Close

Privacy policy

Follow us

https://www.instagram.com/touchdesigner/
https://www.facebook.com/TouchDesigner
https://twitter.com/1null1
https://www.youtube.com/TouchDesignerOfficial
All
User Guide
Forum
Tutorials
Events & Workshops
Features
Community
Showcase
Resources
  1. Home
  2. Video Device Out TOP

    Video Device Out TOP

    Summary

    The Video Device Out TOP routes video to output devices using their native driver libraries.

    Devices currently supported:

    See also Video Device In TOP.

    PythonIcon.pngvideodeviceoutTOP_Class


    Parameters - Device Out Page

    Active active - Enable or disable the output card.

    Library library - ⊞ - Select the driver library to use.
    • Blackmagic blackmagic - Supports driver version 12.x
    • BlueFish444 bluefish444 -
    • AJA aja -
    • Deltacast deltacast -

    Device device - ⊞ - A menu of available video devices to output to. Set the Library parameter above prior to selecting your device.
    • DeckLink 8K Pro (1) V1 -

    Signal Format signalformat - The signal format to output at. This is the resolution and the frame rate, as well as if the frames are progressive or interlaced. Note that when using an interlaced format, the rate refers to fields per second.

    Output Pixel Format outputpixelformat - ⊞ - Set the pixel format of the output when possible (depends what type of device is used). Data may be converted to YUV colorspace depending on what the device and settings require.
    • 8-bit RGB fixed8 - 8-bit color data, no alpha channel.
    • 8-bit + 8-bit Key (Alpha) fixed8key8 - 8-bit color data and 8-bit alpha. This usually means SDI cables where one cable will be the color data and one cable will be the alpha data.
    • 10-bit RGB fixed10 - 10-bit color data, no alpha.
    • 12-bit fixed12 -

    Output Color Space outputcolorspace - ⊞ - Set the color space of the data sent out, for supported devices.
    •  yuv422 - YUV 4:2:2. This is the most common color space to send data over SDI wires. It requires lower bandwidth than RGB 4:4:4, but results in some information loss.
    •  rgb444 - RGB 4:4:4. This is RGB values taken directly from the TOP without any colorspace conversion (except for possibly pixel format). This requires more bandwidth but doesn't suffer from the information loss that YUV 4:2:2 has.

    Audio CHOP chop - If you want to embed audio data into the output, put the path to a Time Sliced CHOP here.

    Reference Source referencesource - ⊞ - On AJA devices what input to use as a reference source input.
    • Default default -
    • External Ref In external -
    • SDI Input 1 sdi1 -
    • SDI Input 2 sdi2 -
    • SDI Input 3 sdi3 -
    • SDI Input 4 sdi4 -
    • SDI Input 5 sdi5 -
    • SDI Input 6 sdi6 -
    • SDI Input 7 sdi7 -
    • SDI Input 8 sdi8 -

    Audio CHOP audiochop - If you want to embed audio data into the output, put the path to a Time Sliced CHOP here.

    Buffer Length bufferlength - The length in seconds to buffer the audio data, to avoid crackles and pops.

    Audio Bit Depth audiobitdepth - ⊞ - Describes the number of bits of information used for each sample.
    • 16-Bit 16bit -
    • 32-Bit 32bit -

    Manual Field Control manualfield - When outputting interlaced video if you are using a source video that is also interlaced, it's likely you'll want to make sure you are keeping the odd/even fields in sync, otherwise the video will look stuttery. You can use the 'odd_field' value in the Info CHOP on the Movie File In TOP or Video Device In TOP to know if the current frame is the odd field or the even field. In general the odd field is the first frame, so you use this value in the First Field parameter to tell the Video Device Out TOP that the current frame is the first field. On the next frame you would put this value to 0 (which is also what the 'odd_frame' will go to) to tell the Video Device Out TOP that the current frame is the 2nd frame, and you now have a complete frame to output. Deinterlacing should be enabled on the Video Device In or Movie File In TOP, so that fields are fed into the network one at a time.

    First Field firstfield - Tells the Video Device Out TOP if the current frame being given as it's input is the First or Second field in the final output image, when outputting an interlaced video. Look at the description for Manual Field Control for more information.

    Timecode Object/CHOP/DAT timecodeop - Embed timecode into the output. A reference to either a CHOP with channels 'hour', 'second', 'minute', 'frame', a DAT with a timecode string in its first cell, or a Timecode Class object.

    Transfer Mode transfermode - ⊞ - Controls how the image data is transfered between the GPU and the output card.
    • Automatic automatic - Will choose the best transfer mode for the components installed on the computer. It will choose 'Pinned' when possible, since that is the best performance.
    • Default default - Transfer will be done in 3 stages. GPU to CPU memory. CPU memory to driver memory. Driver memory to output card.
    • Pinned pinned - Transfer will be done in 2 stages. GPU to driver memory. Driver memory to output card.

    Sync Outputs syncoutputs - Only currently supported on the Deltacast FLEX line of cards. This will cause multiple FLEX cards to output their content in sync with each other.

    Sync Group Index syncgroupindex - For different groups of cards, they can be ganged together into different sync groups by specifying the same index for multiple cards in the same group.

    Reset Stats resetstats - A pulse to reset the statistics in an attached Info CHOP.


    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 Video Device Out TOP can be accessed via an Info CHOP.

    Specific Video Device Out TOP Info Channels

    • connected - 1 if the device is connected/active, 0 if not.


    • play_speed - The play speed of the audio data. 1 if it's playing at normal speed, it'll be slightly faster or slower if it's needing to adjust the queue size to hit the target size.


    • dropped_frames - The number of frames drops from the output. These are frames that the output failed to provide new data for. If TD is running lower than the framerate the signal format is running at, this value should be increasing.


    • skipped_frames - These are frames that TD produced, but didn't get consumed by the output. This can be caused by the PCIe bandwidth (or the device) running slower than what is required for the data throughput/framerate.


    • late_frames - These are frames that were delivered to the card in time, but ended up getting shown later than expected. Usually only tracked on Blackmagic devices.


    • frame_queue_length - The number of video frames queued in software for output.


    • frame_hw_queue_length - The number of video frames queued in the device hardware for output.


    • audio_sw_buffer_length - The length of the audio buffer (in seconds) in software.


    • audio_hw_buffer_length - The length of the audio buffer (in seconds) in the device hardware.


    • genlocked - 1 if the card is known to be genlocked to an input, 0 if is card is not. -1 if it's not known.


    • last_dma_copy_time - The amount of time (in milliseconds) the last copy from the driver memory to the device took. -1 if it's not measured by this device type.

    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.


    TouchDesigner Build: