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Palette:pointGenerator

Summary

The pointGenerator COMP produces an image with random point cloud data stored in the RGBA channels. The distribution of the points can be controlled using the Shape, Scale and other parameters. By default, the alpha channel is set to one so that it can be used as an Active or Mask channel in other components; however, it can also be generating randomly as a 4th dimension. The width and height of the output image are set to be a square large enough to contain the chosen number of points. A Palette:pointRepack component can be used to resize the image if needed.

PythonIcon.pngPalette:pointGenerator Ext


Parameters - Point Generator Page

Help Help - Opens this page.

Version Version - The current version of the component.

Num Points Numpoints - The number of points to generate. The number of points determines the size of the output image. The maximum number of points is limited by the maximum size of texture supported by the graphics card e.g. approx 256 million points for a 16k x 16k texture.

Shape Shape - - The type of volume to fill with randomized point data.

  • Sphere sphere - Point data will be contained inside a sphere with a radius of 1.
  • Cube cube - Point data will be contained inside a cube that extends from -1 to 1 in all axes.
  • Sphere Surface spheresurf - Point data will be distributed on the surface of a sphere with a radius of 1.
  • Cube Surface cubesurf - Point data will be distributed on the surface of a cube that extends from -1 to 1 in all axes.

Center Center - - Applies an offset to all generated points. By default, XYZ are centered at zero and the Alpha channel is centered at 1.

  • Center Center1 -
  • Center Center2 -
  • Center Center3 -
  • Center Center4 -

Scale Scale - - Squashes or stretches the shape of the generated point cloud. For example, setting the X scale to 2 for a Cube Shape, will mean that X values range from -2 to 2.

  • Scale Scale1 -
  • Scale Scale2 -
  • Scale Scale3 -
  • Scale Scale4 -

Grid Grid - - Duplicates the basic point cloud shape in the given dimension. For example, setting the X grid to 2 with default settings for everything else, will create two spheres of radius one side by side. Note: Changing the grid size does not affect the number of points generated. So, each sphere in a 2x2x2 grid of spheres will have 1/8th the points as a sphere with the grid values all set to 1.

  • Grid Grid1 -
  • Grid Grid2 -
  • Grid Grid3 -
  • Grid Grid4 -

Randomness Randomness - - Controls how random the points are within the chosen volume. A value of zero means there will be no randomness and all points will be located at the centre. A value of one means the points will be evenly distributed within the shape. Note: the method used to generate the random numbers can be changed by opening the component and adjusting the Type parameter of the Noise TOP.

  • Randomness Randomness1 -
  • Randomness Randomness2 -
  • Randomness Randomness3 -
  • Randomness Randomness4 -

Random Seed Randomseed - Change this value to generate a different set of points within the same cloud dimensions.


Operator Outputs

  • Output 0 - An output image containing the randomized point data. The size of the image is determined by the number of points selected. If a different size is needed, use a Palette:pointRepack component.

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