Historically, F shortcut was for 'add edge/face' in Blender.
In Node editor, F makes a noodle, ctrl+f made a noodle replace too.
To keep ALT+F work for "Unattach from frame", the solution I now propose
is to make CTRL+F for finding nodes, and SHIFT+F for 'add noodle with replace'.
New operator "Find Node".
Opens search menu, and allows to find a node based on name or label.
On selecting name, menu selects/activates the node and moves the view to it.
Shortcut: ALT+F
Menu: Node editor, "Select"
To complete previous commit:
New "Activate same type next/prev" operator - replaces the two not working previous ones.
This selects/activates and views the next or previous node of same type.
Shortcuts: Shift ] and Shift [
This is the first half of the commit, it's going to be reviewed further.
It also depends on other work in node drawing (to not reshuffle order on
every select/activate).
At least it works quite nice for the shortcuts shift [ and shift ]
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/
This adds border option to compositor, which affects on
a backdrop and viewer nodes, which is useful for faster
previews and tweaks.
Final compositing still happens for the whole frame, but
if it'll be needed it's not so difficult to support it
as well.
To use border there's Ctrl-B shortcut in the compositor
editor, which i used to define region you want to restrict
compositing to. There's also "Viewer Border" option in
the N-panel in case you'll want to disable border
compositing.
Some areas could be cleaned a bit, like ideally it shall
not be viewer image clearing in viewer_border_update RNA
callback, but currently it's not so much clear how to
make it the same fast as simple memset and glue it
somehow to compositor. Will think of nicer solution a
bit later.
* Shader script node added, which stores either a link to a text datablock or
file on disk, and has functions to add and remove sockets.
* Callback RenderEngine.update_script_node(self, node) added for render engines
to compile the shader and update the node with new sockets.
Thanks to Thomas, Lukas and Dalai for the implementation.
Currently does not support copying of animation data. This would require copying of individual fcurves etc. between data block, which is not implemented yet.
Also it is currently possible to circumvent some constraints of the nodes, in particular for node groups (e.g. no groups inside groups, render layer not inside groups).
1) For inserting into existing groups:
The 'Make Group from selected' (CTRL+g) operator shows a selection popup (like the object parenting operator), with options depending on the type of the active node (last selected):
* "New" -> regular operator, creates new group type with all selected nodes inside.
* "Insert" (only if active node is a group) -> adds all other selected nodes into the group.
Currently still prohibits groups inside groups in general, though would be technically possible as long as no actual recursion occurs (group containing itself).
2) For extracting from an existing group:
New 'Separate from group' operator (p), works similar to separating vertices/edges/faces from mesh. Two modes:
* "Copy" makes a copy of the nodes in the parent tree, but keeps the original group intact.
* "Move" removes selected nodes from the node group and adds them to the parent tree
By holding shift and "cutting" a node link a new reroute helper node can be inserted. This consists of a single socket that can be used to insert additional connection points into a link. This can be used to keep a connection point in the tree when deleting a node, or to control the path of long connections for layout cleanup.
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 operator still had some built-in assumptions about the connectivity of input/output sockets (1-to-n in all current node systems). For future node systems (e.g. flow-based particles) and for general customizable nodes the operator is now fully symmetric and supports all kinds of connectivity limits (1:1, 1:n, m:1, m:n).
The operator data can also store a list of node links as opposed to a single link now, so that multiple links can be redirected at once. Holding the CTRL key when clicking a socket, all links from/to that socket are detached and can be moved to a different socket. This is useful for quickly appending a node without moving every individual link.
* Removed the struct_type identifier from sockets completely. Any specialization of socket types can be done by using separate collections in RNA and customized socket draw callbacks in node type. Sockets themselves are pure data inputs/outputs now. Possibly the sock->storage data could also be removed, but this will change anyway with id properties in custom nodes.
* Replaced the direct socket button draw calls by extra callbacks in node types. This allows nodes to draw sockets in specialized ways without referring to the additional struct_type identifier. Default is simply drawing the socket default_value button, only file output node overrides this atm.
* File output node slots now use a separate file sub-path in their storage data, instead of using the socket name. That way the path is an actual PROP_FILEPATH property and it works better with the UI list template (name property is local to the data struct).
* Node draw contexts for options on the node itself and detail buttons in the sidebar now have an extra context pointer "node" (uiLayoutSetContextPointer). This can be used to bind operator buttons to a specific node, instead of having to rely on the active/selected node(s) or making weak links via node name. Compare to modifiers and logic bricks, they use the same feature.
* Added another operator for reordering custom input slots in the file output node.
Socket selection is indicated by a simple white highlight circle.
Multiple inputs can be selected by holding SHIFTKEY (just like regular node select). Only one output socket can be selected at a time for each node, but several outputs in different nodes are allowed.
The auto-connect operator will prefer selected sockets on nodes for creating links. If either the output or input side have no selected sockets it will fall back to the previous behavior of chosing 'best' sockets first (colors, then vectors, then values). This could be improved in the future, but is out of scope here.
1) Old CMP_NODE_OUTPUT_FILE and CMP_NODE_OUTPUT_MULTI_FILE have been merged,
only CMP_NODE_OUTPUT_FILE remains. All functions renamed accordingly.
2) do_versions code for converting single-file output nodes into multi-file
output nodes. If a Z buffer input is used, the node is made into a multilayer
exr with two inputs. (see below). Also re-identifies multi-file output nodes
with the CMP_NODE_OUTPUT_FILE type.
