[Bf-funboard] Node "Group Insert" question

Glen Larsen glenl.glx at gmail.com
Tue Oct 3 08:40:27 CEST 2017


Tobias Heinke has given me a clue via bf-docboard regarding node connection
preservation when doing a group insert which helps my thinking about this.
Or, at least, I can contrive some use cases where multiply-selected nodes
that have input and output connections, will have those connections added
to in/out groups on a group insert operation.

So my confusion is reduced. Still present but manageable.

On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 4:47 PM, Glen Larsen <glenl.glx at gmail.com> wrote:

> As a new document writer for the Blender User Manual I have decided to
> fill out "todo" sections in the manual. I am familiar with node editing but
> have never used the "Group Insert" functionality and maybe someone can help
> me understand its use case. Here are some user activities that might
> explain my confusion:
>
> Given a simple node setup, SHADER-A --> GROUP --> MATERIAL OUTPUT . The
> GROUP contains some simple functionality that acts on SHADER-A and outputs
> a modified shader.
>
> Scenario 1: Create a Value node. Select the new node, shift select GROUP.
> Pressing Node->Group Insert will move the Value node into the group,
> surround the Value node with a Group Input and Group Output node, and move
> the user's editing context to the group. The new Value node output socket
> gets connected to the input of the Group Output node.
>
> Scenario 2: Similar to above using a node with input sockets, Math / Add.
> Group Insert will create a Group Input node with sockets to match the new
> node and attach them. Group Output is created similar to Scenario 1. The
> existing Group Input node will get new sockets to match the newly added
> node.
>
> Scenario 3: Similar to scenario 2 but with 2 connected sockets, Math/Add
> with both output sockets connected to another Math/Add. When added to the
> group using Group Insert, neither the new Group Input nor the Group Output
> sockets are connected.
>
>
> My confusion is that all 3 scenarios force additional editing to properly
> get to single Group -Input and -Output nodes. If it is the case that
> scenario-3 (inserting multiple nodes) is the more typical case, why create
> new Group -Input and -Output nodes at all?
>
> Are these reasonable use cases or am I totally missing the point of Group
> Insert?
>
> Thank you for any enlightenment you can provide.
>


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