At long last!
This new constraint is pretty simple. Following in the footsteps of such giants as Copy Loc and Copy Rot, it lets you constrain the size of an object/bone to another object/bone, with per axis restrictions.
-> Rendering in RenderLayers
It's important to distinguish a 'render layer' from a 'pass'. The first is
control over the main pipeline itself, to indicate what geometry is being
is rendered. The 'pass' (not in this commit!) is related to internal
shading code, like shadow/spec/AO/normals/etc.
Options for RenderLayers now are:
- Indicate which 3d 'view layers' have to be included (so you can render
front and back separately)
- "Solid", all solid faces, includes sky at the moment too
- "ZTransp", all transparent faces
- "Halo", the halos
- "Strand", the particle strands (not coded yet...)
Currently only 2 'passes' are exported for render, which is the "Combined"
buffer and the "Z. The latter now works, and can be turned on/off.
Note that all layers are still fully kept in memory now, saving the tiles
and layers to disk (in exr) is also todo.
-> New Blur options
The existing Blur Node (compositor) now has an optional input image. This
has to be a 'value buffer', which can be a Zbuffer, or any mask you can
think of. The input values have to be in the 0-1 range, so another new
node was added too "Map Value".
The value input can also be used to tweak blur size with the (todo)
Time Node.
Temporal screenies:
http://www.blender.org/bf/rt.jpghttp://www.blender.org/bf/rt1.jpghttp://www.blender.org/bf/rt2.jpg
BTW: The compositor is very slow still, it recalulates all nodes on each
change still. Persistant memory and dependency checks is coming!
A full detailed description of this will be done later... is several days
of work. Here's a summary:
Render:
- Full cleanup of render code, removing *all* globals and bad level calls
all over blender. Render module is now not called abusive anymore
- API-fied calls to rendering
- Full recode of internal render pipeline. Is now rendering tiles by
default, prepared for much smarter 'bucket' render later.
- Each thread now can render a full part
- Renders were tested with 4 threads, goes fine, apart from some lookup
tables in softshadow and AO still
- Rendering is prepared to do multiple layers and passes
- No single 32 bits trick in render code anymore, all 100% floats now.
Writing images/movies
- moved writing images to blender kernel (bye bye 'schrijfplaatje'!)
- made a new Movie handle system, also in kernel. This will enable much
easier use of movies in Blender
PreviewRender:
- Using new render API, previewrender (in buttons) now uses regular render
code to generate images.
- new datafile 'preview.blend.c' has the preview scenes in it
- previews get rendered in exact displayed size (1 pixel = 1 pixel)
3D Preview render
- new; press Pkey in 3d window, for a panel that continuously renders
(pkey is for games, i know... but we dont do that in orange now!)
- this render works nearly identical to buttons-preview render, so it stops
rendering on any event (mouse, keyboard, etc)
- on moving/scaling the panel, the render code doesn't recreate all geometry
- same for shifting/panning view
- all other operations (now) regenerate the full render database still.
- this is WIP... but big fun, especially for simple scenes!
Compositor
- Using same node system as now in use for shaders, you can composit images
- works pretty straightforward... needs much more options/tools and integration
with rendering still
- is not threaded yet, nor is so smart to only recalculate changes... will be
done soon!
- the "Render Result" node will get all layers/passes as output sockets
- The "Output" node renders to a builtin image, which you can view in the Image
window. (yes, output nodes to render-result, and to files, is on the list!)
The Bad News
- "Unified Render" is removed. It might come back in some stage, but this
system should be built from scratch. I can't really understand this code...
I expect it is not much needed, especially with advanced layer/passes
control
- Panorama render, Field render, Motion blur, is not coded yet... (I had to
recode every single feature in render, so...!)
- Lens Flare is also not back... needs total revision, might become composit
effect though (using zbuffer for visibility)
- Part render is gone! (well, thats obvious, its default now).
- The render window is only restored with limited functionality... I am going
to check first the option to render to a Image window, so Blender can become
a true single-window application. :)
For example, the 'Spare render buffer' (jkey) doesnt work.
- Render with border, now default creates a smaller image
- No zbuffers are written yet... on the todo!
- Scons files and MSVC will need work to get compiling again
OK... thats what I can quickly recall. Now go compiling!
Image as loaded in Blender (from openexr.com):
http://www.blender.org/bf/exrcurve1.jpg
Image with different white point:
http://www.blender.org/bf/exrcurve2.jpg
Image with white and black point and a curve:
http://www.blender.org/bf/exrcurve3.jpg
Use SHIFT+click to set the black point, and CTRL+click for white point.
The buttons in the panel work too, of course.
The curves work after the black/white range was corrected, so you can
stick to curves with a normal 0-1 range.
There's also now a general color curve, marked with 'C' button.
Note; this currently only maps the float colors to a visible 8 bits per
channel rect. You can save it, but when the blender file loads the curve
or mapping is not executed until you click in the curves... have to look
at that still.
Speed for this is also quite unoptimized... still WIP, but fun!
- New UI element: the "Curve Button".
For mapping ranges (like 0 - 1) to another range, the curve button can be
used for proportional falloff, bone influences, painting density, etc.
Most evident use is of course to map RGB color with curves.
To be able to use it, you have to allocate a CurveMapping struct and pass
this on to the button. The CurveMapping API is in the new C file
blenkernel/intern/colortools.c
It's as simple as calling:
curvemap= curvemapping_add(3, 0, 0, 1, 1)
Which will create 3 curves, and sets a default 0-1 range. The current code
only supports up to 4 curves maximum per mapping struct.
The CurveMap button in Blender than handles allmost all editing.
Evaluating a single channel:
float newvalue= curvemapping_evaluateF(curvemap, 0, oldval);
Where the second argument is the channel index, here 0-1-2 are possible.
Or mapping a vector:
curvemapping_evaluate3F(curvemap, newvec, oldvec);
Optimized versions for byte or short mapping is possible too, not done yet.
