confusion, grid snap is now the default as it seems to be the most wanted and easy to use mode.
Absolute grid snapping happens in a somewhat generic function 'applyGridAbsolute', which could also be used for objects and other transforms later on. It is conceptually similar to the 'project' snapping
option, in that it calculates a delta vector for each element on top of the overall transform, which places each node on the grid.
Node transform now uses the top-left node corner for TransformData->loc. The transform center is still the average of node centers, so that scaling and rotation works nicely.
snapGrid*** functions have been renamed to snapGridIncrement*** to distinguish better between incremental and absolute grid snapping.
The design changes coming with pynodes for the node editor allow editing multiple node groups or pinning. This is great for working on different node groups without switching between them all the time, but it causes a problem for viewer nodes: these nodes all write to the same Image data by design, causing access conflicts and in some cases memory corruption. This was not a problem before pynodes because the editor would only allow 1 edited node group at any time. With the new flexibility of node editors this restriction is gone.
In order to avoid concurrent write access to the viewer image buffer and resolve the ambiguity this patch adds an "active viewer key" to the scene->nodetree (added in bNodeTree instead of Scene due to otherwise circular DNA includes). This key identifies a specific node tree/group instance, which enables the compositor to selectively enable only 1 viewer node.
The active viewer key is switched when opening/closing node groups (push/pop on the snode->treepath stack) or when selecting a viewer node. This way only the "last edited" viewer will be active.
Eventually it would be nicer if each viewer had its own buffer per node space so one could actually compare viewers without switching. But that is a major redesign of viewer nodes and images, not a quick fix for bcon4 ...
PyNodes opens up the node system in Blender to scripters and adds a number of UI-level improvements.
=== Dynamic node type registration ===
Node types can now be added at runtime, using the RNA registration mechanism from python. This enables addons such as render engines to create a complete user interface with nodes.
Examples of how such nodes can be defined can be found in my personal wiki docs atm [1] and as a script template in release/scripts/templates_py/custom_nodes.py [2].
=== Node group improvements ===
Each node editor now has a tree history of edited node groups, which allows opening and editing nested node groups. The node editor also supports pinning now, so that different spaces can be used to edit different node groups simultaneously. For more ramblings and rationale see (really old) blog post on code.blender.org [3].
The interface of node groups has been overhauled. Sockets of a node group are no longer displayed in columns on either side, but instead special input/output nodes are used to mirror group sockets inside a node tree. This solves the problem of long node lines in groups and allows more adaptable node layout. Internal sockets can be exposed from a group by either connecting to the extension sockets in input/output nodes (shown as empty circle) or by adding sockets from the node property bar in the "Interface" panel. Further details such as the socket name can also be changed there.
[1] http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Phonybone/Python_Nodes
[2] http://projects.blender.org/scm/viewvc.php/trunk/blender/release/scripts/templates_py/custom_nodes.py?view=markup&root=bf-blender
[3] http://code.blender.org/index.php/2012/01/improving-node-group-interface-editing/
The transform operators in nodes will now use the unselected nodes to generate snapping points. Unlike object snapping, node snapping works for the x/y axes separately and snaps node borders to same borders of unselected nodes. The sensitive area for node borders extends over the whole view2D range, to enable simple alignment of nodes in both x and y direction.
For snap points in the node editor an additional enum value is stored to indicate the type of node border (left/right/top/bottom). This works as a constraint on possible node alignments: only same border types align with each other.
For an detailed user-level description of new features see the following blogpost:
http://code.blender.org/index.php/2012/05/node-editing-tweaks/
TL;DR:
* Frame node gets more usable bounding-box behavior
* Node resizing has helpful mouse cursor indicators and works on all borders
* Node selection/active colors are themeable independently
* Customizable background colors for nodes (useful for frames visual
distinction).
This branch adds mostly organizational improvements to the node system by renaming the node folders and files. A couple of internal features have been added too.
Detailed information can be found on the wiki page:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Phonybone/Particles2010
On dragging a non-connected node on a noodle, it will insert it.
Functionality tweaks are possible, but it already feels non-intrusive.
Rules:
- Insertion only when a single noodle is intersecting with node.
- Default connects first matching socket type.
- If no socket match, it connects the first.
- removing duplicate chunks of code -> hide unused sockets now works
- moving some functions to the files that they get called from -> view all/home
- made duplicate a macro operator like the other places that work like this, eliminating the unnecessary transform-related property there still
- removed a few chunks of unused code
* Compo node backdrop works again.
* Compo node previews and backdrop now get correct color management
float to byte conversion.
* Compo nodes got unecessarily recalculated while moving nodes.
* Fix compo node viewer nodes not getting activated correctly.
* Main compo node preview render computations are now outside of
mutex lock, so better for multithreading.
* Tex node outputs did not work in some files loaded from 2.4.
* Change RNA updates to take into account groups that may be shared
between multiple node trees.
* Node buttons can now use the layout engine. a few simple
ones are converted. We'll keep this code in C for now,
python wouldn't help much here.
* For node buttons not using the layout engine, manually
computing the button height is not longer needed.
* Node inputs are still not RNA wrapped, would be good to
have these available as well for keying, but makesrna does
not have access to the bNodeTypes.
* Fix header menu spacing bug, and make it consistent for all headers.
* For consistency, always put menus first in the header, then any enums
to switch the type of data displayed.
* Node editor header ported to python layout. Still quite a few
operators missing to make the menus complete.
* RNA wrapped node editor, and added use_nodes property to material
and scene.
Compositor now uses threaded jobs.
- updates happen per preview node! Check this file for
fun: http://www.blender.org/bf/composite_image.blend
(any compo node could get preview!)
- had to ensure the composite data gets fully copied before
it executes thread, so editing is not frustrated.
- put back node buttons (missing init)
- added WM_jobs api call to check for running job,
illustrated with red light icon in 'use nodes' button.
- added another callback to WM_jobs, to initialize.
use this init to ensure you only do it when job really
starts.
- added an extra notifier option for WM_jobs, to signal
finished job (like redraw image view)
- fixed file read error, it copied the screen it read,
instead of using it.
- commented out annoying prints for missing ops in imagewin
