Softimage Garage | BforArtistsXT

[FXDude]

 
Greetz! sorry for the delay, it's been a while

The changes in this update were made while revisiting the lambo scene,
so this 'update 4' is in the same previous (2.81) version,
and the switch to whichever is the latest BforA version will be next

     BforArtistsXT-0.1-u4.zip ( 8mb )

Installation::
Like previous updates, drop the "BforArtistsXT 0.1" folder in the zip file
on top of your existing installation folder of the same name.
(replaces various files in different folders)

On next first run after replacing .py files, takes a few seconds to recompile the precompiled .pycache files.

First install update 3 if not already installed (which inludes all previous updates)
BforArtistsXT-0.1_update3.zip ( 5mb )



______________
It includes the lambo sample scene which also features a working multi-instanced scenes setup (like passes)
merging Evee beauty and Cycles AOV's,
renderable all at once in one comp pass to a single EXR sequence..
(just had to figure-out sampling issues between different scenes)
_____
Also, various notes about the node editor, and making grouped nodes (compounds)
are included in the floor's material.

(Lambo model itself was tweaked a bit to look less angry-looking lol)

__
BTW, I hope "XT" isn't too PC sounding ?
it initially stood for 'extended' (or whatever) : )

Otherwise, am I wrong to think that all the modified .py files can be transposed straight to BforA on linux (?)
(also probably to regular Blender of the same 2.81 version including keymap and theme )


Release Notes

_________________________
Scene Output Summary,



-- when scene renderer is Evee,
Cycles Tiles and CPU settings will dissapear.
( settings that don't apply to Eevee)

-- the Scene Output Summary was placed above the outliner,
eases side-by-side display of different render property settings
(when sliding the outliner down to reveal summary)

- In it's place is a BforA toolbar,
where you can fairly easily put your own buttons that do things,
('edit source' on existing buttons displayable from the dropdown,
to swap or add functions defined with registered classes in startup scripts)

And this (empty by default) pane, also allows the property pane to be moved up or down.
(without necessarily having something in the upper pane)

* when changing toolbar visibility
for toolbar changes to persist (not being saved with the default scene),
go to preferences and click 'Save Preferences'.


_________
Bottom Pane tweaks



-- The UV and Image editors now have their own main toplevel tabs,
to not imply having to go through typically populated viewers,
to go to typically often used views.
(at the expense of 2 more toplevel tabs)

Also note that when starting a render,
if the last active image viewer was the UV editor (almost the same as image/render viewer) ,
renders will show up in UV editor,
so before next render you can switch once to the image viewer.


-- Subtabs are now placed before the view titles,
for them to always be in the same place when switching between them.
(except for the 1 sequencer view in the 'output/post ' tab, which has a single subtab [Sequencer] )

-- Removed Texture node editor from tabs
( legacy thing for pre-cycles renderer which I hope they might eventually re-emplement lol )


_______________
View3D

-- Added an expanded 3dView-centric workspace.



because maximizing the 3dView (ctrl space) leaves really nothing else than the 3dView,
making it impractical to work without things like the timeline etc..
( use 'memo-views' to store / restore your current view position to other workspaces )


-- When Closing the 'Toolsetting' top bar,
most of layout element transpose to the single bar
( for wide viewports )


-- Added Sampling settings viewport top bar
for Cycles and Eevee




____________
UV Editor



Added UV Tools to the side bar.

- Brush tools appear under tool buttons,
(left sidebar brush tools, or pressing 'G' for the 'Grab' brush)

The Grab brush is very much like proportional editing with some differences.

Space returns to box select, like 'T', except also deselects everything.


_________
Compositor



-- For some reason (maybe because of my poking),
the compositor node editor had no 'go up a level' when entering node groups (compounds),
so now it does.

-- For the comp backdrop viewer,
the toolbar backdrop transform tools also includes the Reset (to 100%) button for 1 to 1 pixels,
and the + / - zoom buttons multiply / divide the zoomfactor by an even factor of 2.
(for interpolation-artifact-free viewing )

You can still 'Fit' the image to view size,
or clickDrag the scale number field to zoom to any (float) levels.


_______________
Vertical Panes (Properties, Outliner, Preferences)



Also have tabs to quickswitch between them.


_____________
Timeline



Rearranged layout

__________
Save startup File toolbar button

__________


Cheers, let me know if any issues, and hope everyone is well !

[FXDude]

Just to say for the splash screen, in my discussion with JoLab (on deviant art)
when asking for permission for the background image here.. (Oct 2017)

https://www.si-community.com/forum/v ... art=64#top
(seems like yesterday lol)

.. he told me that we could use his abstract artwork for anything XSI related..

So I photoshopped one of them, and used that as a splash screen


I can't access my account there, (didn't go back there since )
he said back then that he frequently visited this site,
so it would be great if he came to confirm that. (?)

but I remember it ... (but I didn't re-ask him, but I think he would agree that this can qualify as XSI related )

(Might try to re-find him again)

Otherwise of course wasn't done in blender, but it's not just totally possible in blender, but even easy!
(saw a video about making ropes)

Otherwise I don't remember from where I found the original lamborghini scene,
at some point I was downloading a bunch of scenes from blendswap when first evaluating blender.

Otherwise.. I think everybody should stand on everybody's shoulders..

Blender already comes with a TON of addons (most of them disabled)

And I don't understand why they don't harness some of the features in there, or integrating them better in Blender..

I'm sure authors would be happy to have their work integrated in official builds.

Otherwise .... Give and take is a good philosophy I think..
(or not just scraping everything... except maybe when learning )
 
And I think blender is all about collaboration, alot like XSI actually...

