Phaser CHOP
Summary
The Phaser CHOP does staggered (time-offset) animation interpolation. Phaser outputs one channel with multi-samples. Each sample animates from 0 to 1 over a cycle, but each sample value rises from 0 and arrives at 1 at different times.
For example, you may have a set of N objects that you want to animate from a start position to an end position. You set Num Samples to N, which will make the Phaser CHOP output one channel with N samples that will animate the samples from 0 to 1 and be interpolated with an easing function. In the Phaser CHOP the start-to-end cycle is controlled by the first input of the CHOP, which is expected to be one channel with value between 0 to 1.
The 0-1 values can be used with the Lookup CHOP to animate groups of channels.
By default the timing is staggered uniformly. If you want to stagger their transitions irregularly, you use the second input, a set of values in one CHOP channel (typically N samples) that are between 0 and 1. The phase value specifies the object's timing relationship with the rest of those in the CHOP. A phase value of 1 corresponds to an animated object thats "ahead of the pack" (ie. it will start animating before the others). A value of 0 corresponds to an object that is late (ie. it will be the last to start easing/animating). If a phase input is not provided then the phase will simply be i/N where N is the total number of objects (ie. samples), and i is the index of the current sample.
There is also a notion of an "Edge" in the Phaser, which describes the cohesiveness of the group of animated objects and how fast the samples rise. A small value will cause the objects to go through the animation very quickly or at high value, very slowly and in unison with other samples.
Look at David Braun's TouchDesigner Summit Talk to see the background of the Phaser CHOP. Its functionality draws heavily from David's research and development in quantitative easing.
See also the OP Snippets.
Parameters - Phaser Page
edge
- The separation edge of the phasing between two states. A smaller edge corresponds to sharper separation according to differences in phase. Edge Parameter will not be used if there is an Edge Input.
nsamples
- Specify the size of the output. This parameter will not be used if there is a phase input.
outputformat
- ⊞ - Specifies the format of the output.
- Multi-Samples
samples
- Multiple samples in a channel.
- Multi-Channel
channels
- Multiple channels.
Parameters - Common Page
timeslice
- Turning this on forces the channels to be "Time Sliced". A Time Slice is the time between the last cook frame and the current cook frame.
scope
- To determine which channels get affected, some CHOPs use a Scope string on the Common page. See Pattern Matching.
srselect
- ⊞ - Handle cases where multiple input CHOPs' sample rates are different. When Resampling occurs, the curves are interpolated according to the Interpolation Method Option, or "Linear" if the Interpolate Options are not available.
- Resample At First Input's Rate
first
- Use rate of first input to resample others.
- Resample At Maximum Rate
max
- Resample to the highest sample rate.
- Resample At Minimum Rate
min
- Resample to the lowest sample rate.
- Error If Rates Differ
err
- Doesn't accept conflicting sample rates.
exportmethod
- ⊞ - This will determine how to connect the CHOP channel to the parameter. Refer to the Export article for more information.
- DAT Table by Index
datindex
- Uses the docked DAT table and references the channel via the index of the channel in the CHOP.
- DAT Table by Name
datname
- Uses the docked DAT table and references the channel via the name of the channel in the CHOP.
- Channel Name is Path:Parameter
autoname
- The channel is the full destination of where to export to, such hasgeo1/transform1:tx
.
autoexportroot
- This path points to the root node where all of the paths that exporting by Channel Name is Path:Parameter are relative to.
exporttable
- The DAT used to hold the export information when using the DAT Table Export Methods (See above).
Operator Inputs
- Input 0: Time - The timing of the phase. When not wired the timing will default to an LFO ramp over 4 seconds. The CHOP should only contain one channel; all other channels except the first will be ignored.
- Input 1: Phase - When wired the Phaser CHOP's output will mirror the phase input's. However, if Mult-Channel Output Format is selected it will in effect transpose the output.
- Input 2: Edge - Edge samples will be used instead of the Edge parameter.
Info CHOP Channels
Extra Information for the Phaser CHOP can be accessed via an Info CHOP.
Common CHOP Info Channels
- start - Start of the CHOP interval in samples.
- length - Number of samples in the CHOP.
- sample_rate - The samplerate of the channels in frames per second.
- num_channels - Number of channels in the CHOP.
- time_slice - 1 if CHOP is Time Slice enabled, 0 otherwise.
- export_sernum - A count of how often the export connections have been updated.
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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