[Bf-funboard] Strong Node-Based architecture

[Konrad Haenel]

Did any of you work with Maya or Shake or Avid-DS? What sets these 
High-End tools so far apart from the competition is their strong 
node-based architecture. This is something I'd really love to see more 
emphasized in Blender. This would open a lot more possibilities and make 
the GUI a lot slimmer at the same time!

While working on Avid-DS I realized that over time you start to solve 
even small tasks with nodes because it's the fastest way to accomplish 
almost anything. I couldn't think of a more direct way to create results 
from ideas.

For that reason I wish that the schematic-view of Blender would be more 
powerful. Things I miss are:

- automatic sorting and alignment of nodes
- visibility options for types of nodes AND types of connections
- options to "bookmark" certain views of the node-tree
- possibility to actually edit the node-tree (creating and deleting 
connections etc.)
- possibility to open/extend nodes to view detailed info about what 
inputs and outputs are connected
- and so on... you get the picture.

Once established such a system might be extended to almost all aspects 
of Blender. I'm thinking of shader-editing, animation & constraints and 
especially compositing.

Good Idea?