Domain length output

Hi all,

Perhaps this has been requested, but I wonder if a second output could be added to the Domain module that outputs the length of the domain - i.e. "b" input minus "a" input. Of course, it's easy enough to add a subtract component upstream to get the value, but I thought it might be a nice little convenience and make the layout cleaner. Same for the Domain2 components, two outputs, one for U and one for V.

If this is just idiotic, please feel free to ignore me... :-) --Mitch

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on March 5, 2010 at 8:50am

There has been a lot of talk about adding optional input and output parameters for many components. This is quite a major break of the Component SDK which is why I haven't given it much thought yet, but to me that would sound like an excellent way to solve issues like this.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Mitch Heynick on March 5, 2010 at 8:57am

OK, thanks, David! --M

Permalink Reply by Damien Alomar on March 5, 2010 at 11:36am

I really like the sound of that (although I understand how much extra work it really is). The reason being is that there are almost always inputs/outputs that aren't used, as well as additional component that could potentially be integrated into others. With the ability to turn some off/on it helps decrease the clutter and keep things more visually concise.

The other side of the coin is that you'd have to "know that their there" in order to use them and could cause quite a bit of confusion (...but I don't see that component/have that input)

Permalink Reply by taz on March 5, 2010 at 12:31pm

There could be a visual cue for multiple non-standard outputs, like a menu flyout.

Components could be displayed either as concise (with flyout) or expanded (showing everything).

Permalink Reply by Mitch Heynick on March 5, 2010 at 3:42pm

Well, actually, I personally don't think they really need to be optional, I was just hoping to have them. The issue of potential component input/output clutter doesn't bother me nearly as much as playing field clutter... And I do think that optional inputs will cause come confusion, so personally, I would opt for always visible ones. I wonder if components that need a lot of inputs/outputs shouldn't be either handled with a simple and a complex component (2 different objects) or with something like how the meshing options are currently handled for extreme cases (a pluggable "more options" component)... --Mitch

Permalink Reply by Andres Gonzalez on March 5, 2010 at 1:27pm

I like that idea Mitch as well as being able to set one or both values of the domains of the Slider parameters. Some times I find the minimum and some times the maximum, it would be great to set those values into the Slider Parameter too.

Permalink Reply by Ognek Kciroks on June 20, 2011 at 4:39am