Fri Jan 07, 2022 11:05 pm
OH DEAR GOD! update to the particle system[s] and tracker functionalities.
Lets talk particles... First let's get a dedicated 2d and 3d particle emitter (and maybe renderer too) that way the current pEmitter can stop trying to live in both worlds and doing so badly. Once this is done update and change how "randomness" is generated because it's not great for 2d particles atm and eyeons original solution of using more emitters with a different random seed set to fill in the blank areas and then using pMerge just doesnt feel great and its a pain when making adjustments.
Next make sure that each emitter (the new 2d and 3d ones) have full options of blur, glows, and blend modes!! particles blend mode'ing with themselves should be a thing and its different than how you'd want to adjust the blend mode of your particles over your scene. So the emitter itself probably needs a blend mode option to handle particles blending with themselves and then the prender should have a blend mode option for how they go over the whole scene (Currently with 2d particles this is done when you use a merge node to add them to your scene but, with 3d particles there is no way to adjust their blend mode without a lot of extra work and headache).
I'm also thinking that by dividing the 2 particle systems out it should be alot easier to code parts of the system and make them function better and more efficient, like all of the 2.5d options that should be in a 2d particle system but aren't applicable in a 3d one. or like how a 3d particle system needs a really good camera depth occlusion option that isn't needed in a 2d system. (the current 3d system has the option but it doesn't seem to work very well, even when plugging the 3d camera into it).
Also in the pRender node (when working in 2d) there needs to be a way for the user to define the DOD or the DOD should just naturally adjust/grow to match the pEmitter's region and particle area/lifespan. Currently, trying to matchmove a particle effect like rain to a scene is a huge headache that requires way too many work arounds for a program that calls it's a professional solution.
Someone already mentioned how the pEmitter doesn't do lines and points well and they can only be used with certain render options like open GL (unlike how many other modern particle systems work) so yeah lets get those fixed.
TRACKERS: More ways to get data out of the trackers and just onto it's own node like an after effects null object would be. Like, I really should be able to track a feature, set the operation to matchmove, export it. and then attach as many elements as I'd like to that track data and be able to run expressions on each element. (And yes, with modifiers and the right click menu, connect to option, this can all be done but this doesnt give a good sense of flow and god forbid someone accidentally delete the tracker node later because they think they are cleaning up the scene and it's not doing anything and tracker nodes are resources hogs...
Same thing with the planer tracker, more options to export its data and functions to nodes of their own.
Okay so this one is kind of a stretch with the planer tracker / corner pin operation but it'd be really cool if we were able to convert planer track data to a simulated 3d plane that is using rotation and position at its center to move an imagine plane around and shift its perspective instead of using the four point corner pin data. This would allow the replacement image plane to always be at the same "aspect ratio" only skewed in space like how the imagine plane of a phone screen on camera is always the same aspect ratio only skewed by its perspective to the lens and viewer. and this way if 1, 2, or 3 of your corner pin replacements points were outside the frame of the shot you wouldn't have to guess where those corners should be because you'd be working with a 3d image plane that keeps the aspect ratio true and you'd just have to change its starting orientation and scale to match your need.
Okay last one, the Merge node! (I know, how dare I go after this fan favorite). In the operation menu I'd really like an "under" or "behind" option that does just that and puts the FG under the BG, because sometimes that's just what you need. My current way to get this is to just use the "enable depth merge" option in the channels tab and then set the foreground offset to any negative number... Yeah I know this isn't the right use of this but, it works for now.