This commit introduces the first version of an exporter to Pixar's
Universal Scene Description (USD) format.
Reviewed By: sergey, LazyDodo
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D6287
- The USD libraries are built by `make deps`, but not yet built by
install_deps.sh.
- Only experimental support for instancing; by default all duplicated
objects are made real in the USD file. This is fine for exporting a
linked-in posed character, not so much for thousands of pebbles etc.
- The way materials and UV coordinates and Normals are exported is going
to change soon.
- This patch contains LazyDodo's fixes for building on Windows in D5359.
== Meshes ==
USD seems to support neither per-material nor per-face-group
double-sidedness, so we just use the flag from the first non-empty
material slot. If there is no material we default to double-sidedness.
Each UV map is stored on the mesh in a separate primvar. Materials can
refer to these UV maps, but this is not yet exported by Blender. The
primvar name is the same as the UV Map name. This is to allow the
standard name "st" for texture coordinates by naming the UV Map as such,
without having to guess which UV Map is the "standard" one.
Face-varying mesh normals are written to USD. When the mesh has custom
loop normals those are written. Otherwise the poly flag `ME_SMOOTH` is
inspected to determine the normals.
The UV maps and mesh normals take up a significant amount of space, so
exporting them is optional. They're still enabled by default, though.
For comparison: a shot of Spring (03_035_A) is 1.2 GiB when exported
with UVs and normals, and 262 MiB without. We probably have room for
optimisation of written UVs and normals.
The mesh subdivision scheme isn't using the default value 'Catmull
Clark', but uses 'None', indicating we're exporting a polygonal mesh.
This is necessary for USD to understand our normals; otherwise the mesh
is always rendered smooth. In the future we may want to expose this
choice of subdivision scheme to the user, or auto-detect it when we
actually support exporting pre-subdivision meshes.
A possible optimisation could be to inspect whether all polygons are
smooth or flat, and mark the USD mesh as such. This can be added when
needed.
== Animation ==
Mesh and transform animation are now written when passing
`animation=True` to the export operator. There is no inspection of
whether an object is actually animated or not; USD can handle
deduplication of static values for us.
The administration of which timecode to use for the export is left to
the file-format-specific concrete subclasses of
`AbstractHierarchyIterator`; the abstract iterator itself doesn't know
anything about the passage of time. This will allow subclasses for the
frame-based USD format and time-based Alembic format.
== Support for simple preview materials ==
Very simple versions of the materials are now exported, using only the
viewport diffuse RGB, metallic, and roughness.
When there are multiple materials, the mesh faces are stored as geometry
subset and each material is assigned to the appropriate subset. If there
is only one material this is skipped.
The first material if any) is always applied to the mesh itself
(regardless of the existence of geometry subsets), because the Hydra
viewport doesn't support materials on subsets. See
https://github.com/PixarAnimationStudios/USD/issues/542 for more info.
Note that the geometry subsets are not yet time-sampled, so it may break
when an animated mesh changes topology.
Materials are exported as a flat list under a top-level '/_materials'
namespace. This inhibits instancing of the objects using those
materials, so this is subject to change.
== Hair ==
Only the parent strands are exported, and only with a constant colour.
No UV coordinates, no information about the normals.
== Camera ==
Only perspective cameras are supported for now.
== Particles ==
Particles are only written when they are alive, which means that they
are always visible (there is currently no code that deals with marking
them as invisible outside their lifespan).
Particle-system-instanced objects are exported by suffixing the object
name with the particle's persistent ID, giving each particle XForm a
unique name.
== Instancing/referencing ==
This exporter has experimental support for instancing/referencing.
Dupli-object meshes are now written to USD as references to the original
mesh. This is still very limited in correctness, as there are issues
referencing to materials from a referenced mesh.
I am still committing this, as it gives us a place to start when
continuing the quest for proper instancing in USD.
== Lights ==
USD does not directly support spot lights, so those aren't exported yet.
