Nodes Preview: Socket Inspection #85251

New Issue

Pablo Vazquez · 2021-01-31T18:52:04+01:00

Pablo Vazquez commented

2021-01-31 18:52:04 +01:00

One of the many ways to preview part of a node tree, is via socket peeking.

This allows you to quickly see what the output of a socket is before connecting it with another node, or to see if the input value is what you expect it to be. Most socket types have a distinctive color, but having a way to read the type and value is good for accesibility, learning, and debugging.

Socket Inspection

On mouseover a socket, display a tooltip containing:

Value
Type
Errors, if any
Info icon for values that either don't fit or require are better viewed on a spreadsheet or Info editor.

{F9606347, size=full}

Single line tooltips could also be an alternative here for a more compact/less intrusive layout.
{F9606358, size=full}
{F9606399, size=full}

A similar concept could be applied to wires, to be able to quickly have a peek without going to the input node.

{F9606364, size=full}

Or to understand why a connection is throwing an error.
{F9606373, size=full}

Although useful, such tooltips can get on the way. These hints should be triggered on-demand by holding a modifier key, such as Alt, with the mouse over a socket/wire.

In this design I went for a tooltip, but this info could also be displayed in the status bar for a less intrusive experience.

Part of #83239

One of the many ways to preview part of a node tree, is via socket peeking. This allows you to quickly see what the output of a socket is before connecting it with another node, or to see if the input value is what you expect it to be. Most socket types have a distinctive color, but having a way to read the type and value is good for accesibility, learning, and debugging. ## Socket Inspection On mouseover a socket, display a tooltip containing: * Value * Type * Errors, if any * Info icon for values that either don't fit or require are better viewed on a spreadsheet or Info editor. {[F9606347](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F9606347/image.png), size=full} Single line tooltips could also be an alternative here for a more compact/less intrusive layout. {[F9606358](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F9606358/image.png), size=full} {[F9606399](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F9606399/image.png), size=full} A similar concept could be applied to wires, to be able to quickly have a peek without going to the input node. {[F9606364](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F9606364/image.png), size=full} Or to understand why a connection is throwing an error. {[F9606373](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F9606373/image.png), size=full} Although useful, such tooltips can get on the way. These hints should be triggered on-demand by holding a modifier key, such as `Alt`, with the mouse over a socket/wire. In this design I went for a tooltip, but this info could also be displayed in the status bar for a less intrusive experience. Part of #83239

Pablo Vazquez commented

2021-01-31 18:52:04 +01:00

Added subscriber: @pablovazquez

Rainer Trummer commented

2021-01-31 19:23:51 +01:00

Added subscriber: @RainerTrummer

Rainer Trummer commented

2021-01-31 19:23:51 +01:00

It's very much welcome to see a possibility arising finally to preview node output values within the node tree. However, while using tooltips to do quick previews is just fine, I usually prefer to use dedicated nodes within the node tree to constantly have value updates visible. I do this in Dynamo, a tool to procedurally generate geometry. illustrates how this is done there. The first node just genereates a list of values using the builtin script language Dynamo offers. The second node then acts as a pass-through, displaying the values that come in from the left, and passes them on completely unchanged to the output socket. This way, at any point in a complex node tree, values can be counter-checked for consistency. This is hugely important for debugging the setup.

It's very much welcome to see a possibility arising finally to preview node output values within the node tree. However, while using tooltips to do quick previews is just fine, I usually prefer to use dedicated nodes within the node tree to constantly have value updates visible. I do this in Dynamo, a tool to procedurally generate geometry. ![Watch_Node.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F9606411/Watch_Node.png) illustrates how this is done there. The first node just genereates a list of values using the builtin script language Dynamo offers. The second node then acts as a pass-through, displaying the values that come in from the left, and passes them on completely unchanged to the output socket. This way, at any point in a complex node tree, values can be counter-checked for consistency. This is hugely important for debugging the setup.

Colin Marmond commented

2021-01-31 20:19:54 +01:00

Added subscriber: @Kdaf

Konstantin commented

2021-01-31 22:22:18 +01:00

Added subscriber: @Ko

Konstantin commented

2021-01-31 22:22:18 +01:00

Three things: 1) "Light path" node doesn't work like that. 2) Nodes in example images are not collapsed, so additional information in socket tooltips seems to be useless. 3) Tooltip on the wire should show names and types of two connected sockets. IMHO that will be more convenient way to show types of connected sockets than coloring wire by two different colors interpolated in the middle like in some other proposal.

Dalai Felinto commented

2021-02-16 10:49:12 +01:00

Changed status from 'Needs Triage' to: 'Resolved'

Dalai Felinto closed this issue

2021-02-16 10:49:12 +01:00

Dalai Felinto self-assigned this 2021-02-16 10:49:12 +01:00

Victor-Louis De Gusseme commented

2021-02-16 23:11:20 +01:00

Added subscriber: @victorlouis

Victor-Louis De Gusseme commented

2021-02-16 23:11:20 +01:00

Related diff: Add support for node socket tooltips https://developer.blender.org/D9967

Related diff: `Add support for node socket tooltips` https://developer.blender.org/D9967

Ulrich Büch commented

2021-08-20 16:38:04 +02:00

Added subscriber: @Ulrich-Buch

Ulrich Büch commented

2021-08-20 16:38:04 +02:00

Would it make sense to distinguish default-values from those driven by nodes upstream as far as inputs are concearned? Would it even be meant to work on unconnected inputs?

Sign in to join this conversation.

No Label

Download

What's New

Blender Studio

Manual

Developers Blog

Documentation

Benchmark

Blender Conference

Development Fund

One-time Donations

Nodes Preview: Socket Inspection #85251

Socket Inspection