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  2. Blur TOP

    Blur TOP

    Summary

    The Blur TOP blurs the image with various kernel filters and radii. It can do multi-pass blurs and can do horizontal-only or vertical-only blurs.

    Use Pre-shrink when the blurs are high and you want to optimize performance.

    Tip: Filter Size is expressed in pixels. If you want resolution-independent blurs, use an expression like me.par.resolutionw/100 in the Filter Size parameter, which gives a 1% image blur.

    PythonIcon.pngblurTOP_Class


    Parameters - Blur Page

    Method method - ⊞ - Determines how the blur is applied.
    • Horizontal and Vertical horzandvert - Blur is applied in both x (horizontal) and y (vertical).
    • Horizontal horz - Blur is applied in x direction only.
    • Vertical vert - Blur is applied in y direction only.

    Type type - ⊞ - Determines the mathematical function used to create the blur.
    • Catmull-Rom catmull - A spline approximation to a Gaussian kernel. Gives sharper textures and more accurate edges.
    • Gaussian gaussian - A normal distribution where pixels at the center have more effect on the resulting pixel. Gaussian lacks sharpness but handles ringing and aliasing well.
    • Box box - Each pixel within the box is weighted evenly. Inexpensive and gives a "boxy" look.
    • Bartlette bartlette - A triangle filter. The weight of each pixel is a linear function of its distance from the center.
    • Sinc sinc - A sharpening filter. Some pixels contribute a negative weight to the result, artifacts may occur in the form of "ringing". Keeps small details and edges better than Gaussian.
    • Hanning hanning - A cosine approximation to a Gaussian kernel.
    • Blackman blackman - A higher order cosine approximation to a Gaussian kernel.

    Extend extend - ⊞ - Sets the extend conditions to determine what happens to the blur at the edge of the image.
    • Hold hold - The blur is clamped at the edges.
    • Repeat repeat - The blur is calculated as if the image was repeating (tiled - blurring at the bottom of image that would fall outside the image edges will appear at top of image).
    • Mirror mirror - The blur is calculated as if the image was mirrored and repeating.

    Pre-Shrink preshrink - Reduces the image's resolution before applying the blur.

    Filter Size size - The amount of blur in pixels. If you want a resolution-independent blur, use an expression like me.par.resolutionw/100 in this parameter (which would result in a 1% image blur).

    Sample Step offset - ⊞ - When sampling the image, this determines the distance from each pixel to the sample pixel. When units are set to pixels, it is the number of pixels away from the current pixel which is sampled to blur the image. A Sample Step of 3 would sample pixels 3 pixels away.
    • offset1 -
    • offset2 -

    Sample Step Unit offsetunit - Select between Pixel, Fraction, or Fraction Aspect as the units to use for the Sample Step parameter.

    Rotate Kernel rotate - Rotates the blur filter. More noticeable when Method is set to Horizontal.

    Dither dither - Enabling makes 8-bit blurs look smoother. This can help if the blur operation introduces banding or other unexpected artifacts.


    Parameters - Common Page

    Output Resolution outputresolution - ⊞ - quickly change the resolution of the TOP's data.
    • Use Input useinput - Uses the input's resolution.
    • Eighth eighth - Multiply the input's resolution by that amount.
    • Quarter quarter - Multiply the input's resolution by that amount.
    • Half half - Multiply the input's resolution by that amount.
    • 2X 2x - Multiply the input's resolution by that amount.
    • 4X 4x - Multiply the input's resolution by that amount.
    • 8X 8x - Multiply the input's resolution by that amount.
    • Fit Resolution fit - Fits the width and height to the resolution given below, while maintaining the aspect ratio.
    • Limit Resolution limit - The width and height are limited to the resolution given below. If one of the dimensions exceeds the given resolution, the width and height will be reduced to fit inside the given limits while maintaining the aspect ratio.
    • Custom Resolution custom - Enables the Resolution parameter below, giving direct control over width and height.
    Resolution resolution - ⊞ - Enabled only when the Resolution parameter is set to Custom Resolution. Some Generators like Constant and Ramp do not use inputs and only use this field to determine their size. The drop down menu on the right provides some commonly used resolutions.
    • W resolutionw -
    • H resolutionh -
    Resolution Menu resmenu - A drop-down menu with some commonly used resolutions.

