When nodes are loaded from a .blend file they can potentially have undefined types. This can happen if a type has been deprecated and removed, or if node types were defined in a python script that has not been loaded correctly. Previously all such nodes would automatically be removed from a node tree, assuming that their types were deprecated and no longer in use (more commonly caused by loading new nodes in an older Blender version). Due to the possibility of dynamic registration it is no longer feasible to simply delete such nodes.
Display and handling of node trees was simply disabled before this patch, so that a node tree where any node or socket type was undefined would not be displayed at all. To give more information and avoid problems caused by necessary checks for the typeinfo pointer, there is now a 'Undefined' fallback type for trees, nodes and sockets. These types are used as placeholders in case the real type is not registered and can provide useful visual feedback on undefined nodes.
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/
Previous alpha-overing on black for RGB display wasn't so much useful
for artists, changed in a way:
- Made RGBA display default for node editor backdrop and image editor,
so it'll be clear that image does have alpha channel
- RGB display will ignore alpha channel completely
Reshuffled buttons for RGBA/RGB so now the order is following:
RGBA | RGB | Alpha | Z
Still to come: startup.blend shall be altered to make RGBA default.
With the view3d 'Render Only' option, grease pencil wouldn't draw, but for OpenGL render it did.
Since grease pencil can be very useful in opengl renders, enable grease pencil drawing with 'Render Only' option in the viewport,
and add a checkbox in the grease pencil header not to draw (unchecking each layer is annoying and applies to all spaces).
Nice formatted version (pictures soon):
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Ref/Release_Notes/2.66/Usability
Short list of main changes:
- Transparent region option (over main region), added code to blend in/out such panels.
- Min size window now 640 x 480
- Fixed DPI for ui - lots of cleanup and changes everywhere. Icon image need correct size still, layer-in-use icon needs remake.
- Macbook retina support, use command line --no-native-pixels to disable it
- Timeline Marker label was drawing wrong
- Trackpad and magic mouse: supports zoom (hold ctrl)
- Fix for splash position: removed ghost function and made window size update after creation immediate
- Fast undo buffer save now adds UI as well. Could be checked for regular file save even...
Quit.blend and temp file saving use this now.
- Dixed filename in window on reading quit.blend or temp saves, and they now add a warning in window title: "(Recovered)"
- New Userpref option "Keep Session" - this always saves quit.blend, and loads on start.
This allows keeping UI and data without actual saves, until you actually save.
When you load startup.blend and quit, it recognises the quit.blend as a startup (no file name in header)
- Added 3D view copy/paste buffers (selected objects). Shortcuts ctrl-c, ctrl-v (OSX, cmd-c, cmd-v).
Coded partial file saving for it. Could be used for other purposes. Todo: use OS clipboards.
- User preferences (themes, keymaps, user settings) now can be saved as a separate file.
Old option is called "Save Startup File" the new one "Save User Settings".
To visualise this difference, the 'save startup file' button has been removed from user preferences window. That option is available as CTRL+U and in File menu still.
- OSX: fixed bug that stopped giving mouse events outside window.
This also fixes "Continuous Grab" for OSX. (error since 2009)
Rationale is that the sidebar contains some extra detail settings for several node types. Many users don't seem to even know that this feature exists, so making it visible by default should be helpful.
As suggested by Campbell on the IRC gave grease pencil its own notifier type (NC_GPENCIL) and made the makesrna notifier functions actually update properly.
Also got the #ifdef'd GreasePencil.layers.[new/remove] functions working.
Note: While renaming DNA properties is usually dangerous and can break files, in this case it is possible because the mx/my values are only used at runtime.
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).
For premultiplied alpha images, this makes any color space conversion for the image
or render output work on color without alpha multiplied in.
This is typically useful to avoid fringing when the image was or will be composited
over a light background. If the image will be composited over a black background on
the other hand, leaving this option off will give correct results.
In an ideal world, there should never be any color space conversion on images with
alpha, since it's undefined what to do then, but in practice it's useful to have
this option.
Patch by Troy Sobotka, with changes by me.
This prevents access to non-existent typeinfo during type initialization,
when node types have been removed and such nodes are deleted from older files.
All blenkernel functions now only set the node->update flag instead of directly
calling the update function. All operators, etc. calling blenkernel functions
to modify nodes should make a ntreeUpdate call afterward (they already did that
anyway).
Editor/RNA/renderer/etc. high-level functions still can do immediate updates by
using nodeUpdate and nodeUpdateID (replacing NodeTagChanged/NodeTagIDChanged
respectively). These old functions were previously used only for setting
compositor node needexec flags and clearing cached data, but have become generic
update functions that require type-specific functionality (i.e. a valid typeinfo
struct).
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
Now it behaves right on playback:
- Starting playback "Anim Player" button appears on header.
It used to appear only on mouse hover before.
- Stopping playback triggers refresh on compositor, so
actual result would be visible if image sequence/movie
is used in nodes.
- remove some warnings
- fix typos
- cmake allow in-source build (when WITH_IN_SOURCE_BUILD is defined)
- cmake, use an explicit list of rna files (don't glob)
Changed selection flag used for the selected_nodes context property from SELECT to NODE_SELECT. These are just incidentally the same, but NODE_SELECT should be used for nodes.
