[Bf-committers] User-defined Material Properties

[Greg MacDonald]

Hi Ton,
 Thanks for responding.
 On 10/12/05, Ton Roosendaal <ton at blender.org> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Yes, having custom properties for (most of) Blender's internal data is
> on the wishlist already for long. :)
> It should also be used - for example - by yafray or other external
> render modules or game engine exporters. We still have to meet with the
> developers about that topic.

 How does that work? On IRC?

 How it would integrate in the UI is also an issue... at this moment I
> would prefer to do this work in a way other projects benefit from as
> well.
>
> For example; one could execute a script (or we do it builtin for a
> couple) that creates by default the preset properties for a specific
> purpose. So, instead of a Yafray Panel in Lamp buttons now, a "Custom"
> Panel can be used, then filled with the options Yafray likes to extend
> lamps with.
>
> Taking the idea further, it could work well if the property system can
> become hierarchical, or at least grouped in multiple lists. That way
> you can have a group of Yafray properties, Crystal Space properties,
> OpenFlight properties... for each group you can also define to have it
> filling a new Panel in the buttons menus, with a nice clear title.
>
> Oh, and then the Property system should become a bit more flexible, for
> example to define types of buttons, or layouts... or, we let Python
> draw such property Panels.

 I think we could do this in steps:
 1) Add the property type that's currently being used for game properties to
as many DNA structs as makes sense.
 2) Add custom panels where appropriate, that would take care of the ui.
(Maya does it this way with an 'Extra' tab off of each node.)
 3) Expose all properties to python scripts.
 4) Add the ability for python to create panels and buttons.
 5) Add the ability for python to add custom menus. For example, an entry
could be added to the ADD toolbox menu to execute a script and add a custom
object. Maybe this could be setup in a config file.
 I'm confident I can handle steps 1-3. I think those steps are pretty
straight forward.
 4 and 5 should probably be done by someone who understands the gui better
and could do some neat things like allow python to draw with opengl inside a
panel.
 I really would like to start working on this ASAP. But I'm not about to
start without everyone's blessing. It would be very depressing to spend
months on this only to have it discarded. If wanted an excercise in futility
I could try and write my own 3D package, in assembly, and for a VAX.
 So how should I proceed? Should I attend the IRC sunday meetings? Or is
just getting feedback here good enough?
 -Greg
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