**Changes**
As described in T93602, this patch removes all use of the `MVert`
struct, replacing it with a generic named attribute with the name
`"position"`, consistent with other geometry types.
Variable names have been changed from `verts` to `positions`, to align
with the attribute name and the more generic design (positions are not
vertices, they are just an attribute stored on the point domain).
This change is made possible by previous commits that moved all other
data out of `MVert` to runtime data or other generic attributes. What
remains is mostly a simple type change. Though, the type still shows up
859 times, so the patch is quite large.
One compromise is that now `CD_MASK_BAREMESH` now contains
`CD_PROP_FLOAT3`. With the general move towards generic attributes
over custom data types, we are removing use of these type masks anyway.
**Benefits**
The most obvious benefit is reduced memory usage and the benefits
that brings in memory-bound situations. `float3` is only 3 bytes, in
comparison to `MVert` which was 4. When there are millions of vertices
this starts to matter more.
The other benefits come from using a more generic type. Instead of
writing algorithms specifically for `MVert`, code can just use arrays
of vectors. This will allow eliminating many temporary arrays or
wrappers used to extract positions.
Many possible improvements aren't implemented in this patch, though
I did switch simplify or remove the process of creating temporary
position arrays in a few places.
The design clarity that "positions are just another attribute" brings
allows removing explicit copying of vertices in some procedural
operations-- they are just processed like most other attributes.
**Performance**
This touches so many areas that it's hard to benchmark exhaustively,
but I observed some areas as examples.
* The mesh line node with 4 million count was 1.5x (8ms to 12ms) faster.
* The Spring splash screen went from ~4.3 to ~4.5 fps.
* The subdivision surface modifier/node was slightly faster
RNA access through Python may be slightly slower, since now we need
a name lookup instead of just a custom data type lookup for each index.
**Future Improvements**
* Remove uses of "vert_coords" functions:
* `BKE_mesh_vert_coords_alloc`
* `BKE_mesh_vert_coords_get`
* `BKE_mesh_vert_coords_apply{_with_mat4}`
* Remove more hidden copying of positions
* General simplification now possible in many areas
* Convert more code to C++ to use `float3` instead of `float[3]`
* Currently `reinterpret_cast` is used for those C-API functions
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D15982
When a change happens which invalidates view layers the syncing will be postponed until the first usage.
This will improve importing or adding many objects in a single operation/script.
`BKE_view_layer_need_resync_tag` is used to tag the view layer to be out of sync. Before accessing
`BKE_view_layer_active_base_get`, `BKE_view_layer_active_object_get`, `BKE_view_layer_active_collection`
or `BKE_view_layer_object_bases` the caller should call `BKE_view_layer_synced_ensure`.
Having two functions ensures that partial syncing could be added as smaller patches in the future. Tagging a
view layer out of sync could be replaced with a partial sync. Eventually the number of full resyncs could be
reduced. After all tagging has been replaced with partial syncs the ensure_sync could be phased out.
This patch has been added to discuss the details and consequences of the current approach. For clarity
the call to BKE_view_layer_ensure_sync is placed close to the getters.
In the future this could be placed in more strategical places to reduce the number of calls or improve
performance. Finding those strategical places isn't that clear. When multiple operations are grouped
in a single script you might want to always check for resync.
Some areas found that can be improved. This list isn't complete.
These areas aren't addressed by this patch as these changes would be hard to detect to the reviewer.
The idea is to add changes to these areas as a separate patch. It might be that the initial commit would reduce
performance compared to master, but will be fixed by the additional patches.
**Object duplication**
During object duplication the syncing is temporarily disabled. With this patch this isn't useful as when disabled
the view_layer is accessed to locate bases. This can be improved by first locating the source bases, then duplicate
and sync and locate the new bases. Will be solved in a separate patch for clarity reasons ({D15886}).
**Object add**
`BKE_object_add` not only adds a new object, but also selects and activates the new base. This requires the
view_layer to be resynced. Some callers reverse the selection and activation (See `get_new_constraint_target`).
We should make the selection and activation optional. This would make it possible to add multiple objects
without having to resync per object.
