[Bf-taskforce25] Wish list 2.5!

[Campbell Barton]

re: rendering in background mode and added options, while any option
could be added as an argument, I find that when you want more control
then simply rendering the file 'as is' its best to use a python
script. Such scripts are easy to write and can set/check many values.

On Sat, Dec 5, 2009 at 12:47 AM, Joshua Leung <aligorith at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Sat, Dec 5, 2009 at 9:29 AM, Martin Levasseur <martin at servak.com> wrote:
>>
>> 1- Keys handling could be a little more intuitive than using B (box) key
>> and RMB only.
>>
>> I'm currently working on facial animation for a character we designed
>> with 2.49b. The text that the character is speaking needs to be adjusted
>> manually. Everytime the ipo goes from 0.0 to 1.0, a shape key is making
>> the lips move. The problem is that I have a long animation to work with,
>> which represents thousands of keys to play with. The feature I would
>> like to see with IPOs or Graph Editor in 2.5 already exists with basic
>> modeling in Blender, it is called "more". You can select a vertex than
>> hit select and choose MORE or using CTRL-NUMPAD(+) and it would
>> propagate the selection to the vertex connected to the selected vertex.
>
> This is easy to add, and can be down pretty quickly. Will put on todo :)
>
>
>>
>> In IPO mode/ Graph Editor, if implemented, would allow to select shape
>> keys as complete curves instead of just a vertex and would allow to
>> grab/move the effect and sync it to an audio scrub instead of clicking
>> three times, once on peak, once on left, once on right while holding
>> SHIFT and then move the curve (and also, with that many keys, it's just
>> very difficult to work with).
>
> If you want to select entire curves (as in old IPO editor), just use
> Ctrl-Alt-Selectmouse and click on a relevant keyframe. This will select all
> the keyframes on the same F-Curve.
>
>
>> I've tried CTRL-NUMPAD(+) and other
>> similar keys, but it doesn't work (2.5.alpha included). Also, It would
>> be nice to split the occurence of keys temporarily to allow grabbing a
>> curve and not grabbing the whole timeline of curves. Let me explain: if
>> the character makes an "Ohhh" but does it repeatedly as in "Hello how
>> are you today?", I would like to be able to move the "O" in Hello
>> independently from the whole, currently if I move "O" I move (grabx) all
>> the Os shapes unless I grab the three vertex points that constitute the
>> O curve (peak, left, right) in editor mode. Simply put, splitting curves
>> as sub-objects in some sort of ANIMATOR MODE, since curves should be the
>> basic units, not points. If not, then at least be able to select
>> adjacent points as mentioned above would help a lot.
>
> I have no idea what you're going on about here, but from the last line, it
> sounds like it's just related to the above?
>
> It also sounds to me a bit like you might also consider doing this
> lipsyncing via a collection of NLA strips. Set up one action per shapekey,
> probably with just a 1-2 keyframes at the maximum influence needed. Then,
> add these strips to the NLA editor as necessary - probably with different
> phonemes in different tracks, so you can just retime the actions as a whole
> (i.e. your "sub-objects") instead of worrying about different bunches of
> keyframes ("points")
>
> I'd probably have to finish off NLA-strip baking for this to be really nice
> to work with, but you can probably get a lot done this way already.
>
>
>> 2- Rendering in background doesn't let us specify size for render to
>> override animator/modeler settings.
>>
>> When we start a render in batch mode on render farm in the background
>> which is a great feature, sometimes we forget to hit back 100% size in
>> render settings in a blend file and the batch render takes +/- half the
>> time to render (yay!) but doesn't have the right resolution (doh!). Then
>> merging the PNGs into AVIs we realize the mistake and must re-render
>> everything or at least all frames that were rendered at 50%. It would be
>> nice to override it in command line like -size 100 then it would be a
>> simple script ajustement.
>
> Not my area of expertise, but it can probably be done already. Check the
> commandline options with -h  or wait for a more informed answer about this
> :)
>
>
>>
>> 3- Sorting "Shape Keys" alphabetically
>>
>> We have some files that contain 200+ shapes. They are sorted by their
>> creation time, not their names (ascending/descending, etc). This makes
>> it very difficult to find information. Some sort of sort feature or
>> group (by name, by type) would be great instead of scrolling pages of
>> shape keys with middle mouse button. I noticed it also applies to
>> standard IPO curves (not only shape keys), but maybe 2.5 already has it.
>
> This could be done, and may probably be only a matter of coding up a
> suitable script that can be run from time to time as necessary. I don't
> think it should be something that is done
> automatically/behind-the-scenes-on-the-fly since that adds unnecessary
> overhead and also frustration when trying to put the curves in a certain
> order.
>
> There are advantages to both approaches though, but I admit to having a bit
> of a dislike for alphabetical lists (especially long ones), since a list
> organised into appropriate sections that follow in some logical/hierarchial
> order can be better suited to the job.
>
>
> Regards,
> Aligorith
>
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>



-- 
- Campbell