Questions about pointers

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wasd
Posts: 319
Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2018 7:20 pm

Questions about pointers

Post by wasd »

I have a questions about pointers:
1) is it possible to restrict selection to a certain type (e.g. show in list only volume/texture/material nodes) if output of pointer is connected to a certain input?
po1.jpg
like show here only volume nodes
`
2) is it possible to have search in pointer drop-down list instead of hotkeys?
po2.png
like this
CPU Bidir + Metropolis | Core i5-4570
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B.Y.O.B.
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Re: Questions about pointers

Post by B.Y.O.B. »

Both are possible, not sure if the first suggestions makes a lot of sense, I would instead make some filter buttons so you could filter for all/materials/volumes/textures.
You can create an issue on github so I can remember this at some point in the future (or maybe someone else implements it).
Racleborg
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Re: Questions about pointers

Post by Racleborg »

Hi

I have another Pointer question:

What does the SHOW button do when used for Materials? When used for Textures it immediately shows the node tree, but when used for Materials it doesn't appear to be doing anything.

Thanks (files attached)
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Pointer Question.blend
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Pointer 'Show'.PNG
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B.Y.O.B.
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Re: Questions about pointers

Post by B.Y.O.B. »

The problem is that the material node editor automatically switches to the node tree of the active material. You might have noticed that if you select one object after another, the material nodes change as well, always showing the nodes of the active object.
So technically the button works, but it switches back to the original node tree so fast that you don't see a change.
You can turn off the auto-detection by pinning the node tree (small pin button in the node editor menu bar) - if you do this, the show button works.

I think I could automatically pin the node tree if the user clicks on the show button in a material node tree, but I think this would also cause confusion because suddenly the auto detection doesn't work anymore and the user doesn't know why. Not sure what's the best way to solve this.
Attachments
The pin button is the second from the right.
The pin button is the second from the right.
2019-01-28_11-26-32.png (6.07 KiB) Viewed 2195 times
Racleborg
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Re: Questions about pointers

Post by Racleborg »

B.Y.O.B

Thank you for your explanation.

Just switching the PIN switch is fine with me (just tried it) and I'll use that method from here on in. :)

Thanks again
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