quinet@xxxxxxxxxx (2002-11-29 at 1937.59 +0100):
> Yes, this is a nice idea, although this is different from the feature
> that we were talking about.
> As a matter of fact, the idea that you present here has already been
> discussed on this mailing list. This is similar to what is done in a
> program called "Khoros" and its interface "Cantata". If you do a
It is like some composition engines work, for example NothingReal's
Shake (now Apple's). In the world of 3D shaders, too, like ShaderMan
or Maya's system. They just have systems capable of passing streams of
data thru the nodes, requiring a timeline interface, so you can see
that side of the problem too, the offsets from stream to stream. But
if you only allow one image per input, you can work with the tree
alone.
I do not see why it can not be used for layers, after all, the only
limit is what kind of bricks you have avaliable (current layer stack
would be a lot of blend:normal, blend:disolve... bricks).
Current way:
Top layer (soflight)
Middle layer (burn)
Bottom layer (na) [No Applicable, there is nothing "below"]
In tree:
IN:TL
\
IN:ML B:Softlight - OUT
\ /
B:Burn
/
IN:BL
Now lets do groups:
Layer A (softlight) | Group A,B
Layer B (na) | (hardlight)
Layer C (burn) | Group C,D
Layer D (na) | (color)
Layer E (na)
And the equivalent:
IN:LA
\
B:Softlight
/ \
IN:LB \
\
IN:LC B:Hardlight - OUT
\ /
B:Burn /
/ \ /
IN:LD B:Color
/
IN:LE
I can go on, with layer effects, adjustements, channel compose and
decompose, plugins and so on. Probably I could do bricks for paint
tools, if so inclined (paint in multiple places at the same time, undo
by disabling bricks...). Making big boxes would allow clearer
grouping, simplify paint ops (all strockes become one box), or
reducing the undo steps. :]
Exposing part or all the tree would confuse people, that is true, but
could make some other things nicer. Depends in the target. So are we
talking about the engine or the interface or both?
And after all this rant... is anybody checking GEGL docs? It would
save me doing ascii art. ;]
GSR
