Instantiate nodes and improve node group editing.

Continuing with some of the reflections presented in the Portals for Nodes proposal blender.community/c/rightclickselect/LMgbbc/

I open a new suggestion trying to address the following problems that hinder the understanding of node trees.

PROBLEMS

• Problem A: Long distance connections.
• Problem B: Too many connections
• Problem C: Too many reroutes
• Problem D: Poor and unintuitive group editing.

SOLUTIONS

• Solution A, PORTALS:

  As I mentioned before, connections that remain hidden until the portal is selected. Portals could also display attributes when selected.

• Solution B, VARIABLES IN NODES:

  Nodes with local and global input and output variables assignment. When selecting these nodes it would also be useful to visualize the relationship between the input and output values ​​with a thick wire when possible.

• Solution C, DUPLICATED NODES:

  Input nodes are commonly duplicated to expose group attributes. Framing all the input or output nodes when selecting one of them would mitigate highlighting all the inputs or outputs of the group to have an overview of what is being exposed.

"FINAL SOLUTION"

• Solution D, INSTANCED NODES AND NODE GROUPS:

  This option tries to use the GROUPS as ATTRIBUTE COLLECTORS, and for this it is required to be able to instantiate them apart from duplicating them as before, and to improve their editing, therefore improving the workflow. Any node should be able to instantiate.

What is an instantiation of a node?

It is like a common duplicate but with identical input and output connections between the instantiated nodes. The wiring is only shown on one of the instances, in the rest of instances show only the begining of the cables when approaching the connection point. To indicate the instantiated nodes, an icon can be added at the beginning of each instance, and when selecting one of the instances would show a cable connecting the nodes with the same instance.

To improve workflow with nodegroups it's need:

• Edition, through contextual menus, of the Node Groups from outside the node, from the cage (for now it is only possible to do it from the inside).

  - Edit Variable
  - Show / Hide Input
  - Show / Hide Outpus
  - New Input
  - New Output
  - New In / Out
  - Delete variable
  - Show only connected
  - Drag & Drop (to change its position on the stack)
  
  

• Create empty nodes, from which variables are assigned directly.

• Show the entries in two columns and be able to manage the visibility of the inputs and outputs.

  - All hidden Inputs and Outputs is equivalent to solution A (portals).
  - Hide Inputs or Outputs is equivalent to solution B (variables).
  - Showing only connected attributes is equivalent to solution C (duplicate Inputs).
  
  

• Improve the editing of nodes from within the group, in the side panel.

This is it for now XD, I think it can be a very versatile option.