In butspace.c I've added a template wrapper for buttons around the curve, to
reveil settings or show tools; check this screenie:
http://www.blender.org/bf/curves.jpg
- Buttons R, G, B: select channel
- icons + and -: zoom in, out
- icon 'wrench': menu with tools, like clear curve, set handle type
- icon 'clipping': menu with clip values, and to dis/enable clipping
- icon 'x': delete selection
In the curve button itself, only LMB clicks are handled (like all UI elements
in Blender).
- click on point: select
- shift+click on point: swap select
- click on point + drag: select point (if not selected) and move it
- click outside point + drag: translate view
- CTRL+click: add new point
- hold SHIFT while dragging to snap to grid
(Yes I know... either one of these can be Blender compliant, not both!)
- if you drag a point exactly on top of another, it merges them
Other fixes:
- Icons now draw using "Safe RasterPos", so they align with pixel boundary.
the old code made ints from the raster pos coordinate, which doesn't work
well for zoom in/out situations
- bug in Node editing: buttons could not get freed, causing in memory error
prints at end of a Blender session. That one was a very simple, but nasty
error causing me all evening last night to find!
(Hint; check diff of editnode.c, where uiDoButtons is called)
Last note: this adds 3 new files in our tree, I did scons, but not MSVC!
**** NEW: Group Nodes
Node trees usually become messy and confusing quickly, so we need
not only a way to collapse Nodes into single 'groups', but also a
way to re-use that data to create libraries of effects.
This has been done by making a new Library data type, the NodeTree.
Everything that has been grouped is stored here, and available for
re-use, appending or linking. These NodeTrees are fully generic,
i.e. can store shader trees, composit trees, and so on. The 'type'
value as stored in the NodeTree will keep track of internal type
definitions and execute/drawing callbacks. Needless to say, re-using
shader trees in a composit tree is a bit useless, and will be
prevented in the browsing code. :)
So; any NodeTree can become a "Goup Node" inside in a NodeTree. This
Group Node then works just like any Node.
To prevent the current code to become too complex, I've disabled
the possibility to insert Groups inside of Groups. That might be
enabled later, but is a real nasty piece of code to get OK.
Since Group Nodes are a dynamic Node type, a lot of work has been
done to ensure Node definitions can be dynamic too, but still allow
to be stored in files, and allow to be verified for type-definition
changes on reloading. This system needs a little bit maturing still,
so the Python gurus should better wait a little bit! (Also for me to
write the definite API docs for it).
What works now:
- Press CTRL+G to create a new Group. The grouping code checks for
impossible selections (like an unselected node between selected nodes).
Everthing that's selected then gets removed from the current tree, and
inserted in a new NodeTree library data block. A Group Node then is
added which links to this new NodeTree.
- Press ALT+G to ungroup. This will not delete the NodeTree library
data, but just duplicate the Group into the current tree.
- Press TAB, or click on the NodeTree icon to edit Groups. Note that
NodeTrees are instances, so editing one Group will also change the
other users.
This also means that when removing nodes in a Group (or hiding sockets
or changing internal links) this is immediately corrected for all users
of this Group, also in other Materials.
- While editing Groups, only the internal Nodes can be edited. A single
click outside of the Group boundary will close this 'edit mode'.
What needs to be done:
- SHIFT+A menu in toolbox style, also including a list of Groups
- Enable the single-user button in the Group Node
- Displaying all (visible) internal group UI elements in the Node Panel
- Enable Library linking and prevent editing of Groups then.
**** NEW: Socket Visibility control
Node types will be generated with a lot of possible inputs or outputs,
and drawing all sockets all the time isn't very useful then.
A new option in the Node header ('plus' icon) allows to either hide all
unused sockets (first keypress) or to reveil them (when there are hidden
sockets, the icon displays black, otherwise it's blended).
Hidden sockets in Nodes also are not exported to a Group, so this way
you can control what options (in/outputs) exactly are available.
To be done:
- a way to hide individual sockets, like with a RMB click on it.
**** NEW: Nodes now render!
This is still quite primitive, more on a level to replace the (now
obsolete and disabled) Material Layers.
What needs to be done:
- make the "Geometry" node work properly, also for AA textures
- make the Texture Node work (does very little at the moment)
- give Material Nodes all inputs as needed (like Map-to Panel)
- find a way to export more data from a Material Node, like the
shadow value, or light intensity only, etc
Very important also to separate from the Material Buttons the
"global" options, like "Ztransp" or "Wire" or "Halo". These can not
be set for each Material-Node individually.
Also note that the Preview Render (Buttons window) now renders a bit
differently. This was a horrid piece of antique code, using a totally
incompatible way of rendering. Target is to fully re-use internal
render code for previews.
OK... that's it mostly. Now test!
********* Node editor work:
- To enable Nodes for Materials, you have to set the "Use Nodes"
button, in the new Material buttons "Nodes" Panel or in header
of the Node editor. Doing this will disable Material-Layers.
- Nodes now execute materials ("shaders"), but still only using the
previewrender code.
- Nodes have (optional) previews for rendered images.
- Node headers allow to hide buttons and/or preview image
- Nodes can be dragged larger/smaller (right-bottom corner)
- Nodes can be hidden (minimized) with hotkey H
- CTRL+click on an Input Socket gives a popup with default values.
- Changing Material/Texture or Mix node will adjust Node title.
- Click-drag outside of a Node changes cursor to "Knife' and allows to
draw a rect where to cut Links.
- Added new node types RGBtoBW, Texture, In/Output, ColorRamp
- Material Nodes have options to ouput diffuse or specular, or to use
a negative normal. The input socket 'Normal' will force the material
to use that normal, otherwise it uses the normal from the Material
that has the node tree.
- When drawing a link between two not-matching sockets, Blender inserts
a converting node (now only for value/rgb combos)
- When drawing a link to an input socket that's already in use, the
old link will either disappear or flip to another unused socket.
- A click on a Material Node will activate it, and show all its settings
in the Material Buttons. Active Material Nodes draw the material icon
in red.
- A click on any node will show its options in the Node Panel in the
Material buttons.
