[Bf-committers] Blender roadmap article on code blog

[David Jeske]

On Fri, Jun 28, 2013 at 1:35 PM, Knapp <magick.crow at gmail.com> wrote:

> > Yes, there is a performance cost for Mono/V8 relative to C, but for many
> > types of code that gap is quite small, about 1-3x
>
> Speaking only as an artist:
>
> LOL!!!!
>
> I dare you to go to BlenderArtist and tell them you have decided to
> include 2 Microsoft programs in Blender that will slow down there
> render times by 300%!
>

A language used for UI extension and tools does not affect render-times.
OSL is already the way to user-extend cycles and that is not part of the
discussion.

Python is allowed for 2d compositing nodes now. Using C# or TypeScript/V8
for these nodes would speed them up 3-10x. However, don't get too excited,
because a single composite node, even in Python, is probably only 2-20% of
the total composite time and only 0.1-0.5% of total render time if there is
a 3d scene.

..so I think your concern about how this would somehow slow down rendering
is mis-placed. It wouldn't.

That said, there are many good points in this discussion about extension
languages. I think it would be nice to see a typed scripting option, but I
also agree that getting some of the benefits I hope for would take lots
more than adding the language option. I'm going to have to think on this
some more, and for now I'm removing/replacing this item in my "personal
roadmap wishlist" with a different one...

4) Make Blender UI, launch-state, splash more friendly to users who wish to
use only a subset of functionality (without compromising the power users).
The first case-in-point, 2d-compositor-only users. -- Why? -- Blender is
arguably one of the most powerful open-source 2d compositors. However, the
UI doesn't make this apparent or easy to do without understanding 3d
rendering. Making blender more friendly to these users will mean more
blender users, more potential developers, and more goodness.

Easier said than done, but I think it's worthy.