I want to bring back to attention the first time we used the term “Checkpoint”:
(slighly updated to use Simulation nodes instead of solver, and to separate cache from baking)
June 2021 - Checkpoints / Baking
- Simulation Nodes can be baked (to disk).
- The nodetree can be frozen (baked to disk or file?), edited, and continue with more nodes.
- Both concepts are interchangeable, where we can get a node that reads from disk (vdb, alembic, …) that can work the same way as if I had simulation nodes connected to the tree.
- Freezing can be for a “frame” too, not necessarily for the entire sequence.
May 2023
For me, the strength of check-point was that from the user point of view it doesn’t matter whether the simulation is baked, or a few nodes are frozen. Conceptually the same thing is happening:
- Part of the node tree has a “check-point” where the computation starts from that point onwards.
- Those “check-points” can be turned off so the live-data is used again.
I saw said concept as a way to unify both needs (simulation and freezing the tree) in the same high-level concept. If the “check-point” is just something that happens orthogonal to simulation baking I think it is just a freeze node. And there is no need to try to invent a new concept here.
I still see some benefit from the 2021 design though. It would need a fresh pass to include the ideas Jacques presented here, and what we know about the simulation nodes.