Since all Nodes have an output that provides all output values now, we now
never need to add an output from a Node derivative. These changes remove the
last of them and disable the ability to add more outputs from a derivative.
If Nodes only have the one output, we don't need to do so much differentiation
between them. Previous iteration used outputs as like a distinct function
within a Node (e.g. length output would return one result, buffer output would
produce a different result - each run different code to produce their results).
Now in this iteration, it's more accurate to say a Node is just one function
(which seems more appropriate for a node system anyway).
Since the nodes won't be holding any rendering data themselves in this system,
we may as well enforce some level of non-write access by setting all the
functions to const. They were already const-friendly, they just weren't
labelled as such.
Fixes a "pure virtual method" crash. The inputs will try to send invalidate
cache signals through the node while it's being destroyed if these are left
connected. There's no purpose to sending invalidate cache signals since any
nodes affected by this one will automatically invalidate the cache from its
outputs being disconnected and the node being destroyed so this shouldn't
cause issues.
NodeParams used to be destroyed automatically through the QObject system, but
now that NodeParams perform actions that access the parent Node object in
their destructor, the NodeParam destructor needs to be called before the Node
has been fully destroyed. By destroying explicitly in the Node destructor we
accomplish this.
It seems unwise to let NodeInputs take more than one value, but at times
it makes sense to create a list or array of inputs. This class will create
sub-parameters as an easy way to provide variable inputs while also enforcing
one connection per input parameter.
This is also the primary motivation for the previous commit (disambiguating
when a NodeParam's parent is a Node vs some other type).
Useful for detecting when a graph needs recompiling, in tandem with the
"InvalidateCache()" signal when necessary, this signal ripples through the
nodes when any of the connections change which will likely need handling by
the renderer.
Sometimes we'll be copying nodes without wanting to copy their connections,
since we'll want to connect them to equivalent copies rather than connecting
them to the same nodes the originals were connected to. We now have an extra
parameter to distinguish such operations.
commit
For testing the new iteration, the texture cache disk download was written
into the main thread instead of into the separate threads. Now they're back
in separate threads again.
Also I think some of these files probably should have been in the previous
commit.
Once again, conceptually this system should work, however it does not seem to
be the most efficient and it wouldn't surprise me if the multithreading was
eventually upgraded to an even more coherent system one day. However for
"core principles" this should be fairly decent.
The new rendering pipeline strives to simplify the nodes themselves as much
as possible and move much of the logic to an external rendering engine. This
change removes all of the responsibilities that no longer belong to the
nodes themselves and will soon be folded into the renderer.
itsmattkc