[Bf-compositor] [enh] labels and reorder inputs to help link nodes

[Lukas Tönne]

I quite like the general idea. Working with collapsed nodes is really
limiting atm. Have to think about how such popups can be implemented
without too much complexity and chaos on the lower ui code level.

Another idea to make linking easier on expanded (not collapsed) nodes could
be to allow more leeway for selecting sockets: Instead of requiring
accurate placement on the socket circle we could just detect "user points
at node X" and then choose the *closest* socket for connecting (even use
the whole height range of the node). This should be fairly easy to
implement and not require a whole lot of ui design changes.

I'm not so sure about dragging in the sidebar buttons. Not every socket
type has values and it's a bit tricky to associate a generic button with a
node socket cleanly. To make this work nicely there should at least be a
symbolic representation for every socket (input value button or no), which
can be the hook for reconnecting. Even so it could still have corner cases
and needs careful consideration. With the features for the main editor
mentioned above it may not be necessary to go this far anyway.


On Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 1:12 PM, Francesco Paglia <f.paglia.80 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi all,
> link nodes is quite an hard task now, especially if we have too many nodes
> that requires to zoom out a bit and if we decide to use collapsed node to
> maintain the tree more clean.
>
> I'd like to propose to add a sort of labeling solution so once we have to
> plug in a noddle we just drag it on the node (without caring on the right
> position)  and an easy to read panel can appear with the list of all the
> available input so we can choose which one we need.
>
> I made just a quick mockup to shot my idea, hope you will find it
> interesting to discuss since in my opinion this solution can incredibly
> speed up the workflow without having to zoom in and out every few seconds.
>
> Here the sample:
>
>
> https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-maT-WogxB40/UvN0LVE5eRI/AAAAAAAAIAA/z3E51gAxRFc/w1150-h874-no/LABELING.png
>
> always going on the same path would be very efficient to have in the side
> panel the complete list of the inputs that can be resorted easily...
> Imagine this:
>
> I drag a node in an input of a   "RGB curves" node,
> I make an error and instead of plugging the noddle to the "image" input I
> put it in the "black level"
> it would be a very great addition the ability to simply drag in the
> "inputs panel" the linked value to the desired input...
>
> Here a quick visual mockup
>
>
> https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0uWo0AFcuag/UvN7ri2wb3I/AAAAAAAAIA4/SPlyYSkeuFA/w1292-h594-no/resort_inputs.png
>
> Thanks
> Francesco
>
>
> --
> Francesco Paglia
> Vfx and Production Supervisor
>
>
>
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