- Multiple Output Nodes can be used, to sample contents of a tree, but
only one Output is the real one, which is indicated in a different
color and red material icon.
- Added ThemeColors for node types
- ALT+C will convert existing Material-Layers to Node... this currently
only adds the material/mix nodes and connects them. Dunno if this is
worth a lot of coding work to make perfect?
- Press C to call another "Solve order", which will show all possible
cyclic conflicts (if there are).
- Technical: nodes now use "Type" structs which define the
structure of nodes and in/output sockets. The Type structs store all
fixed info, callbacks, and allow to reconstruct saved Nodes to match
what is required by Blender.
- Defining (new) nodes now is as simple as filling in a fixed
Type struct, plus code some callbacks. A doc will be made!
- Node preview images are by default float
********* Icon drawing:
- Cleanup of how old icons were implemented in new system, making
them 16x16 too, correctly centered *and* scaled.
- Made drawing Icons use float coordinates
- Moved BIF_calcpreview_image() into interface_icons.c, renamed it
icon_from_image(). Removed a lot of unneeded Imbuf magic here! :)
- Skipped scaling and imbuf copying when icons are OK size
********* Preview render:
- Huge cleanup of code....
- renaming BIF_xxx calls that only were used internally
- BIF_previewrender() now accepts an argument for rendering method,
so it supports icons, buttonwindow previewrender and node editor
- Only a single BIF_preview_changed() call now exists, supporting all
signals as needed for buttos and node editor
********* More stuff:
- glutil.c, glaDrawPixelsSafe() and glaDrawPixelsTex() now accept format
argument for GL_FLOAT rects
- Made the ColorBand become a built-in button for interface.c
Was a load of cleanup work in buttons_shading.c...
- removed a load of unneeded glBlendFunc() calls
- Fixed bug in calculating text length for buttons (ancient!)
- Sunday merger with bf-blender
- Foundations for new Node editor in Blender, generic framework that can
be used for Material/Texture, Compositing, Logic or maybe even Sequencer.
Note: this doesn't do anything yet, nor save! Is just to get this nice
in CVS now. :)
Finally (after 10 years!) fixed the issue that was marked in a comment in
the top of the readfile.c... when using multiple library files at once,
the code that tries to map old to new pointers could fail when accidentally
pointers (in different files) had same old values.
Current code now uses proper lookup tables per open library file.
Last issues to solve;
- pointer tables still suffer the 'accidental pointer' error when linking
multiple levels of library deep, with recursive back linking to higher
levels... (I know is stupid, but should be solved!)
- The code for relative paths doesnt work for multiple levels, when the
files use different relative paths.
Phew... a whole day revision of library linking system... there was a bug
when objects got linked, then removed, and then linked via a group... this
was a weak part in the library system, when data is used both "direct"
(like local object is linked to scene) and "indirect" (when group from a
library has same object).
The crucial fixes are easier to find by reading the diff... this system
is just braincrunching complex! Just as note to self then;
- ID_ID oldmap-lookups are now protected
- removed adding oldmap lookups for already read data
For Matt & Basse: you can do a very good cleanup of old files by putting
the "rt" button on 127, and then save file. This will skip writing any
reference to library data in the file, with exception of group links.
Reload a file might give some link errors, but a 2nd save and load then
should result in a clean file.
Previous experiment (in 2000) didn't satisfy, it had even some primitive
NLA option in groups... so, cleaned up the old code (removed most) and
integrated it back in a more useful way.
Usage:
- CTRL+G gives menu to add group, add to existing group, or remove from
groups.
- In Object buttons, a new (should become first) Panel was added, showing
not only Object "ID button" and Parent, but also the Groups the Object
Belongs to. These buttons also allow rename, assigning or removing.
- To indicate Objects are grouped, they're drawn in a (not theme yet, so
temporal?) green wire color.
- Use ALT+SHIFT mouse-select to (de)select an entire group
But, the real power of groups is in the following features:
-> Particle Force field and Guide control
In the "Particle Motion" Panel, you can indicate a Group name, this then
limits force fields or guides to members of that Group. (Note that layers
still work on top of that... not sure about that).
-> Light Groups
In the Material "Shaders" Panel, you can indicate a Group name to limit
lighting for the Material to lamps in this group. The Lights in a Group do
need to be 'visible' for the Scene to be rendered (as usual).
-> Group Duplicator
In the Object "Anim" Panel, you can set any Object (use Empty!) to
duplicate an entire Group. It will make copies of all Objects in that Group.
Also works for animated Objects, but it will copy the current positions or
deforms. Control over 'local timing' (so we can do Massive anims!) will be
added later.
(Note; this commit won't render Group duplicators yet, a fix in bf-blender
will enable that, next commit will sync)
-> Library Appending
In the SHIFT-F1 or SHIFT+F4 browsers, you can also find the Groups listed.
By appending or linking the Group itself, and use the Group Duplicator, you
now can animate and position linked Objects. The nice thing is that the
local saved file itself will only store the Group name that was linked, so
on a next file read, the Group Objects will be re-read as stored (changed)
in the Library file.
(Note; current implementation also "gives a base" to linked Group Objects,
to show them as Objects in the current Scene. Need that now for testing
purposes, but probably will be removed later).
-> Outliner
Outliner now shows Groups as optio too, nice to organize your data a bit too!
In General, Groups have a very good potential... for example, it could
become default for MetaBall Objects too (jiri, I can help you later on how
this works). All current 'layer relationships' in Blender should be dropped
in time, I guess...
(WIP, don't bugs for this in tracker yet please!)
- New Panel "Layers" in Material buttons, allows to add unlimited amount
of materials on top of each other.
- Every Layer is actually just another Material, which gets rendered/shaded
(including texture), and then added on top of previous layer with an
operation like Mix, Add, Mult, etc.
- Layers render fully independent, so bumpmaps are not passed on to next
layers.
- Per Layer you can set if it influences Diffuse, Specular or Alpha
- If a Material returns alpha (like from texture), the alpha value is
used for adding the layers too.