3) "Global" format is stored in node now. By default this overrides any
per-socket settings.
4) Multilayer EXR output implemented. When M.EXR format is selected for node
format, all socket format details are ignored. Socket names are used for layer
names.
5) Input buffer types are used as-is when possible, i.e. stored as B/W, RGB or
RGBA. In regular file output the format dictates the number of actual channels,
so the CompBuf is typechecked to the right type first. For multilayer EXR the
number of channels is more flexible, so an input buffer will store only the
channels it actually uses.
6) The editor socket type is updated from linked sockets as an indicator of the
actual data written to files. This may not be totally accurate for regular file
output though, due to restrictions of format setting.
There are a number of features that use a kind of "internal linking" in nodes:
1. muting
2. delete + reconnect (restore link to/from node after delete)
3. the new detach operator (same as 2, but don't delete the node)
The desired behavior in all cases is the same: find a sensible mapping of inputs-to-outputs of a node. In the case of muting these links are displayed in red on the node itself. For the other operators they are used to relink connections, such that one gets the best possible ongoing link between previous up- and downstream nodes.
Muting previously used a complicated callback system to ensure consistent behavior in the editor as well as execution in compositor, shader cpu/gpu and texture nodes. This has been greatly simplified by moving the muting step into the node tree localization functions. Any muted node is now bypassed using the generalized nodeInternalRelink function and then removed from the local tree. This way the internal execution system doesn't have to deal with muted nodes at all, as if they are non-existent.
The same function is also used by the delete_reconnect and the new links_detach operators (which work directly in the editor node tree). Detaching nodes is currently keymapped as a translation variant (macro operator): pressing ALTKEY + moving node first detaches and then continues with regular transform operator. The default key is ALT+DKEY though, instead ALT+GKEY, since the latter is already used for the ungroup operator.
Unlike the existing file output node this node has an arbitrary number of
possible input slots. It has a base path string that can be set to a general
base folder. Every input socket then uses its name as an extension of the base
path for file organization. This can include further subfolders on top of the
base path. Example:
Base path: '/home/user/myproject'
Input 1: 'Compo'
Input 2: 'Diffuse/'
Input 3: 'details/Normals'
would create output files
in /home/user/myproject: Compo0001.png, Compo0002.png, ...
in /home/user/myproject/Diffuse: 0001.png, 0002.png, ... (no filename base
given)
in /home/user/myproject/details: Normals0001.png, Normals0002.png, ...
Most settings for the node can be found in the sidebar (NKEY). New input sockets
can be added with the "Add Input" button. There is a list of input sockets and
below that the details for each socket can be changed, including the sub-path
and filename. Sockets can be removed here as well. By default each socket uses
the render settings file output format, but each can use its own format if
necessary.
To my knowledge this is the first node making use of such dynamic sockets in
trunk. So this is also a design test, other nodes might use this in the future.
Adding operator buttons on top of a node is a bit unwieldy atm, because all node
operators generally work on selected and/or active node(s). The operator button
would therefore either have to make sure the node is activated before the
operator is called (block callback maybe?) OR it has to store the node name
(risky, weak reference). For now it is only used in the sidebar, where only the
active node's buttons are displayed.
Also adds a new struct_type value to bNodeSocket, in order to distinguish
different socket types with the same data type (file inputs are SOCK_RGBA color
sockets). Would be nicer to use data type only for actual data evaluation, but
used in too many places, this works ok for now.
The buttons for "hiding" (collapsing) a node, hiding unlinked sockets, additional options, the preview and for opening a node group were all using a custom mouse test function, which was broken. They now use actual buttons instead of just displaying icons. Before executing the respective operators the button's node has to be selected and activated, so the buttons use an intermediate handle function, which selects the node and then calls the operator.
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
this will reconnect nodes as if the deleted node is muted.
Operation is added to the space_node node menu and to the keymap as CTRL-X
to test this just add some nodes to the space_node
select one or multiple nodes and press CTRL-X
It should reconnect the nodes as they were muted
limitations:
1. it performs a delete and reconnect per node. It does not evaluate all selected nodes as one whole
2. mute only supports Value, Vector and Color data types, so does this feature
3. not usable for nodes where input and output does not match (like colorToBW)
Where reconnect could not be preformed the links will be removed from the model.
Undo works with this delete with reconnect.
When using masks or other simple 3D elements in composites, doing
a layer re-rendering on a node is a bit clumsy all the time.
This commit does two things to help:
- new hotkey "Z" in node editor automatically finds render layer
that changed and re-renders it + composites
- option "Auto Render" does same, but then after every transform
edit in 3D window
The latter is experimental; real & proper system for this requires
full threaded render support (like previews). But it works!
Demo file:
http://download.blender.org/demo/test/auto_composite.blend
Important fix:
After any render, all the render layers were tagged "changed", which
caused any edit to first totally recomposte everthing. Now it only
composites changes.
Implementation notes
- DAG scene flush now sets 'changed' flags in render layer nodes
- Added notifier for 'transform finished' to trigger the update,
this is temporarily.
"Select all of the same type" now is binding to Shift + GKEY
Two new function, select next and prev node of the same type.
Select a node and press Shift + [ or Shift + ] go to the
previous and next node of the same type (of the active node).
