The network editor already drops wire curves down to coarse polylines when you zoom far out, you can see them get visibly angular past a certain zoom. That threshold is internal though, so at normal working zoom you always get fully smooth splines whether you want them or not.
I’d like a preference to control it. Something like network.linksegments, an int, maybe 2 to 16, defaulted to whatever the current max is so nothing changes for anyone who doesn’t touch it.
- 2 gives a two-segment polyline with one bend
- 4 to 8 looks faceted, still readable
- default keeps the current look
If practical, also a pane.linkSegments on NetworkEditor alongside the existing pane.straightLinks, so it can be set per pane from Python.
The use case is mostly stylistic. The network editor gets projected, streamed, and screen-captured a lot in visual art and performance contexts, and straightLinks is a binary toggle between completely smooth and completely straight. The faceted look that already exists at extreme zoom looks great on its own, it’s just unreachable at working zoom.
My guess is the renderer already produces this shape, so it might mostly be a case of exposing the parameter rather than writing new logic. If the default matches the current max, no existing project changes.
Checked before posting: no wire or curve or segment preference under Edit > Preferences > Network, nothing on the NetworkEditor Python class except straightLinks, and dumping ui.preferences.defaults in the textport shows nothing wire or spline related.
Related but different: there’s an active thread on redesigning wire routing Less Spaghetti, More Flow | Rethinking Node Wiring in TD ). This one is separate. Same wires, same routing, just a knob
for how smooth the curves are drawn.