[Bf-committers] Proposal: 2D handler for Compositor

[Troy Sobotka]

On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 10:12 AM, Sam Vila <samvila at gmail.com> wrote:
> After seeing the new sunbeams node I just notice that it would be VERY
> handy to have a node in the compositor to display a handler that you can
> move around the screen and provide coordinates to be plugged into other
> nodes.

That "handle" is canvas aware editing, and that is in the works
currently. No small task by any feat, and likely means that one view
will become the reference point as it does with every other compositor
out there.

Typically, the moment you select an active node in most compositors,
the viewer will switch to that node as input for interaction, and the
adjustments can be made in a given active viewer. It just happens that
Blender's viewer has evolved somewhat from an historical point, and
the holistic approach was not possible.

I do like the idea of using a gripper as a driver however, but that
might be another subject.

> Another inconsistency I notice is the fact that after you enter in the
> compositor editor you need to click on the checkbox: Use nodes to start
> using the nodes, this is very silly design cause if you don't click that
> option you cannot use any meny in that editor or do anything so basically
> you're FORCED to check that box to start using the tool, it might be
> something trivial but it doesn't have any sense to have that option and
> click on it, it's 100% redundant and things like this makes more difficult
> for new users to adapt into blender.

This has recently been discussed quite a bit on this list.

As with all things around Blender, I find it useful to believe in the
folks that have coded it and realize that there is likely a reason
that the things are the way they are. Sometimes it is historical
legacy code that can take ages to rewrite, or sometimes it is another
issue.

With respect,
TJS