Pipe In CHOP

Summary

The Pipe In CHOP allows users to input from custom devices into CHOPs. It is implemented as a TCP/IP network connection.

The connection can be from a user-written program that outputs to the Pipe In CHOP's port, or from another TouchDesigner process, where the data is coming from a Pipe Out CHOP.

Regular channel data sent to Pipe In outputs has CHOP channels (channel names with floating point values every frame). Mixed with it can be TouchDesigner scripting commands that get executed when they arrive.

TIP: The TCP/IP DAT or UDP In DAT is the preferred way to send script commands and other data packets over the network.

This node differs from the Touch In CHOP as it functions using a stream of commands, instead of a simple stream of channel data like the Touch In CHOP. Information comes in in various commands which are documented in the files located in your installation directory C:/Program Files/Derivative/TouchDesigner*/touch/docs/pipe.

To receive network data from another "server" computer (e.g. from a TouchDesigner Pipe Out CHOP running remotely), a connection must be established between the server and the Pipe In CHOP before data is sent. You must supply the Server Address and Port from which to receive incoming data to a channel. The server should be listening for connections on the port that this CHOP is using.

NOTE for Windows OS - If experiencing connection issues make sure Windows Firewall is disabled.

See also Shared Mem In CHOP.

pipeinCHOP_Class

Parameters - PipeIn Page

Connection Mode mode - ⊞ - Set operation as server or client.

• This Operator is Client client -

• This Operator is Server server -

Server Address address - The network address of the server computer. This address is a standard WWW address, such as 'foo' or 'foo.bar.com'. You can use an IP address (e.g. 100.123.45.78) or the computer's network name can be entered. If you put "localhost", it means the other end of the pipe is on the same computer.

Server Port port - The network port of the server.

Active active - While On, the CHOP receives information from the pipe or server. While Off, no updating occurs. Data sent by a server is lost, but a pipe will store the data until Active is turned on again. If in Network mode, turning this parameter on initiates a connection, and turning it off breaks the connection.

Queued queued - When checked on, the network queuing is enabled. See the following parameters.

Minimum Target mintarget - The lower end of the queue target range. The Pipe In CHOP will try to maintain a queue length greater than or equal to this value.

Min Unit mintargetunit - Select the units to use for this parameter, Samples, Frames, or Seconds.

Maximum Target maxtarget - The upper end of the queue target range. The Pipe In CHOP will try to maintain a queue length less than or equal to this value.

Max Unit maxtargetunit - Select the units to use for this parameter, Samples, Frames, or Seconds.

Maximum Queue maxqueue - The maximum size of the queue when full. Incoming samples will be dropped if the maximum queue is reached. This also affects the maximum number of script commands that can be queued up before they start gettting dropped.

Max Queue Unit maxqueueunit - Select the units to use for this parameter, Samples, Frames, or Seconds.

Queue Adjust Time adjusttime - Specifies how often to repeat/drop a samples in order to get closer to the queue target range. If the value = 1 and the units = seconds, then it will try to repeat/drop a sample once per second to maintain the queue target set in the Minimum Target and Maximum Target parameters above.

Adjust Unit adjusttimeunit - Select the units to use for this parameter, Samples, Frames, or Seconds.

Reset Channels reset - Discards and clears all channels and incoming data.

Allow Incoming Scripts allowscripts - Incoming script commands will be ignored unless this parameter is turned On. Turning it Off is more secure.

Echo Messages to Console echo - ⊞ - Print all incoming commands (not channel data) to the Console which can be opened from the Dialogs menu. A good way to test a connection is to put "echo X" commands in the incoming stream.

• Off off -

• Full Messages to Console on -

• All Events to Console raw -

Callbacks DAT callbacks - Path to a DAT containing callbacks for each event received. See pipeinCHOP_Class for usage.

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).

Info CHOP Channels

Extra Information for the Pipe In CHOP can be accessed via an Info CHOP.

Specific Pipe In CHOP Info Channels

• connected -

• num_connected -

• queue_size -

• queue_retarded_total -

• queue_advanced_total -

• time_under_target -

• time_over_target -

• queue_bumped -

Common CHOP Info Channels

• start - Start of the CHOP interval in samples.

• length - Number of samples in the CHOP.

• sample_rate - The samplerate of the channels in frames per second.

• num_channels - Number of channels in the CHOP.

• time_slice - 1 if CHOP is Time Slice enabled, 0 otherwise.

• export_sernum - A count of how often the export connections have been updated.

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\n2021.100002018.28070before 2018.28070

A way of moving data from one TouchDesigner process to another. Images are moved via Touch Out / In TOPs, channels are moved via Touch Out / In CHOPs and Pipe Out / In CHOPs. Data moves via TCP/IP or UDP.

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

An Operator Family that manipulates text strings: multi-line text or tables. Multi-line text is often a python Script or GLSL Shader, 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.

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 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. TOPs have Channel Mask, a similar feature.

samples-per-second of a CHOP. Each CHOP in your network has a sample rate. In contrast, the overall timeline has a Frame Rate, which is the number of frames to cook and display per second, generally your monitor display frequency, default 60.

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.

Every operator in TouchDesigner has a set of control Parameters that can be integer or floating point numbers, menus, binary toggles, text strings or operator paths, which determine the output of the operator.

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