POP to DAT

Summary

The POP to DAT converts, using the Extract menu, a POP's points or primitives to a table of points (one row per point), or a table of primitives (one row per primitive), or a table of vertices (one row per vertex).

In all cases it creates a column for each attribute component, and the Attributes parameter lets you select specific attributes to include.

The Primitives table has an optional column showing the primitive type - point, line, linestrip, triangle, quad.

The Transpose toggle parameter lets you transpose the table (swap rows and columns) which puts all the attribute names in the first column, for greater readability in some cases.

Without affecting the source, you can thin out the displayed data to restrict, for example, points in a certain point index range, or display 1 in N points, or randomly thin out the data. this makes large datasets much easier to inspect.

You can also choose to display only points or primitives that are in specific Groups.

Because POP data is on the GPU and DAT tables are on the CPU, there may be a pause caused by the GPU to CPU transfer. The default for Download Type is Next Frame (Fast) which causes minimal delay but the DAT is displayed one Time Slice later. Otherwise the Download Type is Immediate, which may cause a several-millisecond delay in the current frame.

See also DAT to POP, POP to CHOP, POP to TOP.

poptoDAT_Class

Parameters - POP to Page

Active active -

POP pop -

Download Type downloadtype - ⊞ -

• Immediate (Slow) immediate -

• Next frame (Fast) nextframe -

Extract extract - ⊞ -

• Points points -

• Vertices vertices -

• Primitives primitives -

• Detail detail -

Attributes attrib -

Primitive Type primitivetype -

Thin Out Range thinoutrange -

Thin Range Start thinrangestart -

Thin Range Length thinrangelength -

Thin Step thinstep -

Thin Random thinrandom -

Thin Random Seed thinrandomseed -

Transpose transpose -

Group group -

Invert Group invertgroup -

Group Columns grpcol - ⊞ -

• None none -

• Group Names in one Column onecolumn -

• Column per Group colpergrp -

Parameters - Common Page

Language language - ⊞ - Select how the DAT decides which script language to operate on.

• Input input - The DAT uses the inputs script language.

• Node node - The DAT uses it's own script language.

Edit/View Extension extension - ⊞ - Select the file extension this DAT should expose to external editors.

• dat dat - various common file extensions.

• From Language language - pick extension from DATs script language.

• Custom Extension custom - Specify a custom extension.

Custom Extension customext - Specifiy the custom extension.

Word Wrap wordwrap - ⊞ - Enable Word Wrap for Node Display.

• Input input - The DAT uses the inputs setting.

• On on - Turn on Word Wrap.

• Off off - Turn off Word Wrap.

Info CHOP Channels

Extra Information for the POP to DAT can be accessed via an Info CHOP.

Common DAT Info Channels

• num_rows - Number of rows in this DAT.

• num_cols - Number of columns in this DAT.

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: Latest\nwikieditor2025.30000

POPs (Point Operators) is a new  of TouchDesigner that runs on the GPU accelerated graphics card or chips, and creates/modifies 3D data which is rendered by the  or passed to devices like DMX lighting, LED arrays, lasers or other external systems.

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

Information associated with (or ) geometry. , and (polygons, lines, etc) can have any number of attributes. In POPs, position (P) is standard, and built-in optional attributes are (N), texture coordinates (Tex), color (Color), etc.

The Graphics Processing Unit. This is the high-speed, many-core processor of the graphics card/chip that takes geometry, images and data from the CPU and creates images and processed data.

A sequence of vertices form a in a . Each vertex is an integer index into the , and each holds an XYZ position and attributes like Normals and Texture Coordinates.

A surface type in that includes polygon, curve (NURBS and Bezier), patch (NURBS and Bezier) and other basic shapes like sphere, tube and metaball. and Primitives are part of the , which is a part of a .

A Group in POPs and SOPs is a named subset of points or primitives. It is created with the or Group SOP. Numerous operations in POPs and SOPs (using a Group parameter) can be restricted to affect the points or primitives in selected groups, and not affect others.

The generic thing that holds an , and includes (display, bypass, lock, render, immune) and its position/size in the network. Whether you "lay down an Operator" or "lay down an Node", you're doing the same thing.

An which operate on (a sequence of numbers ()) which are used for animation, audio, mathematics, simulation, logic, UI construction, and data streamed from/to devices and protocols.