Point File In POP

Summary

The Point File In POP loads 3D point data into POPs from either a single file or a sequence of files. The Point File In POP will load all available point data after you select field names and give them attribute names. Fields include standard ones like XYZ position, normal vectors, texture coordinates and RGBA color. More specialized fields are read in via any number of sequential blocks that map fields to attributes.

By default, field x, y and z are placed into the P attribute, and r g b a into the Color attribute, but that can be all re-assigned. The sequential blocks can create float, float2, float3 and float4 attributes, as well as arrays of values (no matrices or double at the moment).

The Thin page lets you skip points in the file, either randomly or in patterns. The ReRange page lets you scale/offset attribute values without having to create a temporary version of an attribute.

The Point File In POP will read point data from various mesh and floating point data files including: .obj, .ply, .fits (astronomy format), and .exr. It can also load ASCII point files (.xyz, .pts, .csv, .txt, etc) with one point per line and comma- or space-separated fields. The first line in ASCII point files can either be the number of points, the names of the point fields or the first point in the file.

For a complete list, see File Types. The OpenEXR file format is generally best to use as it is binary, can be read in multi-frame file sequences that uses TouchDesigner's movie file pre-reading and buffering, and can be written from TouchDesigner's Movie File Out TOP with unlimited numbers of channels.

Gaussian Splat files: The Point File In POP can read in all the specialized attributes of Gaussian Splat files. Give there are over 45 components of attributes, there is an example file in POPs Examples / GaussianSplats/ with a full setup, and there is an example in Help -> Browse Samples : PointClouds/

(TBD: Examine the state of a Point File In POP by attaching an Info CHOP. This will show information like the number of points, fields per point and the number of frames. It also shows dynamic information like the file open status, current frame, readahead frames and queue size, dropped frame count, CPU decode time and GPU upload time.)

Headers: If the file contains any additional header data, this can be viewed by attaching an Info DAT. Header data is stored as key-value pairs with the keys in the first column and the corresponding data in the second column, which can easily be interpreted with python.

All of the ASCII point list formats are loaded the same way whether their extension is txt, csv, xyz, etc. The parser looks for the first separating character (comma, space or tab) and then uses that to delimit the rest of the file. It will ignore delimiters that are inside single or double quotes. There are a few special rules depending on the delimiter style e.g. multiple spaces are merged together, but a comma at the end of a line indicates a blank field afterwards. Once a delimiter is established, The first line can be the number of points, but it is ignored. If the next line are strings then it is treated as a row of headers (channel names). Each row after that is considered the attributes of point.

pointfileinPOP_Class

Parameters - Point File In Page

File file - The path and name of the point file to load.

Reload reload - ⊞ - Re-import and load the geometry.

• Reload reload -

• Reload Pulse reloadpulse - Force reload.

Create Point Primitives createpointprim - Enable creating point primitives

Max Number of Points maxpointsenable - Enable the setting of the max number of points.

Max Number of Points maxpoints - Sets the max number of points when the automatic max number of points is overriden.

Position Fields positionfields - ⊞ - Fields mapped to the position.

• x x -

• y y -

• z z -

• nx nx -

• ny ny -

• nz nz -

• r r -

• g g -

• b b -

• a a -

Normal Fields normalfields - ⊞ - Fields for the normal attribute.

• x x -

• y y -

• z z -

• nx nx -

• ny ny -

• nz nz -

• r r -

• g g -

• b b -

• a a -

Texture Fields texturefields - ⊞ - Fields mapped to the texture coordinates.

• x x -

• y y -

• z z -

• nx nx -

• ny ny -

• nz nz -

• r r -

• g g -

• b b -

• a a -

Color Fields colorfields - ⊞ - The fields to use for the color attribute.

• x x -

• y y -

• z z -

• nx nx -

• ny ny -

• nz nz -

• r r -

• g g -

• b b -

• a a -

Attribute attr - Start of Sequential Parameter Blocks for attribute conditions.

Fields attr0fields - ⊞ - Determines fields that can be used to create additional attributes.

• x x -

• y y -

• z z -

• nx nx -

• ny ny -

• nz nz -

• r r -

• g g -

• b b -

• a a -

Attribute Name attr0name - Name of attribute

Array attr0isarray - Attribute is an array, for example 5 float3 values is an array of size 5.

Array Size attr0arraysize - Nunber of elements in the array.

Qualifier attr0qualifier - ⊞ - Whether the new attribute is generic attribute or not. Qualifiers are taken into account for some operations.

• None none -

• Color color -

• Direction dir -

Input Color Space inputcolorspace - ⊞ - Override / set the color space, or use the color space in the file, or assume default if there is none.

• Automatic automatic -

• sRGB srgb -

• sRGB - Linear srgblinear -

• Rec.601 (NTSC) rec601ntsc -

• Rec.709 rec709 -

• Rec.2020 rec2020 -

• Rec.2020 ST2084PQ rec2020st2084pq -

• Rec.2020 HLG rec2020hlg -

• DCI-P3 dcip3 -

• DCI-P3 (D60) dcip3d60 -

• Display P3 (D65) displayp3d65 -

• Display P3 (D65) - Linear displayp3d65linear -

• ACES2065-1 aces2065-1 -

• ACEScg acescg -

• ACESproxy acesproxy -

• Passthrough passthrough -

Input Reference White inputreferencewhite - ⊞ - Color space to use for the incoming data.

• Default For Color Space default -

• Standard (SDR) sdr -

• High (HDR) hdr -

• UI ui -

Parameters - Thin Page

Thin Out Range thinoutrange - Enable index-based point filtering.

