Blob Track CHOP

Summary

The Blob Track CHOP allows tracking blobs in 2D point data.

Input data should be have two channels named tx and ty describing the 2D points in cartesian coordinates. See the OP Snippets examples.

Good sources for input scans are the Hokuyo CHOP (in Cartesian coordinate mode) and the Leuze ROD4 CHOP. These devices naturally output a radial scan from the device as the center point, where each point represents (angle, distance). Outputting each scan point in Cartesian coordinate mode gives an (x,y) for each point which is the format required for the Blob Track CHOP.

But any set of (x,y) points in the two channels will be analyzed. The tracker looks for consecutive points close to each other, and handles the case where one blob passes behind another blob giving the hidden blob a linear motion for a specifiable amount of time while it occluded before it removes the blob from the set of blobs being output.

See also Blob Track TOP

blobtrackCHOP_Class

Parameters - Tracker Page

Active active - While on, the CHOP receives information from the input. While off, no processing occurs. Existing blobs will remain.

Search Mode searchmode - ⊞ - Controls how searching for blobs is done across all the points.

• All all - All the points are compared against each other to find blobs. This mode is slower but more robust for data that has the points randomly assorted in the CHOP.

• Consecutive Points consecutive - Points are only compared against points in neighbouring samples of the CHOP data to find blobs. This is much faster but the data much be setup such that points that are close to each other in space are next to each other in the CHOP samples. Data coming from devices such as the Hokuyo CHOP and Leuze ROD4 CHOP output data in this format.

Max Blobs maxblobs - The maximum number of blobs that can be tracked.

Max Point Distance in Blob maxpointdistance - Two measured points from the input are considered to be part of the same blob if they are this distance or closer to each other.

Max Blob Movement maxblobmovement - This controls the maximum distance a blob can move between successive frames and still be considered the same 'blob'.

Area of Interest areaofinterest - ⊞ - Limits the area in which blobs are tracked. Points outside the area of interest are ignored.

• Off off - No limitations, blobs tracked throughout the scanned area.

• Rectangle rectangle - Blobs only tracked within specified rectangle.

• Circle circle - Blobs only tracked within specified circle (or ellipse).

Center center - ⊞ - The center of the area of interest.

• Center centerx -

• Center centery -

Size size - ⊞ - The size of the area of interest.

• Size sizew -

• Size sizeh -

Rotate rotate - Rotate the area of interest.

Allow Movement Outside Area allowmovementoutside - When this is on, blobs detected within the Area of Interest can move outside of that area and still be tracked. When this is off blobs that move outside the area of interest will stop being tracked.

Parameters - Blobs Page

Output Centroid outputcentroid - Include the centroid of detected blobs as part of the output channels.

Output Velocity outputvelocity - Include the velocity of detected blobs as part of the output channels.

Min Points per Blob minblobpoints - Minimum number of points that must be near each other to form a blob. Use to help filter out false positives.

Blob Init Time (s) blobinittime - Amount of time a blob must be detected to be considered trustworthy. Use to help filter out false positives. A blob will only be output if it's been detected for at least time amount of time.

Lost Blob Timeout (s) lostblobtimeout - The amount of time before a blob that has been lost is removed from the output.

Blob Movement Prediction Type predicttype - ⊞ - With prediction enabled, blobs from the last frame have their new position predicted before being matched to the current frame.

• Off off - Blobs are matched against the blob positions from the last frame.

• Simple Forward Predict simple - Prediction uses constant velocity assumption; blobs are moved the same distance that they moved last frame.

• Kalman Filter Predict kalman - Prediction uses kalman filtering, with a constant velocity model, to move the blobs forward from last frame.

Parameters - Common Page

Time Slice 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 scope - To determine which channels get affected, some CHOPs use a Scope string on the Common page.

Sample Rate Match 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.

Export Method 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 has geo1/transform1:tx.

Export Root autoexportroot - This path points to the root node where all of the paths that exporting by Channel Name is Path:Parameter are relative to.

Export Table exporttable - The DAT used to hold the export information when using the DAT Table Export Methods (See above).

Operator Inputs

• Input 0 -

TouchDesigner Build: Latest\nmw-replace2021.100002020.23680before 2020.23680

An Operator Family which operate on Channels (a series of numbers) which are used for animation, audio, mathematics, simulation, logic, UI construction, and many other applications.

Each SOP has a list of Points. Each point has an XYZ 3D position value plus other optional attributes. Each polygon Primitive is defined by a vertex list, which is list of point numbers.

Operators that have 1 or more input, like a Math CHOP, are called filters. See Generator.

A Time Slice is the time from the last cook frame to the current cook frame. In CHOPs it is the set of short channels that only contain the CHOP channels' samples between the last and the current cook frame.

A parameter in most CHOPs that restricts which channels of that CHOP will be affected. Normally all channels of a CHOP are affected by the operator.

samples-per-second of a CHOP. Each CHOP in your network has a sample rate, whether it is used or not. The overall timeline has a "frame rate", which is the number of animation frames per second, generally your monitor display frequency.

Exporting is the connection of CHOP channels to parameters of operators. The output of each exporting CHOP is one or more channels, active only while the CHOP Viewer is on. The current value of a channel can be exported to a parameter of any operator, overriding that parameter's value. See Parameter.

An Operator Family that manipulates text strings: multi-line text or tables. Multi-line text is often a command Script, but can be any multi-line text. Tables are rows and columns of cells, each containing a text string.

The location of an operator within the TouchDesigner environment, for example, /geo1/circle1, a node called circle1 in a component called geo1. The path / is called Root. This path is displayed at the top of every Pane, showing which Component's network you are currently in. To refer instead to a filesystem folder, directory, disk file or http: address, see Folder.

Parameters in TouchDesigner are an operator's settings (numbers, menus, flags, strings, paths) which the user can alter. Parameters for any operator can be opened by right-clicking on the operator and selecting "Parameters..." A currently selected operator's parameters can be viewed in a Network Editor by pressing the keyboard shortcut 'p'.

TouchDesigner is a hierarchy of components. "root" is the top-most network in the hierarchy. The Path is simply /. A typical path is /project1/moviein1.