It's possible to add this in the future via the UsdLuxShapingAPI. The
units used for the light intensity are also still a bit of a mystery.
== Fluid vertex velocities ==
Currently only fluid simulations (not meshes in general) have explicit
vertex velocities. This is the most important case for exporting
velocities, though, as the baked mesh changes topology all the time, and
thus computing the velocities at import time in a post-processing step
is hard.
== The Building Process ==
- USD is built as monolithic library, instead of 25 smaller libraries.
We were linking all of them as 'whole archive' anyway, so this doesn't
affect the final file size. It does, however, make life easier with
respect to linking order, and handling upstream changes.
- The JSON files required by USD are installed into datafiles/usd; they
are required on every platform. Set the `PXR_PATH_DEBUG` to any value
to have the USD library print the paths it uses to find those files.
- USD is patched so that it finds the aforementioned JSON files in a path
that we pass to it from Blender.
- USD is patched to have a `PXR_BUILD_USD_TOOLS` CMake option to disable
building the tools in its `bin` directory. This is sent as a pull
request at https://github.com/PixarAnimationStudios/USD/pull/1048
Users should be able to know explicitly what they are testing.
By having them all enabled we run into a scenario where a new
experimental feature may have been introduced, and the user
is now using it without being even aware of that.
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D6404
Implement T66304 as an experimental option,
available under the preferences "Experimental" section.
- When enabled most tools in the 3D view have a gizmo.
- Dragging outside the gizmo uses the 'fallback' tool.
- The fallback tool can be changed or disabled in the tool options
or from a pie menu (Alt-W).
Multisample buffers were used for smooth line drawing. As we now have
an algorithm that doesn't need the multisample buffers we can remove
them.
The user preference for viewport multi_sampling is replaced by single
toggle overlay `use_overlay_smooth_wire`. By default this setting is
enabled as the new drawing is really quick (<1ms) and uses zero hacks.
Reviewed By: fclem
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D6367
Adds a theme setting to specify color of widget text insertion cursor (caret).
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D6024
Reviewed by Campbell Barton
Experimental tab in User Preferences for experimental features.
The tab option is only visible when "Developer Extras" is on.
Included here is a (commented out) example panel to be used as a
template for the new experimental panels. Since these panels will come
and go it is nice to have a reference in the code.
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D6203
The default was changed with an initial implementation of the feature.
With the feedback from animators, having a behavior which affects curves
outside of a changing range is not convenient for professional animators
working on high quality character animation. On the other hand, automatic
smoothing is better for casual animation of object motion.
This change adds an ability to change the default via User Preferences.
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D5875
Alt-LMB is used in quite a few areas now, see T69323
using OS-Key allows these conflicts to be avoided.
Currently disabled for WIN32, since it conflicts with the start menu.
This makes it so that some display related properties of the file
browser state are remembered in the Preferences. Otherwise, users often
end up doing the same set up work over and over again, so this is a
nice way to save users some work.
It's typical for other file browsers to remember their state too, so
another benefit is having a more conventional behavior, meeting user
expectations better.
Some points:
* We currently store: Window size, display type, thumbnail size,
enabled details-columns, sort options, "Show Hidden" option. More can
be added easily.
* No changes are stored to the Preferences if "Auto-save Preferences"
is disabled. This is how Quick Favorites behave too and it's a
reasonable way to make this behavior optional.
* The Preferences are only saved to permanent memory upon closing
Blender, following existing convention of Preferences and Quick
Favorites.
* If settings weren't actually changed, Preference saving is skipped.
* Only temporary file browsers save their state (invoked through
actions like open or save), not regular file browser editors. These
are usually used for different purposes and workflows.
* Removes "Show Thumbnails" Preferences option. It would need some
special handling, possibly introducing bugs. For users, this
simplifies behavior and should make things more predictable.
Left in DNA data in case we decide to bring it back.
