A multi-function network is a graph data structure, where nodes are
multi-functions (or dummies) and links represent data flow.
New multi-functions can be derived from such a network. For that
one just has to specify two sets of sockets in the network that
represent the inputs and outputs of the new function.
It is possible to do optimizations like constant folding on this
data structure, but that is not implemented in this patch yet.
In a next step, user generated node trees are converted into a
MFNetwork, so that they can be evaluated efficiently for many particles.
This patch also includes some tests that cover the majority of the code.
However, this seems to be the kind of code that is best tested by some
.blend files. Building graph structures in code is possible, but is
not easy to understand afterwards.
Reviewers: brecht
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D8049
This adds the `MultiFunction` type and some smallish utility types that it uses.
A `MultiFunction` encapsulates a function that is optimized for throughput by
always processing many elements at once.
This is an important part of the new particle system, because it allows us to
execute user generated node trees for many particles efficiently.
Reviewers: brecht
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D8030
This adds a new `CPPType` that encapsulates information about how to handle
instances of a specific data type. This is necessary for the function evaluation
system, which will be used to evaluate most of the particle node trees.
Furthermore, this adds an `IndexMask` class which offers a surprisingly useful
abstraction over an array containing unsigned integers. It makes two assumptions
about the underlying integer array:
* The integers are in ascending order.
* There are no duplicates.
`IndexMask` will be used to "select" certain particles that will be
processed in a data-oriented way. Sometimes, operations don't have to
be applied to all particles, but only some, those that are in the indexed by
the `IndexMask`. The two limitations imposed by an `IndexMask` allow for
better performance.
Reviewers: brecht
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D7957