- New texture "Map To" channel allows to have a texture work on a Layer
- Each layer, including basis Material, can be turned on/off individually
Notes:
- at this moment, the full shading pass happens for each layer, including
shadow, AO and raytraced mirror or transparency...
- I had to remove old hacks from preview render, which corrected reflected
normals for preview texturing.
- still needs loadsa testing!
First note that this is new functionality, unfinished, and only for
testing and feedback purposes. I'll list below what works, and what will
need work still.
This text is also in cms: http://www.blender.org/cms/Ipo_Drivers.680.0.html
An IpoDriver is like an IpoCurve, but instead of a Bezier curve, it allows
to connect a property of other Objects as input for the "channel". For
example, IpoDrivers can be used to have a Shape Key being "driven" by
the rotation of a Bone. Or the RGB colors of a Material get driven by the
XYZ location of an Object.
Editing of Drivers happens in the IpoWindow. Here you can notice that the
channels (right hand window) now have an "active" channel indicator.
To add a Driver, you have to use the "Transform Properties" Panel (Nkey).
Here you can add or remove a Driver to the active channel, and use the
buttons to fill in what kind of relationship you want to establish.
Driver Objects
Note that any Ipo Channel can become driven now, but that only Object
transformation or Pose Bone transformation can be used to become a
Driver now.
At this moment, only the local transformation is taken into account.
For Objects that means the location/rotation/scale value without Parent
transform (as shown in "Transform Properties" Panel for Objects).
For Pose Bones it means that only the Pose transform (changes of rest
position) is Driver information (also as shown in Transform Property
Panel in Pose Mode).
Mapping of Drivers
When an Ipo Channel is "driven", the mapping is by default one-to-one.
It is only restricted by already built-in limits for Channels, like
for Material the "R" value can only range from 0.0 to 1.0.
Also note that when mapping rotations, the actual rotation values
in Ipos are scaled down with a factor 10.0. (180 degrees actually has
in the Ipo system a value of 18.0). This is an ancient year zero
convention in Blender... it is a bit hidden, because the ruler
(vertical as well as horizontal) displays the virtual values correctly.
Only the Properties panel shows the actual value.
When you draw an IpoCurve in a Driven channel, this curve will define
the mapping between the Driver output (horizontal) and Driven input
(vertical, as usual).
A nice new option to use is "Insert one-to-one curve" (press I-key,
or in pulldown menu). This will also zoom the display in exactly to
fill the window, allowing easy edit. If you use this option with
degrees, it will map 180 degree rotation to a range of 1.0 unit.
Live updates
Since the Drivers are integrated in the Ipo system, they will always
be updated whenever an Ipo is evaluated. This happens at least on
frame changes.
For interactive feedback, updates while transforming objects were
added in these cases:
- Driven Object Ipos, by other Objects or Pose Bones
- Driven Shape Key Ipos, by other Objects or Pose Bones
You can also insert Drivers on Action Ipos, but these are only evaluated
on frame change now.
Todo
- Drivers can also get a text button, allowing a 1 line Python script
to be executed.
- Make UI for it a bit less hidden... maybe with visualization in 3D?
- Allowing global transform coordinates as Driver too.
Issues
- renaming Bones won't rename drivers
- (file) appending the Ipo won't append the linked driver Objects
Further information is available here:
http://wiki.blender.org/bin/view.pl/Blenderdev/UnicodeFont3D
Shortlist of features:
- Unicode character support for Font3D
- UI to select characters from Unicode character list
- UI to select Unicode table areas
- Optimized character loading (Load only those characters which are used
in font object)
Please test extensively if it breaks anything, try also loading/saving
files, packing fonts, etc.
The official text regression file in the regression suite should be a
good start.
Thanks to mikasaari for this very useful addition!
Minor modifications to simplify the code in evaluate_constraint.
The "Stick" feature will need more work as it gives bad results when skipping frames, jumping around on the timeline and when going backward in time.
Suggestion: Would be nice if it could use the local space too, not just global space planes.
Press ALT+B in 3d window, draw a rect, and it becomes a clipping
volume of 4 planes. You then can rotate the view anyway you like.
Works for each 3d window individually.
Disable it with another ALT+B press.
Commit is huge because it had to change all selection code as well.
The user-clipping planes are in 'eye space', the other clipping
happens in projected 'viewport space'.
Nice to notice is that the 'x=3200' convention (to denote a coordinate
is clipped) now is a define. Define value is still a number though... but
we now can get up to screens of 12000 pixels without issues!
Known issue; here it refuses to draw the 'object centers' or Lamp icons
within the clipping region. Can't find any reason for it... however, we
might move to non-pixmaps for it anyway.
Testing might reveil numerous issues, will be standby for it.
Curious? Check this http://www.blender.org/bf/rt4.jpg
can only follow deform (for example, they store mesh vertex
indices)
- added ModifierType.foreachObjectLink for iterating over Object
links inside modifier data (used for file load, relinking, etc)
- switched various modifiers_ functions to take object argument
instead of ListBase
- added user editable name field to modifiers
- bug fix, duplicate and make single user didn't relink object
pointers in modifier data
- added modifiers to outliner, needs icon
- added armature, hook, and softbody modifiers (softbody doesn't
do anything atm). added conversion of old hooks to modifiers.
NOTE-THE-FIRST: User name field is not initialized on loading 2.38 files
so if you have saved stuff with a cvs blender you will see blank names.
NOTE-THE-SECOND: Since modifiers aren't evaluated yet for non-Mesh
objects, hooks for lattices and curves are broken. Don't updated if
you actually, say, *use* Blender.
NOTE-THE-THIRD: Old hooks used a quirky weighting system during
deformation which can't be extended to modifiers. On the upside,
I doubt anyone relied on the old quirky system and the new system
makes much more sense. (Although the way falloff works is still
quite stupid I think).
- added modifier_supportsMapping function
- update CCG to set actual vertex normal (and not just
interior face vertex normal, bla bla bla no one knows
what this means nevermind).
- renamed modifierType_get_info to modifierType_getInfo for
consistency and to increase my commit line count.
