Consolidate node editors

[trevor.adams]

(Copied from original User Voice forum)

"...have a single node editor instead of having a hypergraph, hypershade and a node editor and oh yeah.. a node connections editor"

"Consolidating everything into the Node Editor is the way to go. I don't know anyone who still uses the Hypergraph.

The only thing I use the Hypershade for is to deal with the upper tab groups, organizing, assigning, and generally dealing with shaders, textures, shading groups, etc. It would be amazing if that was integrated into into the Node Editor and I think there are definitely some improvements that could be made to how shaders, textures, etc. are organized and renamed and so on. Making it easier to see full shader names, easier to rename shaders, better list view that lets you list shaders with lots of different info columns with the ability to sort using different columns."

"I always thought it would be best to show dag hierarchies using special connection lines in the hypershade. So, why not implement that in the node editor?

It would be also very nice if all different node types could be shown an hidden like in the viewport.

I would also like the possibility to rotate selections of nodes in the hypershade so I could arrange them properly. Implement that in the node editor!"

[peerke88]

some extra features that would be nice
- being able to go into or expand a container node

- collapse nodes into a single node

[jwlove]

Speaking as someone who primarily does rigging, I would rather the hypershade be revamped to better suit a texture artist and/or lighter's needs and maybe bring in some concepts from the node editor...  I don't really want the node editor loaded down with a bunch of stuff to turn it into a hypershade.  The node editor does one thing: shows nodes and their connections, while allowing you to move stuff around and adjust those connections easily.  It does have issues and needs some work, but updates should be about making the node editor function better instead of infusing other tools into it.

Perhaps the updated hypershade could have a node editor window embedded into it?  Similar to how the current hypershade has the top portion with the existing materials and the lower section that is the work area - that work area could be a node editor within the hypershade itself...

[johnkeates2865]

I agree that it is good to have a separate node editor and shading window, but it does annoy me that I have to dig around in options to get it so I can hook shaders up to controls etc. No nodes should be arbitrarily hidden from view as the idea that shading nodes and rigging nodes are in different worlds disappeared about 15 years ago surely?

[NateLikesTea]

I agree with JohnKeates' and jwlove's concerns-- if all the editors are combined into one, at least have some sort of UI mode to switch between shading vs rigging "modes" ? ... but all nodes should still be available for use as there's a ton of crossover between the two...