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This CHOP smooths or sharpens the input channels. It filters by combining each sample and a range of its neighbor samples to set the new value of that sample. Each filter type uses its own weighting factors for the neighboring samples. The Filter Width determines the number of neighbors to use.
This CHOP can filter both motion and sound, but other CHOPs are more appropriate for filtering sound (see the Pass Filter CHOP, Band EQ CHOP, and Parametric EQ CHOP).
Parameters ¶
Filter ¶
Type
There are 7 types of filters.
Gaussian
This filter has a Gaussian (normal or “bell” curve) shape that smooths the channel. It acts as a low pass filter. The wider the filter, the lower the cutoff frequency, resulting in smoother data.
Left Half Gaussian
This produces a lag on the channel. If the input channels represent values over time, this filter is seen as only using samples back in time from the current sample. For time-data, this is more realistic as you can not look ahead in time. It has a half-bell shape.
Box
This filter is box-shaped, meaning that each neighbor sample it uses has the same weighting factor. It can produce unwanted steps in the output channel because the effect of the samples at the extremes of the filter do not fade out as the window slides over the samples. It low-pass filters data, similar to the Gaussian filter.
Left Half Box
This filter produces a lag on the data, uses only samples back in time, and otherwise acts like a box filter.
Edge Detect
This filter detects “edges”, sharp changes in the input channels. It acts as a high pass filter. As the filter width is increased, more low frequencies are added.
De-spike
This filter removes “spikes” (samples more than `Spike Tolerance' above or below of the expected sample value). The filter width allows you to eliminate spikes that are several samples long. Wide filters will remove wide spikes (spikes of several samples) and small filters will only remove narrow spikes (one or two samples in length).
Effect
The extent to which the filter affects the channel (0 = not at all, 1 = maximum effect).
Filter Width
The amount of surrounding samples used in the calculation of the current sample. It is expressed in Units (in the Common page).
Spike Tolerance
For the De-spike filter type, this is the amount that a sample can differ from its neighbors without being considered a spike.
Number of Passes
The number of times the filter is applied to the channel.
Common ¶
Some of these parameters may not be available on all CHOP nodes.
Scope
To determine the channels that are affected, some CHOPs have a scope string. Patterns can be used in Scope, for example *
(match all), and ?
(match single character).
The following are examples of possible channel name matching options:
chan2
Matches a single channel name.
chan3 tx ty tz
Matches four channel names, separated by spaces.
chan*
Matches each channel that starts with chan
.
*foot*
Matches each channel that has foot
in it.
t?
The ?
matches a single character. t?
matches two-character channels starting with t.
blend[3-7:2]
Matches number ranges, giving blend3
, blend5
, and blend7
.
blend[2-3,5,13]
Matches channels blend2
, blend3
, blend5
, blend13
.
t[xyz]
[xyz]
matches three characters, giving channels tx
, ty
and tz
.
Sample Rate Match
The Sample Rate Match options handle cases where multiple input CHOPs’ sample rates are different.
Resample At First Input’s Rate
Use the rate of the first input to resample the others.
Resample At Maximum Rate
Resample to the highest sample rate.
Resample At Minimum Rate
Resample to the lowest sample rate.
Error if Rates Differ
Does not accept conflicting sample rates.
Units
The units of the time parameters.
For example, you can specify the amount of time a lag should last for in seconds (default), frames (at the Houdini FPS), or samples (in the CHOP’s sample rate).
Note
When you change the Units parameter, the existing parameters are not converted to the new units.
Time Slice
Time slicing is a feature that boosts cooking performance and reduces memory usage. Traditionally, CHOPs calculate the channel over its entire frame range. If the channel needs to be evaluated every frame, then cooking the entire range of the channel is unnecessary. It is more efficient to calculate only the fraction of the channel that is needed. This fraction is the Time Slice.
Unload
Causes the memory consumed by a CHOP to be released after it is cooked, and the data passed to the next CHOP.
Export Prefix
The Export Prefix is prepended to CHOP channel names to determine where to export to.
For example, if the CHOP channel was named geo1:tx
, and the prefix was /obj
, the channel would be exported to /obj/geo1/tx
.
Note
You can leave the Export Prefix blank, but then your CHOP track names need to be absolute paths, such as obj:geo1:tx
.
Graph Color
Every CHOP has this option. Each CHOP gets a default color assigned to it for display in the graph, but you can override the color with the Graph Color. There are 36 RGB color combinations in the palette.
Graph Color Step
When the graph displays the animation curves, and a CHOP has two or more channels, this defines the difference in color from one channel to the next, giving a rainbow spectrum of colors.
Locals ¶
C
Current channel index.
NC
Total number of channels.
See also |