- update EditMeshDerivedMesh to calculate (and use new) normals
when given deformed vertices
- added
- update editmode modifier calculation to also calculate a cage,
not working 100% atm, in particular if a deformer follows a modifier
that returns a DerivedMesh the cage is not accurate.
- added ccg derivedmesh drawMapped{Vert,Face]NormalsEM functions
- currently UI for selecting the cage mesh is rather irritating,
will be updated
He even made a nice doc in wiki:
http://wiki.blender.org/bin/view.pl/Blenderdev/Blendgz
Usage: set the option "Compress File" in the main "File" pulldown menu.
This setting is a user-def, meaning it is not changed on reading files.
If you want it default, save it with CTRL+U.
The longest debate went over the file naming convention. Shaul started
with .blend.gz files, which gave issues in Blender because of the code
hanging out everywhere that detects blender files, and that appends the
.blend extension if needed.
Daniel Dunbar proposed to just save it as .blend, and not bother users
with such details. This is indeed the most elegant solution, with as
only drawback that old Blender executables cannot read it.
This drawback isn't very relevant at the moment, since we're heading
towards a release that isn't upward compatible anyway... the recode
going on on Meshes, Modfiers, Armatures, Poses, Actions, NLA already
have upward compatibility issues.
We might check - during the next month(s) - on a builtin system to
warn users in the future when we change things that make a file risky
to read in an older release.
- added decimate modifier & removed old decimate interface
(currently lacks warning about destroying data, and there needs
to be a way for modifiers to return errors back to the interface)
- allow applyModifier to return NULL to indicate error
- unfortunately new decimate modifier means it does not know exact
number of faces in mesh (other modifiers may come before) and so
instead interface uses a percentage. if people need exact face
count slider then I will have to think of some hack to fit this
in. note that it does display the output face count so its possible
to tweak the pct to get what you want regardless.
- removed python Wave object
If you are bored now how much easier it is to implement something
like decimate as a modifier. Very few changes to interface, very
few entry points.
based on time change. would be nice if dep graph could handle this.
- made dep check if modifiers need update on time change
- fix render crash (access null)
- added new Build Effect modifier type. compared to old one works as
a full member of modifier system, means can apply subsurf, etc on
it, reorder, what have you. and it is all nice and self contained.
- removed old Build effect, old files convert to new style on load
- couldn't help myself, added a randomize feature to build effect
- removed Python BuildEffect support
- removed mesh_deform (merge into mesh_modifier)
- switch python lattice_apply function to use object_apply_deform,
this isn't exactly equivalent but the python system shouldn't
have been calling that deep into the kernel anyway.
New feature: Modifier stack
- added Object.modifiers (list of ModifierData elements)
- added DNA_modifier_types.h
o contains type definition for the file data for the various
modifier types
- added BKE_modifier.h
o contains modifierType_get_info (access to modifier type registry)
o structs and defines for runtime modifier usage
- updated mesh_calc_modifiers to evaluate modifier stack (note that
for the time being it also evaluates the old style modifiers so files
should load and work as normal).
- add file handling modifier code (todo: don't replicate on object copy)
- add modifier stack UI code (lives in object panel)
Only real new feature at the moment is that you can apply lattices and
curves *after* a subdivision surface which was never possible before.
Todo:
- DEP graph updating does not work correctly yet, so you generally have
to tab cycle to see results.
- editmode calculation does not use modifier stack.
- bug fixes (there must be a few in there somewhere)
actually) only the relative rotation is used.
- Added scale=1.0 initializer in saving files, this fixes a little bit
better upward compatibility
- Still there are cases where bones flip 180 degrees when you read it with
older Blenders... not sure what it is caused by
Aim was to get a total refresh of the animation system. This
is needed because;
- we need to upgrade it with 21st century features
- current code is spaghetti/hack combo, and hides good design
- it should become lag-free with using dependency graphs
A full log, with complete code API/structure/design explanation
will follow, that's a load of work... so here below the list with
hot changes;
- The entire object update system (matrices, geometry) is now
centralized. Calls to where_is_object and makeDispList are
forbidden, instead we tag objects 'changed' and let the
depgraph code sort it out
- Removed all old "Ika" code
- Depgraph is aware of all relationships, including meta balls,
constraints, bevelcurve, and so on.
- Made depgraph aware of relation types and layers, to do smart
flushing of 'changed' events. Nothing gets calculated too often!
- Transform uses depgraph to detect changes
- On frame-advance, depgraph flushes animated changes
Armatures;
Almost all armature related code has been fully built from scratch.
It now reveils the original design much better, with a very clean
implementation, lag free without even calculating each Bone more than
once. Result is quite a speedup yes!
Important to note is;
1) Armature is data containing the 'rest position'
2) Pose is the changes of rest position, and always on object level.
That way more Objects can use same Pose. Also constraints are in Pose
3) Actions only contain the Ipos to change values in Poses.
- Bones draw unrotated now
- Drawing bones speedup enormously (10-20 times)
- Bone selecting in EditMode, selection state is saved for PoseMode,
and vice-versa
- Undo in editmode
- Bone renaming does vertexgroups, constraints, posechannels, actions,
for all users of Armature in entire file
- Added Bone renaming in NKey panel
- Nkey PoseMode shows eulers now
- EditMode and PoseMode now have 'active' bone too (last clicked)
- Parenting in EditMode' CTRL+P, ALT+P, with nice options!
- Pose is added in Outliner now, with showing that constraints are in
the Pose, not Armature
- Disconnected IK solving from constraints. It's a separate phase now,
on top of the full Pose calculations
- Pose itself has a dependency graph too, so evaluation order is lag free.
TODO NOW;
- Rotating in Posemode has incorrect inverse transform (Martin will fix)
- Python Bone/Armature/Pose API disabled... needs full recode too
(wait for my doc!)
- Game engine will need upgrade too
- Depgraph code needs revision, cleanup, can be much faster!
(But, compliments for Jean-Luc, it works like a charm!)
- IK changed, it now doesnt use previous position to advance to next
position anymore. That system looks nice (no flips) but is not well
suited for NLA and background render.