Reviewers: brecht, #user_interface, billreynish, campbellbarton
Reviewed By: #user_interface, William Reynish, Campbell Barton, Brecht
van Lommel (quick first pass review in person)
Maniphest Tasks: T69460
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D5893
Addes a Preference setting to choose between opening new file browsers
in a maximized area (like with the old file browser) or in a new window
(like the new one).
Moves the render display type (to choose between rendering in a new
window, in a fullscreen area, in an Image Editor, etc) from the scene to
the preferences.
Group related settings in columns:
* Align Inner, Inner Selected and Outline.
* Align Text, Text Selected and Item.
Place Shaded settings in its own sub-panel.
Allows file browser folders to be shown in a theme-selectable color, default of manila.
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D5713
Reviewed by Brecht Van Lommel
This adds a url-preset operator to simplify opening re-usable links.
- Standard websites have their own tool-tip.
- De-duplicate logic to get URL's that include version information.
- Reporting bugs no longer needs to have all information
included in the URL.
D5498 by @luisbg with edits.
This checkbox replaces the "Disabled" and "Enabled" entries in the
filter drop-down. As a result, it now takes a single click to limit the
shown entries to enabled add-ons only. This is also an actual flag in
the preferences, and thus its state is saved between runs on Blender (in
contrast to the filter, which is always reset to "All").
Reviewed by: brecht, billreynish
- Grey out the option when factory settings have been loaded.
- Note it it's tool-top that it's ignored when factory settings
have been loaded.
Suggestions by @JulienKaspar
Added because the current default is too fast
for painting with tablets, see D5385.
Turntable and trackball have different settings because
turn-table uses an angle-per-pixel, where as trackball
values are relative to the view-port size so a scale is used.
The sensitivity is scaled by the pixel size so hi-dpi views don't rotate faster.
Based on feedback from T66675, the current interface is confusing,
leading to users accidentally overwriting their preferences.
Now, once factory settings are loaded preferences are not saved
and the save button is shown (as when auto-save is disabled).
Tool tips note that factory settings require manual saving
afterwards.
Also rename preference menu items for better consistency
(settings/state -> preferences).
- Add 'Navigation Buttons' preference, used for 2D views
(previously this couldn't be disabled).
- Add "Off" option for 3D view axis.
- Support minimal axis with navigation buttons.
The behavior for loading factory settings wasn't clear for users.
This commit changes the behavior:
- Loading factory settings always disables auto-save
for the current session.
- The internal setting to skip saving on exit is now exposed
in the preferences (when enabled).
- The menu item "Load Factory Settings (Temporary)" has been removed
since it's always temporary.
This way users can always reset factory settings without
having to consider the combination of options that might cause their
preferences to be overwritten at exit.
If they want to enable auto-save for the current session
this can be done from the preferences.
Now a small threshold is used for mouse input,
avoiding delay when gizmos are activated on drag.
Tablet input threshold remains unchanged since
it's easier to make small movements when using a tablet.
A larger threshold for non-cursor input is now used (typically keyboard)
which improves usability when the "Pie Menu on Drag" key-map preference.
Monochrome colored icons don't work well on a dark background, so now we can
add a border around them. Note that most icons in the interface will remain
without a border, just the outliner and properties editor navigation have
colored icons and those will get a border. Other icons continue to be drawn
in the text colored without a border.
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D4787
In recent changes the viewport_quality setting was not working what
users expected. This change will separate the anti-aliasing method that
is being used.
We now have three settings:
* scene.display.render_aa: Will be used during `Render Image`.
* scene.display.viewport_aa: Will be used during `Viewport Render Image`.
* userpref.viewport_aa: Will be used in the 3d view.
The viewport_quality setting has been replaced by the viewport_aa
setting as it was the only thing in currently controlled.
Reviewed By: brecht
Maniphest Tasks: T64132
Differential Revision: https://developer.blender.org/D4828
Note: Some adjustments were made compared to the diff mainly for code
readability and made the default ball size 150px.
Reviewed By: fclem
Differential Revision: http://developer.blender.org/D4793
