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SOP

OP SOP.png

See Category:SOPs for a full list of articles related to SOPs.

Surface Operators, also known as SOPs, are operators that can generate, import, modify and combine 3D surfaces (also called geometry). The surface types include 3D points, polygons, lines, particles, surfaces, spheres and meatballs. Particles and point clouds are now done primarily on the GPU using TOPs - see particlesGpu in the palette and components in the PointClouds folder of the palette.

See also: Geometry Detail, Point, Point List, Point Class, Primitive, Prims Class, Polygon, Vertex, SOP Class, SOP to DAT, Script SOP, Point Groups, Primitive Groups, Attributes.


Sweet 16 SOPsedit

The following 16 SOPs are commonly used, we recommend familiarizing yourself with them.

SOP Purpose Related SOP
Circle Circle, sphere, torus primitives. Sphere, Torus
Grid Grid, box, rectangle. Box, Rectangle
Merge Merge and delete. Object Merge, Delete
Copy Copy or replicate. Limit
Switch Switch or blend multi-inputs. Blend, Sequence Blend
Texture Apply texture coordinated to points or vertices. Material
Noise Apply noise, twist and deform. Twist, Deform
Transform Transform point positions. Script
DAT to DAT table to SOP points. Add
CHOP to CHOP channel samples to SOP points. Line
Trace Trace a TOP image to polygons. File In
Clip Clip and carve. Carve
Facet Facet, subdivide, convert. Subdivide, Convert
Particle Particles.
Sweep Sweep, skin, rails. Skin, Rails
Sort Sort and reorder.

Using SOPsedit

  • 3D geometry data, processed on CPU
  • FBX Import: .fbx importer, File In SOP - recommend importing geometry from more mature modelers
  • FBX Export: Right-click and select Save Geometry... In the File Browser that opens, change the file type to .fbx to create a FBX file of that geometry.

See Alsoedit

Category:SOPs
Geometry Detail
Primitive
Point