Timeline drawing with multiple simulation bakes #112232

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Jacques Lucke · 2023-09-11T15:22:50+02:00

Jacques Lucke commented

2023-09-11 15:22:50 +02:00

Currently, all simulation zones in an object are cached/baked together. However, that will change with #112179. It allows baking of individual simulations and simulations might also have independent frames ranges that they are active on.

This is a challenge for the timeline, because now it has to show information from potentially a large number of simulations which can have different cache states.

Current timeline drawing:

I can think of three main ways to address this:

Don't draw cache status in the timeline at all (this is what e.g. fluids seem to be doing). This would be simple, but we'd loose valuable information that's not really available anywhere else.
Draw a status bar in the timeline for every simulation. This shows the most information, but can get very confusing when there are many simulations (which will likely become more common over time). Also it's difficult to map between the timeline editor and the corresponding simulation nodes.
Draw information about all simulations in a single line, reducing information from all simulations.
- If all simulations have the same frame range and cache state, the drawing could be the same we have now.
- If two simulations are different in some aspect, the line needs to be drawn differently depending on the combination of simulation states. The issue here is that there may be many different combinations, so we probably have to reduce it down to the most useful set of states.
- We could have a checkbox per simulation, that allows drawing a separate line in the timeline just for that simulation.
- We could draw a separate line in the timeline for the "active simulation(s)", i.e. the one selected in the node editor or outliner.

Related task: #108196.

Currently, all simulation zones in an object are cached/baked together. However, that will change with #112179. It allows baking of individual simulations and simulations might also have independent frames ranges that they are active on. This is a challenge for the timeline, because now it has to show information from potentially a large number of simulations which can have different cache states. Current timeline drawing: ![image](/attachments/02a36813-073d-4846-aced-2b67bb6497c7) I can think of three main ways to address this: * Don't draw cache status in the timeline at all (this is what e.g. fluids seem to be doing). This would be simple, but we'd loose valuable information that's not really available anywhere else. * Draw a status bar in the timeline for every simulation. This shows the most information, but can get very confusing when there are many simulations (which will likely become more common over time). Also it's difficult to map between the timeline editor and the corresponding simulation nodes. ![image](/attachments/f6a1a739-7e85-4e4f-a231-fcd604e29f15) * Draw information about all simulations in a single line, reducing information from all simulations. * If all simulations have the same frame range and cache state, the drawing could be the same we have now. * If two simulations are different in some aspect, the line needs to be drawn differently depending on the combination of simulation states. The issue here is that there may be many different combinations, so we probably have to reduce it down to the most useful set of states. * We could have a checkbox per simulation, that allows drawing a separate line in the timeline just for that simulation. * We could draw a separate line in the timeline for the "active simulation(s)", i.e. the one selected in the node editor or outliner. Related task: #108196.

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Jacques Lucke added the

Type

Design

label 2023-09-11 15:22:50 +02:00

Jacques Lucke added this to the Module: Nodes & Physics project 2023-09-11 15:22:51 +02:00

Hans Goudey commented

2023-09-11 18:16:09 +02:00

What about something like this? I'm trying to think of a way that doesn't get out of hand with lots of objects and lots of simulations, but gives specific information when it's necessary.

When there is a visible active simulation (active in the outliner or node editor), only draw a line for the active simulation .
Otherwise, draw a combined single line for all simulations in the selected objects

What about something like this? I'm trying to think of a way that doesn't get out of hand with lots of objects and lots of simulations, but gives specific information when it's necessary. - When there is a visible active simulation (active in the outliner or node editor), _only_ draw a line for the active simulation . - Otherwise, draw a combined single line for all simulations in the selected objects

Nika Kutsniashvili commented

2023-09-11 21:08:54 +02:00

Second method could work if every line after first one is drawn with different saturation and value, so that difference is visible. That would give most information

Jacques Lucke referenced this issue

2023-09-13 12:33:49 +02:00

WIP: Experiment: Geometry Nodes: support baking individual simulations #112179

Jacques Lucke commented

2023-09-25 14:15:28 +02:00

An initial version of this is part of #112723.

Jacques Lucke referenced this issue

2023-09-26 11:45:20 +02:00

Geometry Nodes: support baking individual simulations #112723

Jacques Lucke referenced this issue from a commit

2023-09-26 20:30:54 +02:00

Geometry Nodes: support baking individual simulations

Frederick Desimpel commented

2023-09-27 19:16:48 +02:00

Maybe a gui a bit like a performance profiler ? something like telemetry comes to mind...

So this could be an extended version of the timeline, or even a seperate editor.

Not just to see the caching, but this could allow to visualize nested independent timelines itself of simulation nodes once those can have their own subticks.

At some point geonodes simulations and the realtime mode might need some profiling visualization anyway for nodegroup devs.

Maybe a gui a bit like a performance profiler ? something like telemetry comes to mind... So this could be an extended version of the timeline, or even a seperate editor. Not just to see the caching, but this could allow to visualize nested independent timelines itself of simulation nodes once those can have their own subticks. At some point geonodes simulations and the realtime mode might need some profiling visualization anyway for nodegroup devs.

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Timeline drawing with multiple simulation bakes #112232