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  1. Home
  2. NDI Out TOP

    NDI Out TOP

    Summary

    The NDI Out TOP will send image and audio data over IP to other Newtek NDI® (Network Data Interface) enabled applications. The NDI® protocol is created by Newtek.

    See also NDI, NDI In TOP and NDI DAT.

    NOTE for Windows OS - If experiencing connection issues make sure Windows Firewall is disabled.

    PythonIcon.pngndioutTOP_Class


    Parameters - NDI Out Page

    Active active - Makes itself available as a source and sends out image data when active.

    Source Name name - Specify the name for this source.

    Failover Source Name failovername - If this source fails while receivers are connected to it, they will instead try to connect to the specified Failover Source. This format of this should be MACHINENAME (SourceName). This format is the same as you would see the source listed in the NDI In TOP.

    FPS fps - Specify the frame rate to send at. Note that NDI uses the FPS partially as a guide to control how to compress the frames. The higher the FPS, the more compressed the frames will be. So for example sending at 1 FPS will result in higher image quality that sending at 30 FPS.

    Low-Performance Behavior lowperformancebehavior - ⊞ - When the NDI sending thread isn't able to keep up due to insufficient system resources (usually available CPU time), this controls the resulting behavior of the node.
    • Stall Main Thread stallmainthread - The main thread will stall, giving up it's resources so the NDI sender can keep-up with the frames that are being sent. This will likely result in the main thread dropping frames.
    • Skip Frames skipframes - The main thread will not stall, and instead will not give the sender new frames until it has processed the ones it currently has. This can result in the NDI sender being starved of CPU time and running at a far lower FPS than the main thread.
    Output Pixel Format outputpixelformat - ⊞ - Controls the pixel format the output is encoded into.
    • 8-bit fixed8 - 8-bits fixed per color channel.
    • 16-bit fixed16 - 16-bit fixed per color channel.
    Include Alpha includealpha - Also sends the alpha channel when this is turned on. If this is off the alpha will be 1.0.

    Group Names Table grouptable - Can be DAT table with a column with the header 'groups'. Each cell listed under that heading is added as one of the NDI groups this output annouces itself as part of.

    Audio CHOP audiochop - Specify the CHOP (containing audio data) to send out on the NDI stream.

    Metadata DAT metadata - Specify the DAT (containing the metadata in table format or valid XML format) to send out on the NDI stream. The metadata can be read in by the NDI In TOP using an Info DAT.


    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 NDI Out TOP can be accessed via an Info CHOP.

    Specific NDI Out TOP Info Channels

    • num_connected - The number of receivers connected to this source.


    • last_send_time - Amount of time the sending thread took to send the last frame, in milliseconds.


    • skipped_frames - The total number of frames produced by TouchDesigner that didnt get sent out.

    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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