TODO LATER;
We now can do loadsa new nifty features as well; like:
- Kill PoseMode (can be option for armatures itself)
- Make B-Bones (Bezier, Bspline, like for spines)
- Move all silly button level edit to 3d window (like CTRL+I = add
IK)
- Much better & informative drawing
- Fix action/nla editors
- Put all ipos in Actions (object, mesh key, lamp color)
- Add hooks
- Null bones
- Much more advanced constraints...
Bugfixes;
- OGL render (view3d header) had wrong first frame on anim render
- Ipo 'recording' mode had wrong playback speed
- Vertex-key mode now sticks to show 'active key', until frame change
-Ton-
Important notes:
- Full compatibility with old text objects not fully restored
(word spacing will be 0.0, need to set it manually to 1.0), will
either need version upgrade to 238 or a hack. Will check.
- lorem.c (about to be committed) contains BF copyright notice, but as
BF did not exist a few hundred years ago, probably best to remove it :)
- If you notice any cross-platform issues (especially beloved windows),
please report
- A few tiny warnings left, I will fix those issues still.
The rest has been said already - so have fun testing. And please do!
=== Reminder:
=== Documentation at http://blender.instinctive.de/docs/textobject.txt ===
- Made Blender.event var (previously only used by script links) hold ascii value -- where it applies -- of current event during events callback registered with Draw.Register(gui, events, button_events). Useful for gui scripts like Campbell's Python console. No problem using this var to hold the value, since in gui scripts it was not used (always None).
- Updated Window and Window.Theme with new theme vars and the Time space.
- Script links:
-- Added "Render" event for script links (runs twice, second time as "PostEvent", for clean-up actions). Now FrameChanged links don't run when a single pic is rendered.
-- Added "Enable Script Links" button in the script buttons tab. Now this bit gets saved in .blends along with the rest of G.f, so users can define per .blend if they are on or off by default. "blender -y" also disables all slinks as happened before with OnLoad ones only.
-- Other small changes in the script buttons tab:
When a link is added (button "new"), it becomes the active one for the window, no need to press a button to reach it.
Also, a pupmenu showing all available texts is shown when "new" is pressed, so users can choose a text w/o having to type. Cancel the popup to leave the string button empty (link exists, but has no script assigned). A pulldown would be better UI-wise, but it's kinda weird to show both scripts and normal texts (Blender doesn't differentiate them) in a script links pulldown. With a popup we can show only texts ending in ".py" (not done in this commit, need opinions) and if the script has no or another extension, case of many in old and current .blend's, there's still the string box for writing its name.
-- Implemented Ton's space handler script links:
Right now only for the 3d View, but it's trivial to add for others. There are two types: EVENT, to receive 3d View events from a chosen window and DRAW, to draw on the window. Ton's idea was to give scripts a controlled way to integrate better within Blender.
Here's how it works:
- scripts must have a proper header, like:
# SPACEHANDLER.VIEW3D.EVENT
and then they are shown in 3d View's View menu, "Space Handler Scripts" submenu. Check (mark, click on it) a script to make it active.
EVENT handlers should consult the Blender.event var to get the current event, which can be compared with values from the Draw module:
import Blender
from Blender import Draw
evt = Blender.event
if evt == Draw.AKEY:
print "a"
elif evt == Draw.LEFTMOUSE:
print "left mouse button"
else:
return # ignore, pass event back to Blender
Blender.event = None # tell Blender not to process itself the event
DRAW handlers are free to draw to their owner 3D View. OpenGL attributes and modelview and projection matrices are pushed before running the handler and poped when it finishes.
To communicate between EVENT and DRAW handler scripts we have the Blender.Registry module, as always.
Still need to code some nice example, which should also serve to test properly space handlers. Simple tests went fine.
- doc updates about the additions.
=======
Note: the UI part of the space handlers and script links is of course open for changes, I just tried to make it understandable. Probably we won't use the scriptlinks icon for "None Available" (check 3d View -> View -> Space Handler Scripts), though it hints at what space handlers are. The tooltips may not be accepted either, since other menus don't use them. Opinions welcomed.
Main change is that it's an own Space type now, not part of the Audio
window... the audio window should restrict to own options. This way
functionality is nicely separated.
Since it's the first time I added a new space (since long!) I've made an
extensive tutorial as well. You can find that here:
http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Adding_new_Space_Window.557.0.html
Notes for using timewindow;
- Add time markers with MKey
- CTRL+M gives option to name Marker
- Markers cannot be moved yet...
- Pageup-Pagedown keys moves current frame to next-prev Marker
- Xkey removes Markers
- If an object has Ipos or an Action, it draws key lines
- CTRL+Pageup-Pagedown moves current frame to next-prev Key
- Press S or E to set start/end frame for playback
Notes about the implementation in Tuhopuu:
- Add new Marker now selects new, deselects others
- Selecting Marker didn't work like elsewhere in Blender, on click it
should deselect all, except the indicated Marker. Not when holding SHIFT
of course
- Not exported functions are static now
- Removed unused defines (MARKER_NONE NEXT_AVAIL)
- Drawing order was confusing, doing too many matrix calls
- Removed not needed scrollbar, added new function to draw time values.
(Has advantage the MMB scroll works not confusing on a scrollbar)
- Added proper support for 'frame mapping'
- The string button (name Marker) had a bug (checked str[64] while str
was only 64 long)
- String button itself didn't allow "OK on enter"
- Made frame buttons in header larger, the arrows overlapped
- Removed support for negative frame values, that won't work so simple!
Works as follows;
- press the 'show bake settings' button (no space left... :)
- define start/end frame for bake, and an interval step.
The baked result interpolates nicely (Bspline, 4 keys) so in general a
step size of 2 or 3 still gives OK results.
- Press "BAKE". This will do a full animation + playback. Press ESC if it
you don't want it.
Once Baked, the BAKE button becomes a FREE BAKE. As reminder the softbody
buttons get blocked with error() menu.
This saves OK in a file. Renders any frame, including fields and moblur.