    Use Global Res Multiplier resmult - Uses the Global Resolution Multiplier found in Edit>Preferences>TOPs. This multiplies all the TOPs resolutions by the set amount. This is handy when working on computers with different hardware specifications. If a project is designed on a desktop workstation with lots of graphics memory, a user on a laptop with only 64MB VRAM can set the Global Resolution Multiplier to a value of half or quarter so it runs at an acceptable speed. By checking this checkbox on, this TOP is affected by the global multiplier.

    Output Aspect outputaspect - ⊞ - Sets the image aspect ratio allowing any textures to be viewed in any size. Watch for unexpected results when compositing TOPs with different aspect ratios. (You can define images with non-square pixels using xres, yres, aspectx, aspecty where xres/yres != aspectx/aspecty.)
    • Use Input useinput - Uses the input's aspect ratio.
    • Resolution resolution - Uses the aspect of the image's defined resolution (ie 512x256 would be 2:1), whereby each pixel is square.
    • Custom Aspect custom - Lets you explicitly define a custom aspect ratio in the Aspect parameter below.
    Aspect aspect - ⊞ - Use when Output Aspect parameter is set to Custom Aspect.
    • Aspect1 aspect1 -
    • Aspect2 aspect2 -
    Aspect Menu armenu - A drop-down menu with some commonly used aspect ratios.

    Input Smoothness inputfiltertype - ⊞ - This controls pixel filtering on the input image of the TOP.
    • Nearest Pixel nearest - Uses nearest pixel or accurate image representation. Images will look jaggy when viewing at any zoom level other than Native Resolution.
    • Interpolate Pixels linear - Uses linear filtering between pixels. This is how you get TOP images in viewers to look good at various zoom levels, especially useful when using any Fill Viewer setting other than Native Resolution.
    • Mipmap Pixels mipmap - Uses mipmap filtering when scaling images. This can be used to reduce artifacts and sparkling in moving/scaling images that have lots of detail.
    Fill Viewer fillmode - ⊞ - Determine how the TOP image is displayed in the viewer.

    NOTE:To get an understanding of how TOPs work with images, you will want to set this to Native Resolution as you lay down TOPs when starting out. This will let you see what is actually happening without any automatic viewer resizing.

    • Use Input useinput - Uses the same Fill Viewer settings as it's input.
    • Fill fill - Stretches the image to fit the edges of the viewer.
    • Fit Horizontal width - Stretches image to fit viewer horizontally.
    • Fit Vertical height - Stretches image to fit viewer vertically.
    • Fit Best best - Stretches or squashes image so no part of image is cropped.
    • Fit Outside outside - Stretches or squashes image so image fills viewer while constraining it's proportions. This often leads to part of image getting cropped by viewer.
    • Native Resolution nativeres - Displays the native resolution of the image in the viewer.
    Viewer Smoothness filtertype - ⊞ - This controls pixel filtering in the viewers.
    • Nearest Pixel nearest - Uses nearest pixel or accurate image representation. Images will look jaggy when viewing at any zoom level other than Native Resolution.
    • Interpolate Pixels linear - Uses linear filtering between pixels. Use this to get TOP images in viewers to look good at various zoom levels, especially useful when using any Fill Viewer setting other than Native Resolution.
    • Mipmap Pixels mipmap - Uses mipmap filtering when scaling images. This can be used to reduce artifacts and sparkling in moving/scaling images that have lots of detail.
    Passes npasses - Duplicates the operation of the TOP the specified number of times. Making this larger than 1 is essentially the same as taking the output from each pass, and passing it into the first input of the node and repeating the process. Other inputs and parameters remain the same for each pass.

    Channel Mask chanmask - Allows you to choose which channels (R, G, B, or A) the TOP will operate on. All channels are selected by default.

