Pipe Out CHOP
Summary[edit]
The Pipe Out CHOP can be used to transmit data out of TouchDesigner to other processes running on a remote machine using a network connection. If the other process is another TouchDesigner process, a Pipe In CHOP in that process can be used to receive the data. Multiple PipeIn CHOPs can connect to a PipeOut CHOP.
For more information on how to connect two TouchDesigner processes running on different machines with a Pipe In and Pipe Out CHOP, see the Pipe In CHOP.
NOTE: For TouchDesigner-to-TouchDesigner communication of channel data, see the Touch In CHOP and Touch Out CHOP which offer optimized and Time Sliced data transfer.
TIP: The TCP/IP DAT or UDP Out DAT is the preferred way to send script commands and other data packets over the network.
NOTE for Windows OS - If experiencing connection issues make sure Windows Firewall is disabled.
See also OSC Out CHOP, Shared Mem Out CHOP.
Parameters - PipeOut Page
Connection Mode mode - ⊞ -
- This Operator is Client
client-
- This Operator is Server
server-
Server Address address - The computer name or IP 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 to use.
Active active - When Off, data is not sent.
Send Input sendinput - On/off toggle for sending the data connected to the Pipe Out CHOP's input.
Send Current Sample Only sendsingle - This parameter is only enabled if the Pipe Out CHOP is not time sliced (See Common Page of parameters). If On, it only sends the current frame's sample. If Off, it sends all data between this frame and the last frame TouchDesigner cooked at. The difference arises when TouchDesigner is not cooking 60 frames per second and is skipping frames. If playback skips by 3 animation frames between screen draws, the On case sends only one frame of data, and the Off case sends 3 frames of data (a "Time Slice" in TouchDesigner-speak).
Single Sample sample - ⊞ - In single sample mode, this parameter determines which sample to send; the sample at frame 1 or the current sample.
- Current Frame
scur-
- Frame 1
sstart-
Send All Data upload - When the button is pressed, sends all the channel names and their data once in one burst.
Script script - Use these parameters to send a one-time textport command through the pipe.
Send Script sendscript - Use these parameters to send a one-time textport command through the pipe.
Cook Every Frame cookalways - Turn this on to make sure this CHOP gets processed every frame. Usually CHOPs do not get processed every frame unless they are directly involved with some aspect of the geometry being displayed.
Send Monitor Pulses pulse - Sends pulses (a single null character) once a frame, to monitor the connection. This keeps the connection active, and keeps the Pipe In CHOP aware of the connection status so it can properly report its state.
Echo Messages to Console echo - Print all outgoing data to the Console which can be opened from the Dialogs menu. See this option in the Pipe In CHOP for more details.
Callbacks DAT callbacks - Path to a DAT containing callback methods for each event sent. See pipeoutCHOP_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 hasgeo1/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 -
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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 series of numbers) which are used for animation, audio, mathematics, simulation, logic, UI construction, and many other applications.
The term "Frame" is used (1) in the Timeline, (2) as a time-unit in CHOPs, (3) as a time-unit in TOPs, and (4) with movies images which are read and created with TOPs.
To re-compute the output data of the Operators. An operator cooks when (1) its inputs change, (2) its Parameters change, (3) when the timeline moves forward in some cases, or (4) Scripting commands are run on the node. When the operator is a Gadget, it also cooks when a user interacts with it. When an operator cooks, it usually causes operators connected to its output to re-cook. When TouchDesigner draws the screen, it re-cooks all the necessary operators in all Networks, contributing to a frame's total "cook time".
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.
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.
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.
