[Bf-committers] Viewport project planning

[Antony Riakiotakis]

Hi,

I'm writing here so we have a public record of who is supposed to work on
what for the viewport project.

So, a part of the project is to merge the GSOC branch. Jason Wilkins has
offered to help here.

I want confirmation on the following:

The 2014 GSOC branch basically has the internal API for vertex streaming
plus some basic infrastructure for material support (aspect) which is not
functional. The vertex streaming part is not hooked up to the rest of
blender in the 2014 branch - it used to be in the GSOC 2013 branch though.

So, for merging I propose we keep only the stuff that were tested and
worked in the 2013 branch. That means as far as I know:

* Hook up the vertex stream code to the rest of blender again.
* Separate the aspect system for a future release.

There are some patches for review - notably debug utilities:
https://developer.blender.org/D706
and canonical binding (for which I am unconvinced though - adds too many
chains of define-undefine).
https://developer.blender.org/D699

I'd suggest we focus on the important things though, which is the vertex
streaming functionality itself. If we can have that as a monolithic patch
it would help with less review overhead.

Jason, is a monolithic patch possible? Do you see any roadblocks or issues
here? Can it be done without the canonical binding part? Do you need any
help with this?

Also  I am interested in hearing Alex Kuznetsof's take on the GLES
project...what the state of the code is, what is needed still to make it
fully working, does he have time to work on it etc.

Generally, if we are to merge the branch in this release, we need to have
something ready in about 3 weeks. Maybe there can be an extension if we are
close by then.

I can spend time redesigning the vertex buffer object system and material
code in a separate branch, which can be added later but I can also work on
getting the branch up to speed too if people are unavailable to work on it.
It would help if I am given notice of this early on though.