You can also set a "Timeoffs" for the softbody. And yes, this should be
in the NLA once... :)
NOTE! With this commit, files saved with the old (first commit) version by
Jens Ole won't read the settings back... he stored all sofbody variables in
Object, which was moved to a new struct when I did my first commit on SB
(over a month ago)
Also note that I moved particle deflecting & softbody to a new include.
User level notes are in Wiki here;
http://wiki.blender.org/bin/view.pl/Blenderdev/Softbodies
And will be added in blender3d.org CMS later.
Tech level notes are still pending, but here's the most relevant ones;
- made ob->soft struct SoftBody to hold all settings, and read/save in
files
- added (temporal!) conversion for the old settings. So: read old files
with softbody experiments now, and save over!
- cleaned API calls for softbody, which are only 5 of them now:
sbNew()
sbFree()
sbObjectStep() (animation steps)
sbObjectToSoftbody() (full re-initialize data)
sbObjectReset() (only reset motion)
- API calls accepts time in frames now, within softbody.c it converts
Further, internally code was cleaned some (missing tabs etc). Also tried
to keep a well defined structure with hints how to add support for more
objects. Can write notes about that...
Render:
- New; support for dual CPU render (SDL thread)
Currently only works with alternating scanlines, but gives excellent
performance. For both normal render as unified implemented.
Note the "mutex" locks on z-transp buffer render and imbuf loads.
- This has been made possible by major cleanups in render code, especially
getting rid of globals (example Tin Tr Tg Tb Ta for textures) or struct
OSA or using Materials or Texture data to write to.
- Made normal render fully 4x32 floats too, and removed all old optimizes
with chars or shorts.
- Made normal render and unified render use same code for sky and halo
render, giving equal (and better) results for halo render. Old render
now also uses PostProcess options (brightness, mul, gamma)
- Added option ("FBuf") in F10 Output Panel, this keeps a 4x32 bits buffer
after render. Using PostProcess menu you will note an immediate re-
display of image too (32 bits RGBA)
- Added "Hue" and "Saturation" sliders to PostProcess options
- Render module is still not having a "nice" API, but amount of dependencies
went down a lot. Next todo: remove abusive "previewrender" code.
The last main global in Render (struct Render) now can be re-used for fully
controlling a render, to allow multiple "instances" of render to open.
- Renderwindow now displays a smal bar on top with the stats, and keeps the
stats after render too. Including "spare" page support.
Not only easier visible that way, but also to remove the awkward code that
was drawing stats in the Info header (extreme slow on some ATIs too)
- Cleaned up blendef.h and BKE_utildefines.h, these two had overlapping
defines.
- I might have forgotten stuff... and will write a nice doc on the architecture!
channels to link texture to.
The amount of code changes seems large, but is mostly getting rind of
hardcoded values (6 and 8) for channels, replacing it with MAX_MTEX.
Further did some fixes;
- Ipo for Lamp showed too many mapping channels
- Texture MapTo buttons for lamp missed the slider to blend texture color
- Lamp texture mapping "View" only worked for Spot, now it uses lamp-
view vector for all types. (Nice for projections!)
This was actually a wrong pointer check in fileread that caused no harm
in past, but with UI-less file save it wreaked havoc!
Decided to add undo in sequencer window after all... it also involved
saving Meta strip settings in files. Very nice :)
There's an ancient code in Blender to denote a projected vertex coordinate
is invisble, it sets the x coord at 3200. :)
This wasn't updated while coding loopselect, nor edge select. Causing in
extreme zoomed in situations vertex selecting go wrong.
Also added; option "don't load GUI" in fileselector doesn't get saved in
files.
The outliner is a hierarchical diagram displaying a list of data in Blender
and its dependencies. The 'databrowse' doesn't really show it, and Oops is
too chaotic still. And most of all, the former two don't offer much tools.
After discussions on irc, Matt came with this design proposal;
http://mke3.net/blender/interface/layout/outliner/
Which is closely followed for the implementation.
The current version only shows all 'library data' in Blender (objects,
meshes, ipos, etc) and not the 'direct data' such as vertex groups or NLA.
I decided to make it inside the Oopw window, as an option. You can find the
option in the "View" pulldown, or directly invoke it with ALT+SHIFT+F9
Here's a quick overview of the Outliner GUI:
- Header pulldown has options what it can show (Visible = in current layers)
- click on triangle arrow to open/close
- press AKEY to open/close all
- Leftmouse click on an item activates; and does based on type a couple of
extra things:
- activates a scene
- selects/activates the Object
- enters editmode (if clicked on Mesh, Curve, etc)
- shows the appropriate Shading buttons (Lamp, Material, Texture)
- sets the IpoWindow to the current IPO
- activates the Ipo-channel in an Action
- Selected and Active objects are drawn in its Theme selection color
- SHIFT+click on Object does extend-select
- Press DOTkey to get the current active data in center of view
TODO;
- rightmouse selection; for indicating operations like delete or duplicate
- showing more data types
- icon (re)design...
- lotsof options as described in Matts paper still...
The changelog is very long... it's on the web too:
http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Mesh_editing_rewrite.425.0.html
EditMesh refactor notes (user)
**** New selection modes
When entering Edit Mode for a Mesh, you now have the choice for three selection modes. These are shown as icons in the 3D header (hotkey is being searched for!).
- Vertex Select
Select vertices as usual, fully compatible with how previous version work
- Edge Select
Vertices are not drawn anymore, and selections happen by default on the edges. It is a true edge select, meaning that you can select three out of four edges in a face, without automatic having the 4th edge selected.
- Face Select
Instead of vertices, now selection 'points' are drawn in the face centers. Selected faces also get a colored outline, like for edges. This also is true face select, for each face individual regardless selection status of its vertices or edges.
While holding SHIFT, and press a selection mode, you can also combine the above choices. Now selection becomes mixed, and will behave as expected.
For example; in Edge+Face select mode, selecting the 4 edges of a face will select the face too.
