Create editable custom area type
Just an idea: have the possibility to create a full empty window with the Python API: empty panel, empty tool shelf and empty central canvas that could be draw in OpenGL with bgl and blf.
Custom window is already possible with a Python GUI framework like PyQt but it have a very different behavior and is not well integrated into Blender. Having custom area types will enable better customization without additional libraries.
3 Comments
Custom editors were in the plans quite a long time ago. They just never got the design and development love needed to actually get them implemented.
Of course, this does open a bit of a "Pandora's Box." We already have difficulties with add-on developers creating tabs and sections that are walled-off on their own and not well-integrated into Blender. The existence of custom editors has a real potential to exacerbate that problem. It would be nice if the design for custom editors would incorporate some way to mitigate this issue.
Yes of course this could lead to very different workflow between scripts. However, I'm not sure that's a real issue. Like you say, this is already the case right now, but the only scripts for which the behavior matters are the ones that are bundled with Blender.
Purpose of scripting is not always to be shared but to adapt workflow for each project. I'm currently working on an animated feature film and we use Blender for some tasks with scripts I made to use Blender with tools that are already made in that company. Blender should be (and is already!) flexible enough to be adapted in several situations.
I didn't know that it was in plans a long time ago and I unfortunately don't have the technical skill to help developing that area!
So what's really stopping this from happening? Is it just someone to code it?
This might be a good opportunity for BForArtist to take the lead here.
There are a lot of things like this in the Ui that cause people to shy away from Blender.
Just try creating a custom floating panel that stays open all the time. Oh, wait from memory Blender can't do that. The only thing that does that is an area.
The list goes on and on. If a TD can't make a simple floating window that can stay open in python then that's kind of a problem.
And good reason for studios not adopting Blender. If people in the foundation want to retire one day then they may need to start thinking a little bit wider.