[Bf-committers] Layer system

[David Bryant]

That makes a lot of sense.I agree 100 percent.
Hope we can talk more to solidify the layer code to be solid and not just 
hacking it through.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Holcomb" <bholcomb at mak.com>
To: <bf-committers at blender.org>
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 8:09 AM
Subject: [Bf-committers] Layer system


> This never made it on the ML from before since I used my work account
> (naughty me).
>
> I just don't want it be a premature optimization (or feature in this
> case).  I've seen a lot of talk about expanding the layers, and
> comparison to Maya/Lightwave, but I haven't seen empirical evidence to
> support that 20 layers is not enough.  Is it truly a problem?  How many
> layers is reasonable?  What do the Peach guys think-they're probably
> pushing blender harder than the average user.  I personally would
> probably lose stuff given 999 layers to choose from.
>
> Edit:  After talking to Cambo on irc, he says that people routinely need
> more than 20 layers, plus some other considerations.
>
> That being said, bit fields are great, but they come at a cost.  If we
> want named layers and more than 32 of them, why don't we create an array
> (or linked list) of layer structs that has a list of the objects in the
> layer.  The layer struct itself can have data (like a name, visible) and
> then can point to all of its objects.  This way the object doesn't need
> to worry about what layer it is on, the layer struct does that.
>
> The code:
>
> if (objectmask & viewmask) {
>    draw_object();
> }
>
> becomes:
>
> for (x = 0; x < numLayers; x++){
>  if(objectlayer[x]->active){
>    draw_objects_in_layer();
>  }
> }
>
> Also, I would be seriously surprised if looping over an array of 1000
> layers  every redraw event  has an impact on the user experience (not
> frame rate).  I have yet to be able to find anybody who can tell the
> difference between 60 fps and 6000 fps.  I recommend  1) determining if
> there is a problem (edit: yes there is) 2)coming up with a good
> (flexible, easy to maintain) solution that works and then 3) optimize
> only if is identified as a bottleneck.
>
> Just my 2 cents.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Bob
>
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