Blender Git Commit Log

Cycles: persistent images option

This option enables keeping loaded images in the memory in-between
of rendering.

Implemented by keeping render engine alive for until Render structure
is being freed.

Cycles will free all data when render finishes, optionally keeping
image manager untouched. All shaders, meshes, objects will be
re-allocated next time rendering happens.

Cycles cession and scene will be re-created from scratch if render/
scene parameters were changed.

This will also allow to keep compiled OSL shaders in memory without
need to re-compile them again.

P.S. Performance panel could be cleaned up a bit, not so much happy
with it's vertical alignment currently but not sure how to make
it look better.

P.P.S. Currently the only way to free images from the device is to
disable Persistent Images option and start rendering.