    Pixel Format format - ⊞ - Format used to store data for each channel in the image (ie. R, G, B, and A). Refer to Pixel Formats for more information.
    • Use Input useinput - Uses the input's pixel format.
    • 8-bit fixed (RGBA) rgba8fixed - Uses 8-bit integer values for each channel.
    • sRGB 8-bit fixed (RGBA) srgba8fixed - Uses 8-bit integer values for each channel and stores color in sRGB colorspace.
    • 16-bit float (RGBA) rgba16float - Uses 16-bits per color channel, 64-bits per pixel.
    • 32-bit float (RGBA) rgba32float - Uses 32-bits per color channel, 128-bits per pixels.
    • 10-bit RGB, 2-bit Alpha, fixed (RGBA) rgb10a2fixed - Uses 10-bits per color channel and 2-bits for alpha, 32-bits total per pixel.
    • 16-bit fixed (RGBA) rgba16fixed - Uses 16-bits per color channel, 64-bits total per pixel.
    • 11-bit float (RGB), Positive Values Only rgba11float - A RGB floating point format that has 11 bits for the Red and Green channels, and 10-bits for the Blue Channel, 32-bits total per pixel (therefore the same memory usage as 8-bit RGBA). The Alpha channel in this format will always be 1. Values can go above one, but can't be negative. ie. the range is [0, infinite).
    • 16-bit float (RGB) rgb16float -
    • 32-bit float (RGB) rgb32float -
    • 8-bit fixed (Mono) mono8fixed - Single channel, where RGB will all have the same value, and Alpha will be 1.0. 8-bits per pixel.
    • 16-bit fixed (Mono) mono16fixed - Single channel, where RGB will all have the same value, and Alpha will be 1.0. 16-bits per pixel.
    • 16-bit float (Mono) mono16float - Single channel, where RGB will all have the same value, and Alpha will be 1.0. 16-bits per pixel.
    • 32-bit float (Mono) mono32float - Single channel, where RGB will all have the same value, and Alpha will be 1.0. 32-bits per pixel.
    • 8-bit fixed (RG) rg8fixed - A 2 channel format, R and G have values, while B is 0 always and Alpha is 1.0. 8-bits per channel, 16-bits total per pixel.
    • 16-bit fixed (RG) rg16fixed - A 2 channel format, R and G have values, while B is 0 always and Alpha is 1.0. 16-bits per channel, 32-bits total per pixel.
    • 16-bit float (RG) rg16float - A 2 channel format, R and G have values, while B is 0 always and Alpha is 1.0. 16-bits per channel, 32-bits total per pixel.
    • 32-bit float (RG) rg32float - A 2 channel format, R and G have values, while B is 0 always and Alpha is 1.0. 32-bits per channel, 64-bits total per pixel.
    • 8-bit fixed (A) a8fixed - An Alpha only format that has 8-bits per channel, 8-bits per pixel.
    • 16-bit fixed (A) a16fixed - An Alpha only format that has 16-bits per channel, 16-bits per pixel.
    • 16-bit float (A) a16float - An Alpha only format that has 16-bits per channel, 16-bits per pixel.
    • 32-bit float (A) a32float - An Alpha only format that has 32-bits per channel, 32-bits per pixel.
    • 8-bit fixed (Mono+Alpha) monoalpha8fixed - A 2 channel format, one value for RGB and one value for Alpha. 8-bits per channel, 16-bits per pixel.
    • 16-bit fixed (Mono+Alpha) monoalpha16fixed - A 2 channel format, one value for RGB and one value for Alpha. 16-bits per channel, 32-bits per pixel.
    • 16-bit float (Mono+Alpha) monoalpha16float - A 2 channel format, one value for RGB and one value for Alpha. 16-bits per channel, 32-bits per pixel.
    • 32-bit float (Mono+Alpha) monoalpha32float - A 2 channel format, one value for RGB and one value for Alpha. 32-bits per channel, 64-bits per pixel.


    Operator Inputs

    • Input 0: -


    Info CHOP Channels

    Extra Information for the Blur TOP can be accessed via an Info CHOP.

    Common TOP Info Channels

    • resx - Horizontal resolution of the TOP in pixels.
    • resy - Vertical resolution of the TOP in pixels.
    • aspectx - Horizontal aspect of the TOP.
    • aspecty - Vertical aspect of the TOP.
    • depth - Depth of 2D or 3D array if this TOP contains a 2D or 3D texture array.
    • gpu_memory_used - Total amount of texture memory used by this TOP.

    Common Operator Info Channels

    • total_cooks - Number of times the operator has cooked since the process started.
    • cook_time - Duration of the last cook in milliseconds.
    • cook_frame - Frame number when this operator was last cooked relative to the component timeline.
    • cook_abs_frame - Frame number when this operator was last cooked relative to the absolute time.
    • cook_start_time - Time in milliseconds at which the operator started cooking in the frame it was cooked.
    • cook_end_time - Time in milliseconds at which the operator finished cooking in the frame it was cooked.
    • cooked_this_frame - 1 if operator was cooked this frame.
    • warnings - Number of warnings in this operator if any.
    • errors - Number of errors in this operator if any.


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