[Bf-committers] Proposal to Remove Features

[Andrea Weikert]

Hi,

no veto from my side, just a few thoughts.

Removing the features probably makes it easier to maintain the code in 
the future and with the upcoming changes from the render branch and 
future material system upgrade we probably break every non-2.5 render 
anyway.
This is why it's the right moment to go ahead with this, however this 
means that there will be no easy way to port older projects using those 
features to the new version of Blender. Of course you can always stay 
with the old version for older projects, but I think we need to 
communicate this clearly, since it can cause some frustration for people 
who want to render their older projects with the new version of Blender.

These are the ones I think could cause complaints:
* Texture and sequencer plugins: If these are used, there's no way to 
port the project and often no way to achieve the same effect probably. I 
agree though that they are cumbersome to use (precompiled ones wouldn't 
work anymore etc.) and there are not really many contributions in that area.
* World stars: Apart from the fact that they don't look that good, this 
is a feature that if removed not only changes the render 'slightly' but 
completely removes something the user probably wanted there. Mainly 
communication issue probably.
* Edge Rendering - same here. I actually didn't use his for toon render, 
but once in a while to outline some 2D elements for which it worked fine ;)

That said, I agree with removing them and opening the way for new and 
improved ways to achieve the things these features are used for. 
(Integration of freestyle, better plug-in framework etc.)

The two issues that fall into the area that I maintain:

* Relative paths user preference and Remap Relative option for save 
operator: can we just enabled these two by default? These two combined 
should make relative paths work completely automatic quite well, or are 
there cases that this doesn't cover?
==> yes, no issue with that.
* File browser should hide hidden files and filter types by default. 
Every file browser does this, and it just seems to be what you want 
nearly always anyway. Especially on mac/unix hidden files are really in 
the way in the home directory.
==> this is already user preference,  maybe it's enough to just enable 
by default, otherwise the default can also be hardcoded, fine with me too.
If these last two issues are agreed on I'll fix them.

For the controversial list:
==================
I'd be a bit more conservative on removing those things and get 
artist/user feedback before doing so.

* 3D view lock to object
==> ok with me
* All edges option for meshes
==> ok with me
* Animateable object layers
==> I guess I would miss that one, easy hack to make group of objects 
visible and in my experience it also sped up animation when moving 
particle system etc. to layer and only moving to rendered layer shortly 
before being visible.
* Blend Sky (no horizon/zenith, just one color)
==> I use this a lot for quick and easy background
* Bounds draw types for objects
==> no opinion here
* Cubic interpolation material option
==> I like this option, shows smoother shadows, so if possible I'd keep it
* Curves in the image editor: replace by exposure slider.
==> no opinion here
* Dupliframes
==> I think many of the things can be done with the array modifier and 
curve modifier now and the other use case I can think of right now 
(tapering a curve in all directions) will hopefully come back with 
nurbana integration.
* Environment Map texture
==> I used this to fake reflection when my machine wouldn't allow 
raytracing because of speed. Since that has been improved, maybe not 
that necessary anmore?
* Fresnel diffuse shader
==> Probably ok, haven't used this much - I guess the effect can be 
achieved with other means too (ramp shaders?)
* Grid mesh primitive
==> Yes, can go or at least be moved to the add-ons for those who want it
* Invert Z Depth material option.
==> ok with it
* Irregular Shadow Buffer
==> I'd probably keep it as alternative if it doesn't interfere too much 
with other improvements
* Particle grid emission distribution
* Particle Instance Modifier
* Particle jittered Particle/Face option and Jittering amount options.
* Particle Line/Path/Billboard rendering
* Particle "Parent" option for rendering offset.
==> no strong opinion there, though I can imagine Instance Modifier and 
Billboard rendering might have it's use.
* Sequencer Glow effect
==> ok with it
* Shadow Render Pass
==> I think to play with shadow colors this is nice, not sure how 
important for 'real' work though, I'll let the artists speak ;) 
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/File:Manual-Render-RenderPasses-Example2.png

Cheers,
Andrea

Brecht Van Lommel schrieb:
> Hi,
>
> Here's a proposal to remove a number of features before 2.6. I've been
> gathering items on this list for the last few months as I came across
> them. If there is enough agreement I can make the changes quickly. If
> you agree or disagree with items on the list, please read the
> explanation at the top and comment on the wiki page.
>
> http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:2.5/RemoveFeaturesProposal
>
> Thanks,
> Brecht.
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