Nodes behaviour and features

[Miguel Caamano]

Hi, 

I'd like to elaborate on three notes, about the workflows nodes, that have drawn my attention in the last few days.

First:

There is no way to "disable" nodes in the script. I know that must not seem prioritary, but when an extensive script populated with many nodes becomes buggy, disabling nodes for testing is the way to go.
All node-based systems offer this possibility to the user.

Second:

It seems that the nodes don't rearrange well when a intermediate node gets deleted or cut.
The default behaviour is to break the stream erasing the connection between the incoming and the dependant nodes on the graph, when, by default, the majority of nodes systems do connect dependencies with the dependant nodes. 

Nodes set with a bifurcation:

 

 

When the copy node gets erased:

 

<- Wrong behaviour

 

 

<- Right behaviour workflows should exhibit

 

This behaviour happens not only in bifurcations but also on single stream examples.

This "feature" can be specially painful when a node has many dependencies, like a multiple-format conversion.


Third:

In order to mitigate the second point of this post, and also a feature I'm missing a lot, It'd be advisable to create a "dot" node.
The majority of node systems provide with this special node type that allows to connect one node to many others in a simple way. And also serves 2 purposes:
1) allows to keep the graph tidy and easy to read
2) in case one node connected to many has to be replaced, it gets way easier.
 

Some Examples:

Unreal Engine:                                       Natron/Nuke:                                  Blender:
      

 

 

The "dot/reroute" node provides a lot of flexibility to the graph, speeds up the operation a great deal, and helps to make the graph way easier to read.

Thanks
Miguel.

[Cristobal Bolaños]

Hi Miguel!

Indeed, none of these features are developed in Mistika Workflows. 

I'll add them the feature request list. They will  be considered  it for discussion when our next R&D meeting takes place. 

Let us know if you have any more doubts.

 

Cheers,

Cristóbal