Node Type" with a Blend Mode Node selected, will automatically pre-filter the Node List to only show other Blend Mode Nodes as well as Merge Nodes
When a Blend Mode Node is selected, "Swap Node Type" will open with a filter pre-set in the Filter Line at the top
When swapping from a "Merge" Node to Blend Mode Node, the Opacity on the Blend Mode Node will inherit the Merge Node opacity
When swapping from a "MergeNoAlpha" Node to a Blend Mode Node, the "Keep Alpha" Checkbox will be auto ticked on Blend Mode Nodes that support it.
When swapping from a Blend Mode Node to a "Merge" Node, the Merge Node will inherit the opacity and the Blend Mode.
A convenience tool is available to convert a nodegraph or a nodegraph selection of merge nodes to corresponding Blend Mode Nodes.
As Merge Nodes can have more settings than Blend Mode Nodes, you can use the settings in the dialog to determine
when a Replacement can still be made despite not existing on Blend Mode Nodes however usually you want to leave
the settings as they are by default to avoid any look changes.