[Bf-committers] A contribution

Dan Brown bf-committers@blender.org
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 19:45:29 +0100


Hi,

I'm planning to add a couple of small features to Blender for my own use and I
would obviously like to contribute the changes back to the source. I thought I'd
see whether they are features you want first though and if you have any
preferences on how they are implemented and/or .

The first is a simple modification that is almost completed now. The ability to
save the depth buffer. I know the Iris+ZBuf file format does this, but I wanted
it in a more direct format that can be saved directly alongside a tga or jpeg. 
This can be either as a new file type (how I'm doing it now) to save just the 
depth buffer or with a toggle button (like the current OSA button in the F10 
render panel for example) which would save the depth buffer _and_ the selected 
image file type. It would save the file as floats scaled so that 0.0 is the near 
clipping plane up to higher numbers at the far clipping plane and would be named 
filename.zbuf.

The second is a bit more involved. It is to upgrade the Empty system to allow 
both a few lines of meta data and a few different Empty primitives (point with 
radius, plane, triangle, quad).

Both of these are to help me use Blender as a game editing tool for my own 
engine, and as they may well help others I would like to do it properly if possible.

Any comments or suggestions for me before I start properly? I would prefer some 
input before I just go ahead and do it and I'm then told it is all in the wrong 
place :)

Dan