[Bf-committers] Proposal for clarified VFX Reference Platform Support

[Brian Savery]

> At some point strategic decisions like this should have tangible
> benefits beyond the *possability* of attracting a user base. Maybe it
> will be different this time - in that case there should be an
> explanation as to why.
>

One benefit that seems to be overlooked is the compatibility of add-ons.
Particularly those with c-extensions. With the move to python 3.9 some
add-ons lagged in compatibility.

Sticking to the VFX platform usually means add-ons will be up to date with
that python if they are used in various apps.


> > One of the long-term goals for the Blender project, is to welcome more
> > contributions by the industry. And I think investing on that vision
> trumps
> > the immediate benefit the latest Python (or other library) brings to
> > Blender.
>
> It seems likely to me the benefits of Python sticking to the VFX
> platform are being perceived as greater than they actually are (beyond
> messaging that "we support the VFX platform").
>
> While there are scenarios with Python ABI compatibility (relating to
> the VFX platform) can cause problems, and I'm not saying nobody ever
> ran into these issues - this seems more like a corner case which isn't
> actually blocking people in the VFX industry using Blender in
> practice. If it was, they were not vocal when it was announced we
> planned to upgrade to Python 3.9.
>
> Part of my skepticism gets into the details of what the VFX platform
> is generally used for, from what I can gather the QT graphical toolkit
> and it's Python bindings are a significant factor deciding if Python
> can be upgraded for the VFX platform. (PySide [1] sometimes lags in
> it's Python support).
>
> Since using QT from Blender is impractical (last I checked at least),
> it's not clear if sticking to an older Python has all that much
> benefit for VFX users either (as native Python modules typically
> aren't a problem).
>
> > To have studios contributing to Blender is a two-way street. And Blender
> > sticking to the VFX is the least the Blender project can do on its end.
>
> As far as I can see we tried this and it didn
>
-- 
brian.savery at gmail.com
508-274-8700