[Bf-interface] Blender 101, Templates

[Campbell Barton]

On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 10:40 PM, Dalai Felinto <dfelinto at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> The document seem aligned with the previous discussions. I like it,
> but I miss mockups of what we expect to deliver. Even pseudo-code of
> the template-python code would be helpful since Python will be the
> only way of creating templates. But I understand if it is too soon for
> that.
>

A template will be a blend file and a startup script.
Everything on top of this is up to the template author to manage.

What I mean by this is we can figure out exactly how we like to
structure this as we go, extending Blender's as needed.

Of course eventually we will want to have good examples of templates
for template-authors to follow,
thats more a loose convention than a strict design though.

> 1) Is there any other example for templates that is not "3D Printing"?
> It would be great to see some experimental mockup to see to which
> extent templates will be allowed to customize Blender.
>

I'd rather get a basic template system working first (which shouldn't
take long), then have some examples, then document how the code looks.

Things you might do with a template system aren't all that different
to how you might customize Blender currently.

> 2) "regular Blender" (aka, blender as it is now) will be a template,
> right? Apart from that one, do we expect other seasoned users to use
> templates? For example, do you think a studio would ideally create its
> own template(s) for its pipeline? (is it one of the use cases?)

Yes, the intention is to make Blender's default setup a template the
reason the planning notes are vague on this topic is it doesn't impact
other areas much if for some reason we don't end up doing it.

If this is done well, I think templates could be used by studios - if
they have some special needs not covered by Blender's defaults.
They only need to override the parts that are important to them so it
shouldn't add a lot of maintenance.

> 3) > "How will user preferences for templates be separated?"
>
> It's not clear to me if we simply will store some settings as template
> settings (e.g., right mouse click) and other as global user
> preferences (e.g., Compute Device). Or if we are talking about a
> distinct separation in the UI. Perhaps even different menus/editors
> entirely.

Right, this isn't well defined. Ideally I think we would split user preferences.

On the other hand I think its possible to finish a basic template
system without it needing to have its own preferences.

It may be that we end up putting a small set of preferences in the
template, changing how we choose to solve this issue.

> It will be interested to see how "Addons" fit here. To enable/disable
> an addon is probably a template setting, but to install it it is not.
> (same for themes likely).

Right, installing goes into the users addons directory, enabled addons
are a preference, stored i the template.

> 4) I know this can be tackled as a 2.7x or a 2.8x project. But despite
> what the document may suggest I think there is a lot of overlap with
> the asset manager, workspaces and top bar projects. Specially in
> regard to assets, keymaps, .... Anyways, this boils down to mockup
> again, it would be interesting to see if templates would be benefiting
> from the improvements brought by those projects, or if it's really
> entirely disconnected. (which I suspect it's not).

There is overlap in the final outcome, so template authors will want
to take advantage of an asset manager for example.

But I don't think these are hard dependencies.

Once basic templates are working there will be motivation to work on
other areas so that they can be made more useful.
That can be done as part of regular Blender development, most of the
improvements would be useful irrespective of templates.

> 5) I miss a page with milestones and the individual steps/tasks.
> [Update: much of it is here already:
> https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Ideasman42/Blender101Tasks]

The first milestone will be basic template system, then to implement a
Blender101 template, with design from Mike Pan.
After this we can prioritize. It's likely 101 project can use an asset
manager and custom widgets so I expect those will be high on the list.

> Best regards,
> Dalai
> --
> blendernetwork.org/dalai-felinto
> www.dalaifelinto.com
>
>
> 2017-03-07 11:06 GMT+01:00 Campbell Barton <ideasman42 at gmail.com>:
>> Hi, I've just finished writing notes from discussions with Mike Pan
>> about templates in Blender.
>> While this is for the Blender 101 project, the aim is to have a
>> general system so all kinds of templates can be created,
>> there is some overlap with Blender2.8 too.
>>
>> The initial purpose of templates is to allow Blender101 and regular
>> Blender to be the same application, with the ability to switch to
>> heavily modified interface, keymap, add-ons.
>>
>> This is our initial planning of how they might work.
>> Feedback welcome :)
>>
>> https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Ideasman42/Blender101Design
>>
>> --
>> - Campbell
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-- 
- Campbell