[Bf-funboard] Another sort of plugins

Ton Roosendaal bf-funboard@blender.org
Sun, 6 Jul 2003 12:16:31 +0200


Hi,

I think discussions about technical implementation details can best  
first be done at the bf-committers mailing list. I think we all want a  
good way to export to - or integrate with - external render APIs. There  
are many ways to do that, and each method will have some implications  
for how it will work.

At functionality level you can restrict to guidelines like:
- cross platform available
- no slowdown at Blender startup
- Do we need a special Yafray-Blender, or is it a generic option?

For functionality research you address a couple of good topics to  
examine further. What is a Yafray Material? How much does it differ  
from Renderman material, or Blender material? Isn't there a way to have  
a generic system to do a good integration?

I also thought of inviting the Yafray coders to look at this topic, and  
give us the hints what in their perspective the things are that need to  
be added in Blender. This is typically a 'work group' we could  
establish, who then will come with a good plan to be implemented.

-Ton-

(BTW: I'll mail the yafray guys too)



On Sunday, Jul 6, 2003, at 00:19 Europe/Amsterdam, Daniel Barbeau wrote:

> Hello people.
>
> Earlier there was some quick talk about a C/C++ API.
>
> Well, I though it couldn't be a bad idea.
> It could help in keeping the interface's consistency.
>
> Say you write a "render with yafray" plugin. (but it could be anything  
> else)
>
> The plug would load when firing up blender.
>
> This plug would operate a complete "upgrade" of blender's  
> functionality.
> -- It could add a new type of material. When you click on "Add New"  
>     it could add a "Add New Yafray Material" and this material would
>     contain all the specificities of Yafray's shaders, like a complete  
> new material panel.
>     (or it could also modify the existing one, i'm just exposing what  
> could
>     be the possibilities of such an API, not designing a new plug :)
> -- It could add a new entry to the Spacebar ADD menu, such as Add  
> Yafray Lamp.
> -- The lamp panel (with a yafray lamp selected) would show Yafray's  
> Lamps' specific functions.
> -- It could also draw the new lamp types differently in the 3D views.  
> (area lights, phton lights, etc...)
> -- and add a new option to the render window... "Render to Yafray"
>
> This design isn't perfect (but i think it could be a way to go in the  
> futur for export plugins). But it wasn't my point as I said.
> I don't think scripts aim at the same goal as "plugins". in example: I  
> do beleive (though I may be wrong)
> that dynamics such as soft bodies would better be written in a  
> compiled language than a scripted one,
> for speed reasons (cloth, fluids.... require a lots of maths).
>
> But this API, if t was ever to come, should come with B3, not before.
>
> I hope this points can be discussed.
>
> Respectfully
> Dani
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>
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
--
Ton Roosendaal  Blender Foundation ton@blender.org  
http://www.blender.org