The selection modes and optional drawing modes (like transparant faces, normals, or solid drawing) all work together. All of Blender's mesh editing tools now react to the correct selection mode as well.
Most noticeable it's in:
**** Extrude
Extruding in Edge or Face Select mode allows much more precise control over what's extruded and what should be excluded. Try for example a checker pattern selection, and extrude it.
New is the fixed translation when faces are extruded. This always follows the (averaged) face normal(s) of the old face(s), enabling much easier working in 3D views . A single 'G' (Grab) or 'R' (Rotate) or 'S' (Scale) will change transform modus as usual.
**** Other things to note
- Hiding edges/faces will also behave different based on Select Mode.
- while editing, normals of faces are updated always now
- Border select (BKEY) has 2 different rules for edges; when one edge is fully inside of the border, it will only select edges that are fully inside. Otherwise it selects each edge intersecting with the border.
- in face mode, adding vertices, edges or a circle is invisible...
- "Add monkey" now works as a normal primitive (rotated and on 3d cursor)
- Mesh undo was fully recoded, hopefully solving issues now with Vertex Keys and Groups
- Going in and out of editmode was fully recoded. Especially on larger models you'll notice substantial speed gain.
**** Todo
Add 'FaceSelect mode' functionality in EditMode, including zbuffered selection, display and editing of UV texture.
EditMesh refactor notes (coder)
**** Usage of flags in general
The "->f" flags are reserved for the editmesh.c and editmesh_lib.c core functions. Actually only selection status is there now.
The "->f1" and "->f2" flags are free to use. They're available in vertex/edge/face structs. Since they're free, check carefully when calling other functions that use these flags... for example extrude() or subdivide() use them.
**** Selection flags
EditVert: eve->f & SELECT
EditEdge: eed->f & SELECT
EditFace: efa->f & SELECT
- Selection is only possible when not-hidden!
- Selection flags are always up-to-date, BUT:
if selection mode >= SELECT_EDGE vertex selection flags can be incorrect
if selection mode == SELECT_FACE vertex/edge selection flags can be incorrect
This because of shared vertices or edges.
- use for selecting vertices:
eve->f &= SELECT
- use for selecting edges always:
void EM_select_edge(eed, 1) // 1 = select, 0 = deselect
- use for selecting faces always:
void EM_select_face(efa, 1) // 1 = select, 0 = deselect
- To set the 'f' flags in all of the data:
void EM_set_flag_all(int flag);
void EM_clear_flag_all(int flag);
- the old faceselectedOR() and faceselectedAND() are still there, but only
to be used for evaluating its vertices
**** Code hints for handling selection
If the selectmode is 'face'; vertex or edge selections need to be flushed upward. Same is true for 'edge' selection mode. This means that you'll have to keep track of all selections while coding... selecting the four vertices in a face doesn't automatically select the face anymore.
However, by using the above calls, at least selections flush downward (to vertex level). You then can call:
void EM_selectmode_flush(void);
Which flushes selections back upward, based on the selectmode setting. This function does the following:
- if selectmode 'vertex': select edges/faces based on its selected vertices
- if selectmode 'edge': select faces based its selected edges
This works fine in nice controlled situations.
However, only changing the vertex selections then still doesn't select a face in face mode! If you really can't avoid only working with vertex selections, you can use this call:
void EM_select_flush(void);
Now selection is flushed upward regardless current selectmode. That can be destructive for special cases however, like checkerboard selected faces. So use this only when you know everything else was deselected (or deselect it). Example: adding primitives.
**** Hide flags
EditVert: eve->h
EditEdge: eed->h
EditFace: efa->h
- all hide flags are always up-to-date
- hidden vertices/edges/faces are always deselected. so when you operate on selection only, there's no need to check for hide flag.
**** Unified undo for editmode
New file: editmode_undo.h
A pretty nice function pointer handler style undo. Just code three functions, and your undo will fly! The c file has a good reference.
Also note that the old undo system has been replaced. It currently uses minimal dependencies on Meshes themselves (no abuse of going in/out editmode), and is restricted nicely to editmode functions.
**** Going in/out editmode
As speedup now all vertices/faces/edges are allocated in three big chunks. In vertices/faces/edges now tags are set to denote such data cannot be freed.
ALso the hashtable (lookup) for edges uses no mallocs at all anymore, but is part of the EditEdge itself.
1) Curve deform
http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Curve_Deform.392.0.html
Works simple as expected, but keep track of the rotation axis
in F7 buttons (Track X Y Z)
Only Mesh deform supported now.
Code changes:
- centralized deformation calls in curve_modifiers() mesh_modifiers()
etcetera. Here also other effects can be added like wave. Now the
evaluation order is fixed, but should become optional. It also doesnt
use the Displist anymore as deform-input. That latter part is unfinished
yet.
This code also is used for Hooks and will be needed for softbody
- made convention stricter that displists are being checked on in
drawobject(), this to prevent routines to make new displists recursively
(like armature does). Now a freedisplist() is sufficient to signal that
a new displaylist should be made.
2) Object Hooks
http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Object_Hooks.391.0.html
Support for Hooks is added to Mesh, Lattice, Curve and Surface objects.
For Armatures this would require some more work & research.
Main goal for this feature is to provide quick & simple access to the
underlying geometry in Objects on Object level, supporting hierarchies and
Ipos etc.
Read today's meeting minutes for a description.
Bjornmose: We'll need some example and screenshots for the dev pages of blender3d.org. If you can do some, neat, if not, I'll do them.
Matt, Emilie and Chris: Please review UI addition. Pixel alignement and all that fun stuff has not be overly looked for (though I did some cleaning by adding alignment blocks).
- file-to-memory save
- incremental difference steps (compression)
everthing has been tightly coded to use minimum of memcpy or allocs. In
fact this system works with a single full buffer (=file) in memory, and undosteps as differences from it.
Speed gain is factor 4-8 faster. I've added it in CTRL+ALT+T timer menu for
a test. Please note the gain is especially in the undo-storing, not in
retrieving undo.
Also new: file read option to skip UI read (file menu). This now also is
default for the undo system.
