Direct Access to X/Y/Z Components
Give every vector and rotation socket, input and output, a small expand triangle. Clicking it exposes X, Y and Z as float sockets that can be linked directly, so Separate XYZ and Combine XYZ are no longer needed just to unpack and repack data. The mockup shows one input collapsed and one expanded. The parent socket stays connectable, and a link on it takes precedence over the component sockets, so collapsing and expanding never breaks an existing connection. Field heavy Geometry Nodes setups benefit most. A bounding box or axis threshold comparison currently needs two or three Separate XYZ nodes that carry no meaning of their own. Rotation sockets would expose Euler components. Since rotations are quaternion backed, that implies a conversion.
There is precedent: Unreal Blueprints offers "Split Struct Pin", Houdini VOPs expose component access on wires. This could be pure UI sugar, with an expanded socket serialising as a hidden Separate XYZ or Combine XYZ node. No change to evaluation, no file compatibility problem.
2 Comments
I'm not a fan of this idea, but this is personal preference. I like that a vector is a vector socket, a quaternion is a quaternion socket, and a matrix is a matrix socket, never muliple float inputs.
However, I agree on the idea splitting the input channels with combine nodes could be easier, maybe a faster option. Because drag clicking + typing or searching "Combine XYZ" or another combine, is not really slow, but we could all benefit from a fast and intuitive way to do so.
Maybe :
Shift + Cor something like that, and it instantly pops up a combine node with the corresponding socket data type (however from Matrix, you can either Combine Matrix or Combine transform, which is not ideal for a fast workflow)This is all I can think of! Again, not a bad idea at all, I just believe the design proposal does not fit quite well current blender's philosophy and am trying to think of other similar ideas just in case it can help.
Unreal engine 4 blueprint use a right-click split or merge components to convert vector to tuple of three float directly in the node without having to add extra node. I agree the triangle or right-click to internalize the merge/split would be of great benefit to avoid losing time and nodal space.