Like the hair thing that i released a while back was entirely made of things made by others,
and in their compounds were there compounds made by others ... and so on ...
and I always though that was a cool thing about the community



 

[FXDude]

Also... (as you might have noticed ( ? )) here's a glimpse of what the logo consists of ...



And that image can also represent what this is lol

0.7% BforA, 0.3% BforaXT, 99% Blender

(lots of kitbashing and fine tuning)

[rray]

Thanks for posting! Am only able to drop in for a second, it looks very cool. it seems people need somme time to process all the new info

[FXDude]

Cool, thanks and no prob!

Also, a few notes for the lambo scene,
The "SceneInstance-CyclesAOVs" is the original,
and the "Scene1-EveeMain" is the instance.. (had it the other way around)

So if you make changes, it should be in the Cycles scene. (the source should have been the Evee scene)
meaning you won't be able to transform new objects in the instance (except translate),
and these new objects would only show in the instance if created there.

Also... in the output comp scene, the 2d motion blur (supporting deformation MB for Evee) is a big process,
but isn't necessarily at-all "slow", considering what it does,
and the quality/reliability at which it does it.
(pretty-much worry-free & artifact-free)

Just have to be patient when viewing the node (part of the render process)

[Draise]

I started taking a look at your latest changes, and made note of some key features that I liked. I am now pushing them to the Bforartists tracker, maybe some of your ideas will get to master!

[FXDude]

Hi Draise, that's great !

By the way,
I don't at-all wish for BforA (or Blender) to at-all work like XSI lol,
most of the changes in XT was to accomodate XSI users.

But some things I think maybe could be of use ...

the UV tools panel ?... the AOV Passes UI ? ...
( Maybe other things ? )

Also by the way, there's a update to the UV panel coming..

[FXDude]

Hi!
just dug-up and uploaded an "XT" clip from wayback

Also showing "XT" UV Toolbar UI
and a view preset for flat shading when UVing

Made it so that UV tools operating in the viewport like Mark Cutline Edges
would work even when run from the UV editor pane toolbar.
( because by default these few UV tools could only be run from the viewport )

Otherwise, I hope to eventually get to make a Blender 3.x version of "XT"

Want to "get back to it" , also because geometry nodes seem to be coming along quite well !

and there is already a quite sizable list of "node groups" ( XSI compounds )
https://blendermarket.com/categories/ge ... ode-groups
( while this list is in no way "exhaustive" )


But what bugs me about Blender and Geometry Nodes,
or what in my impression is REALLY SOARLY MISSING
is like an "Edit Mode-ifier" of some sort.

Or a procedural "edit mesh" modifier,
which I think is probably is the only thing preventing having mesh outputs be "real" or "live",
or to be able to make the equivalent of XSI "clones" as opposed to "duplicates" or "instances"
( which allows for the ability to branch-off meshes or parts of meshes, and use them as sources for other node trees )


Because now, output meshes are ineditable until "Applied" (freezing meshes in XSI)
defeating the purpose of having things be "procedural",
so you also can't do things like constrain something to a point of a GeoNode driven mesh.
because it's not really "real".

But at least in Bifrost, the mesh output would be "live".
Maya mesh edits are also "procedural", for post Bifrost edits, but construction history is inaccessible,
so you basically have to start over if you'd rather not have some edits,
and "delete history" (XSI freeze) is almost "a must" for stability.
(that's how Maya really is NOT procedural)

So while Blender can be MORE procedural than Maya (because of modifier stack) , it's at the same time LESS procedural,
like there was an addon that could change initial mesh subdivs after the fact,
but was essentially useless because any change to original mesh would purge any mesh edits made,
or a deformed sphere using grab proportional, would revert back to a sphere.

Now in -whichever- program would doing that screw up any mesh edits downstream anyways, but that's not the point,

Not suggesting Blender to "be more like XSI" but among XSI, Maya, 3dsMax, & of course Houdini,
it's just that it's the ONLY ONE with -NO- "procedural mesh edits".

I personally wished that Blender would really prioritize this, if at-all even in the plans,
( should make a suggestion on Blender Today Live lol )
which I'm personally -convinced- would be even ESSENTIAL for blender to FINALLY become TRULY "procedural".

Otherwise GeoNodes is also QUITE FAST for processing quite heavy meshes, like "XSI level fast".

_______________

Also Blender (for a while now ) has a more-or-less equivalent of "Offset Parent Matrix" in Maya
which was touted as "Maya's biggest new feature" but was basically XSI style default "parent constraint"
like a "simplified constraint" allowing for child transformations to be relative to it's parent, when parenting an object under another
( can't remember the name in blender, but parenting now shows a menu with 2 options )

So zeroing-out child transforms, would match parents transforms,
or you could rotate car wheels using their LOCAL TRANSFORMS without needing intermediate empties (nulls) one for each transform type,
with another empty at the center of the universe as an "offset reference"
( which is in my opinion indeed "a BIG feature" )

But it BARELY had a mention, Pablo on Blender Today didn't even know what it was for, when mentioning it.
( the developer description was also very unclear or ambiguous )

But IT'S THERE !
( and awesome or was one of the things I would miss the most from XSI in Blender )

Otherwise, Blender's relatively new "GPU Subdivs" Makes Subd modeling CONSIDERABLY faster, including for heavier meshes,
(faster than before, or still not AS fast as XSI\Maya, but became like "very workable" )

In any event, I'm happy Blender seems to be doing great, I've also started seeing a number of "blender jobs" out there
including @ Framestore for "VisualDevelopment" ( concept artists ) also requiring "Knowledge of Geometry nodes".

Cheers!