**Postpone Activate Base**
Setting the basact is done in many locations. They follow a rule as after an action find the base and set
the basact. Finding the base could require a resync. The idea is to store in the view_layer the object which
base will be set in the basact during the next sync, reducing the times resyncing needs to happen.
Reviewed By: mont29
Maniphest Tasks: T73411
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D15885
Related to {D15885} that requires scene parameter
to be added in many places. To speed up the review process
the adding of the scene parameter was added in a separate
patch.
Reviewed By: mont29
Maniphest Tasks: T73411
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D15930
Use `verts` instead of `vertices` and `polys` instead of `polygons`
in the API added in 05952aa94d. This aligns better with
existing naming where the shorter names are much more common.
For copy-on-write, we want to share attribute arrays between meshes
where possible. Mutable pointers like `Mesh.mvert` make that difficult
by making ownership vague. They also make code more complex by adding
redundancy.
The simplest solution is just removing them and retrieving layers from
`CustomData` as needed. Similar changes have already been applied to
curves and point clouds (e9f82d3dc7, 410a6efb74). Removing use of
the pointers generally makes code more obvious and more reusable.
Mesh data is now accessed with a C++ API (`Mesh::edges()` or
`Mesh::edges_for_write()`), and a C API (`BKE_mesh_edges(mesh)`).
The CoW changes this commit makes possible are described in T95845
and T95842, and started in D14139 and D14140. The change also simplifies
the ongoing mesh struct-of-array refactors from T95965.
**RNA/Python Access Performance**
Theoretically, accessing mesh elements with the RNA API may become
slower, since the layer needs to be found on every random access.
However, overhead is already high enough that this doesn't make a
noticible differenc, and performance is actually improved in some
cases. Random access can be up to 10% faster, but other situations
might be a bit slower. Generally using `foreach_get/set` are the best
way to improve performance. See the differential revision for more
discussion about Python performance.
Cycles has been updated to use raw pointers and the internal Blender
mesh types, mostly because there is no sense in having this overhead
when it's already compiled with Blender. In my tests this roughly
halves the Cycles mesh creation time (0.19s to 0.10s for a 1 million
face grid).
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D15488
In all these cases, it was clear that the layer values were set right
after the layer was created anyway. So there's no point in using
calloc or setting the values to zero first.
See 25237d2625 for more info.
When allocating new `CustomData` layers, often we do redundant
initialization of arrays. For example, it's common that values are
allocated, set to their default value, and then set to some other
value. This is wasteful, and it negates the benefits of optimizations
to the allocator like D15082. There are two reasons for this. The
first is array-of-structs storage that makes it annoying to initialize
values manually, and the second is confusing options in the Custom Data
API. This patch addresses the latter.
The `CustomData` "alloc type" options are rearranged. Now, besides
the options that use existing layers, there are two remaining:
* `CD_SET_DEFAULT` sets the default value.
* Usually zeroes, but for colors this is white (how it was before).
* Should be used when you add the layer but don't set all values.
* `CD_CONSTRUCT` refers to the "default construct" C++ term.
* Only necessary or defined for non-trivial types like vertex groups.
* Doesn't do anything for trivial types like `int` or `float3`.
* Should be used every other time, when all values will be set.
The attribute API's `AttributeInit` types are updated as well.
To update code, replace `CD_CALLOC` with `CD_SET_DEFAULT` and
`CD_DEFAULT` with `CD_CONSTRUCT`. This doesn't cause any functional
changes yet. Follow-up commits will change to avoid initializing
new layers where the correctness is clear.
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D15617
Fix unused function result warnings for usages of `fread` in the C++
.stl importer, by actually using the returned error code.
Reviewed By: sybren
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D15189
Fixes C++ .stl importer info output having no space between the
number and the word after it.
Reviewed By: Aras Pranckevicius
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D15240
Designate private variable names as described by the style guide,
and also add `num` at the end of variable names rather than at
the beginning, as discussed in T85728.
A new experimentatl STL importer, written in C++. Roughly 7-9x faster than the
Python based one.
Reviewed By: Aras Pranckevicius, Hans Goudey.
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D14941
