I’d like to get some feedback on how (if possible) and where (Mesh Modifier??, NodeTree??, Global??) Fabric Engine could be integrated into Blender.
It’s basically a C++ library that has a scripting like language (KL) that can be used to perform various 3D tasks. Fabric Engine internally maintains a graph to represent functional components that should be processed. Think of it as a broader spectrum of ICE in Softimage.
If this is something that would need expert level skills, could it possible be a GSOC target?
FabricEngine is a commercial product and not open source (and not gpl-compatible). This means it’s not possible at this time to integrate Fabric Engine into Blender.
I dont think I understand your point. No commercial source is involved, its just the invocation at the interface level. Think Vray for Blender. You create a mechanism to interact with the commercial product, which in itself doesnt prevent distribution.
I would donate to get this to work!!! Since Softimage is closing down I’m just realizing how much I depend on ICE for my daily workflow. There is some interesting stuff going on in Blender, but I don’t think that it will ever match ICE’s possibilities.
Fabric Engine Splice is the way to go! http://fabricengine.com/splice/
Lot’s of cool tools will be devoloped for it, or you can do it yourself (small stuff I used in my daily ICE-workflow).
They give away free licenses to individual, and two free lics to studios. So I think lots of people using Blender would benefit from that. Not to mention all the people not using Blender, will take another look when it’s open to Fabric!
We should find out what it costs to get a proper implementation, and then start a fundraiser!
My two cent.
Funny thing is, they have a Python extension for FabricEngine, but its at Python 2.7, so you cant load it in Blender. I’ve asked for a Python 3.3 version compile, so we’ll see how that goes.
Blender has an excellent Node GUI framework, it would be really easy to get a visual programming GUI going with it.
Edit: When I asked for a Python 3 compile, I got blasted with…“Who the heck uses Python 3 anyway!?”