Canvas news: Difference between revisions

2,237 bytes added ,  4 November 2018
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→‎2018: add compositor update from August
m (→‎Aircraft Dialogs: https://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/flightgear-devel/thread/93862C87-0D3E-47BB-B169-8D3CBBF963B7%40kdab.com/#msg36194973)
m (→‎2018: add compositor update from August)
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== 2018 ==
== 2018 ==
=== Compositor ===
{{Main article|Compositor}}
[[File:Compositor-08-2018.png|right|thumb|A screenshot showing post-processed gaussian blur and a blue filter:[https://i.imgur.com/Zzxre8a.png]]]
has been working on and off on multi-pass rendering support for
FlightGear since late 2017. It went through several iterations and
design changes, but he think it's finally on the right track. It's
heavily based on the Ogre3D Compositor and inspired by many
data-driven rendering pipelines. Its features include:
* Completely independent of other parts of the simulator, i.e. it's part of SimGear and can be used in a standalone fashion if needed, ala Canvas.
* Although independent, its aim is to be fully compatible with the current rendering framework in FG. This includes the Effects system, CameraGroup, Rembrandt and ALS (and obviously the Canvas).
* Its functionality overlaps Rembrandt: what can be done with Rembrandt can be done with the Compositor, but not vice versa.
* Fully configurable via a XML interface without compromising performance (ala Effects, using PropertyList files).
* Optional at compile time to aid merge request efforts.
* Flexible, expandable and compatible with modern graphics.
* It doesn't increase the hardware requirements, it expands the hardware range FG can run on. People with integrated GPUs (Intel HD etc) can run a Compositor with a single pass that renders directly to the screen like before, while people with more powerful cards can run a Compositor that implements deferred rendering, for example.
Unlike Rembrandt, the Compositor makes use of scene graph cameras
instead of viewer level cameras.
This allows CameraGroup to manage windows, near/far cameras and other
slaves without interfering with what is being rendered
(post-processing, shadows...).
The Compositor is in an usable state right now: it works but there are
no effects or pipelines developed for it. There are also some bugs and
features that don't work as expected because of some hardcoded
assumptions in the FlightGear Viewer code. Still, I think it's time to
announce it so people much more knowledgeable than me can point me in
the right direction to get this upstream and warn me about possible
issues and worries. :)
=== Aircraft Dialogs ===
=== Aircraft Dialogs ===
Some of you may already know that the current tool to generate the dialogs ([[PUI]]) is going to disappear in the mid-future. After some (partially controversial) discussion, there seems now to be some support for the idea that canvas is a good tool to generate aircraft-specific dialogs in the future <ref>https://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/flightgear-devel/thread/93862C87-0D3E-47BB-B169-8D3CBBF963B7%40kdab.com/#msg36194973</ref> (as it allows to tailor the dialog closely to the plane and also, canvas being canvas, the UI can smoothly mesh with the 3d models, so you can project a canvas checklist onto a 3d model in sim for instance rather than a popup window).
Some of you may already know that the current tool to generate the dialogs ([[PUI]]) is going to disappear in the mid-future. After some (partially controversial) discussion, there seems now to be some support for the idea that canvas is a good tool to generate aircraft-specific dialogs in the future <ref>https://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/flightgear-devel/thread/93862C87-0D3E-47BB-B169-8D3CBBF963B7%40kdab.com/#msg36194973</ref> (as it allows to tailor the dialog closely to the plane and also, canvas being canvas, the UI can smoothly mesh with the 3d models, so you can project a canvas checklist onto a 3d model in sim for instance rather than a popup window).