Introduction to CHOPs Vid Notes
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Importing the image and making adjustments[edit]
- Double click the network and whilst holding shift select a Movie File In TOP, a Level TOP, a HSV Adjust TOP and then releasing shift select a Switch TOP. You should now have 4 nodes wired into one another.
- Selecting the Movie File In TOP, under the Play tab in its preferences click the plus icon next to the File parameter and select butterfly6 from the file browser.
- Select the Level TOP and under the Pre Tab set the Black Level parameter to 0.2
- Select the HSV Adjust TOP and copy and paste (Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V) the TOP two times. Connect the outputs of these new TOPs to the input of switch1.
- Left click the output of the Level TOP and then left click the input of the Switch TOP to wire the level1 into the switch1.
- Select the first HSV Adjust TOP and under the HSV Tweak tab set the Hue Offset parameter to -25.
- Set the second HSV Adjust TOPs Hue Offset parameter to 50 and the third HSV Adjust TOPs to 200.
Setting Up The Switch TOP[edit]
- The Switch TOP will now have four inputs. The initial image unedited and the three adjusted images each with their own hue offset. You can test this by seeing if the colors change when you click the Switch TOP and then drag the Index parameter slider to the right. The number in the index parameter represents the inputs number. For example the first input is the image with a hue offset of -25 since the last image that was wired in was the unedited image with no hue offset.
- Set the Switch TOPs image parameter to 4. The image in the Switch TOPs viewer should now be the same as the image in the Level TOPs viewer.
- Turn the Blend Inputs check box in the Switch TOP on.
Setting CHOPs to drive parameters[edit]
- Double click above the TOPs in your network and whilst holding shift under the CHOPs tab select a LFO CHOP and then releasing shift select a Math CHOP.
- CHOPs are generators and filters. Generators create data, a numerical value changing over time where as filters modify that data. For example take a look at the LFO CHOPs viewer. The LFO CHOP is a changing number (sine wave) which moves from -1 to 1 and then back again. The frequency (how quickly the value changes) can be edited within the parameters of the CHOP. Set the Frequency parameter to 0.5. It's also worth noting that in the OP Create Dialog generators are a darker green than filters.
- In order to animate the color of the butterflies you can use the newly created CHOP channel (generated in the LFO CHOP and then manipulated using the Math CHOP) to be the numerical value in our Switch TOP parameter. The problem is that the numerical value in the LFO CHOP is only -1 to 1 whereas the numerical value needed for the Switch TOP is 0 to 4.
- Click the Math CHOP and under the range tab you will see a From and To parameter. This parameter will allow you to change the channels value from -1 to 1 and then to 0 to 4 which would fit the Index parameter of the Switch TOP. Set the From parameter as -1 to 1 and the To parameter to 0 to 4.
- To export this value to the TOP first right click the output of the Math CHOP and select a Null CHOP.
- Activate the viewer of the Null CHOP and drag and drop the channel to the Switch TOPs Index parameter until a small plus icon with an arrow appears then let go. Select Export CHOP from the pop-up menu that appears. The parameter should now be blue and constantly changing value.
- The butterfly in the Switch TOPs viewer should now be changing color smoothly.
Overlaying the butterfly onto a black background[edit]
- Right click the Switch TOP and select an Over TOP.
- Double click the network underneath the Switch TOP and add a Constant TOP.
- Left click the Constant TOPs output and then left click the Over TOPs second input to wire the Constant TOP into the Over TOP.
- The Over TOPs viewer should now have a black background with the butterfly changing color.
- Right click the Over TOPs output and select an Out TOP.
Switching between manual and automatic[edit]
- Remove the export to the Switch CHOP's index parameter by right clicking on the index parameter and selecting Remove Export from the menu.
- Right click the Math CHOPs output and whilst holding shift select a Switch CHOP then releasing shift select a Null CHOP.
- Double click below the Math CHOP and select a Constant CHOP.
- Select the Constant CHOPs output and wire it into the [[Switch CHOP]s input.
- Select the Null CHOP which you created alongside the Switch CHOP and export the Null CHOP to the Switch TOPs index parameter like before.
- Your Switch CHOP can now change between two values. The ever changing LFO value and the Constant value which you can set within the Constant CHOPs parameters. To switch between the two you can change the Switch CHOPs Index parameter to 0 or 1.
Creating a Button COMP to switch between manual and automatic[edit]
- Double click the network above the Switch CHOP and whilst holding shift, select under the COMP tab a Button COMP and then releasing shift switch to the CHOP tab and select a Null CHOP.
- Right click the Null CHOP and export this Null CHOP too but rather than to the Switch TOP export it to the Switch CHOP instead.
- Zoom out of the network until you are viewing Project1. Under the Layout tab on Project1 change the Width to 400 and the Height to 400.
- At the top left of the screen above the network editor there is a small ^ icon. Click it to go into Perform Mode. Press the Escape key to close Perform Mode. As you press the button the butterfly will change color and then stop when the button is pressed again.