Thin Range Start thinrangestart - Determines the starting index for range-based point filtering.

Thin Range Length thinrangelength - Determines the number of points being filtered by index range.

Thin Step thinstep - Filters every Nth point.

Thin Random thinrandom - Determines the proportion of points randomly filtered.

Thin Random Seed thinrandomseed - Sets the random seed for points being randomly filtered.

Parameters - ReRange Page

Rerange rerange - Start of Sequential Parameter Blocks to re-range created attributes.

Scope rerange0scope - ⊞ - Rerange any attribute from the file.

• P P -

• P.i01 P.i01 -

• Color Color -

• Color.rgb Color.rgb -

• N N -

Parameter Size rerange0parsize - ⊞ - Number of independent configurable parameter values.

• 1 1 -

• 2 2 -

• 3 3 -

• 4 4 -

Map from Low rerange0fromlow - Reranges the attribute value.

Map from High rerange0fromhigh - Reranges the attribute value.

Map to Low rerange0tolow - Reranges the attribute value.

Map to High rerange0tohigh - Reranges the attribute value.

Parameters - Common Page

Bypass bypass - Pass through the first input to the output unchanged.

Free Extra GPU Memory freeextragpumem - Free memory that has accumulated when output memory has grown and shrunk.

Delete Input Attributes delinputattrs - Only output which attributes you specify in this POP - helps isolate attributes into a separate branch.

Parameter Color Space parmcolorspace - ⊞ - Controls how all color parameters on this node are interpreted. The color values as treated as being in the selected color space, and are converted to the Working Color Space before they are used as part of the node's operation. Note that this does not change the color space of the node itself, as that is always in the Working Color Space.

• sRGB srgb - sRGB color space, with sRGB transfer function. Considered an SDR color space with respect to Reference White.

• sRGB - Linear srgblinear - sRGB color space, with linear transfer function. Considered an SDR color space with respect to Reference White.

• Rec.601 (NTSC) rec601ntsc - Rec.601 with NTSC primaries color space, with Rec.601 transfer function. Considered an SDR color space with respect to Reference White.

• Rec.709 rec709 - Rec.709 color space, with Rec.709 (same as Rec.2020) transfer function. Considered an SDR color space with respect to Reference White.

• Rec.2020 rec2020 - Rec.2020 color space, with Rec.2020 (same as Rec.709) transfer function. Considered an HDR color space with respect to Reference White.

• DCI-P3 dcip3 - DCI-P3 color space, with D65 white point and 2.6 gamma transfer function. Considered an HDR color space with respect to Reference White.

• DCI-P3 (D60) dcip3d60 - DCI-P3 "D60 sim" color space, with D60 white point, and 2.6 gamma transfer function. Considered an HDR color space with respect to Reference White.

• Display-P3 (D65) displayp3d65 - Display-P3 color space, with D65 white point, and sRGB gamma transfer function. Considered an HDR color space with respect to Reference White.

• ACES2065-1 aces2065-1 - ACES 2065-1 (also known as ACES AP0) color space, with a linear gamma transfer function. Considered an HDR color space with respect to Reference White.

• ACEScg acescg - ACEScg (also known as ACES AP1) color space, with a linear gamma transfer function. Considered an HDR color space with respect to Reference White.

• Passthrough passthrough - When selected, the color values will be used as-is in the operation, without any modification or attempt to convert them into the Working Color Space.

Parameter Reference White parmreferencewhite - ⊞ - When converting a parameter color value to the Working Color Space, this controls how it should be treated with respect to Reference White. If the Working Color Space is the same Reference White, then no adjustment is done. If they are different, then the Reference White level (brightness) of this color will be adjusted to the range expected by the Working Color Space. For example if the project is set to have a SDR Reference White of 120 nits, and the HDR Reference White is 80 nits, then a color of (1, 1, 1), which is 120 nits in the SDR color space, will be converted to be (1.5, 1.5, 1.5), which is 120 nits still in the HDR Working Color Space.

• Default For Color Space default - Will use either the SDR or the HDR Reference White, based on the color space selected.

• Use Parent Panel useparent - Will use the Reference White that the parent panel has selected. If the top-level panel also has 'Use Parent' selected, then 'UI Reference White' will be used.

• Standard (SDR) sdr - Will treat the Parameter Color Space as SDR for it's reference white value.

• High (HDR) hdr - Will treat the Parameter Color Space as HDR for it's reference white value.

• UI ui - Will treat the Parameter Color Space as UI for it's reference white value. This uses the 'UI Reference White Nits' value for it's brightness.

Info CHOP Channels

Extra Information for the Point File In POP can be accessed via an Info CHOP.

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\nwikieditorwikieditor2025.30000

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

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.

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.

To "pulse" a parameter is to send it a signal from (1) an exported CHOP channel or (2) a python command or (3) a mouse click that causes a new action to occur immediately. A pulse via python is via the .pulse() function on a pulse-type parameter, such as Reset parameter in a Speed CHOP. A pulse from a CHOP is typically a 0 to 1 to 0 signal in an exported channel.

A Link. The grey dashed lines between nodes is a Reference or Link that indicates one operator is getting data from another operator from any Operator Family.

The grey dashed lines between nodes is a Reference (or Link). A Reference is (1) a Parameter Reference, a parameter in an OP that is a name or path to another operator, (2) a Node Reference, an expression in a parameter or DAT script that contains the name or path of another operator, (3) a DAT Cell Reference or (4) a CHOP Channel Reference.

A Link or Reference is a dashed line between nodes that represent other data flowing between nodes. Examples are CHOP Exports, node Paths in parameters, and expressions in parameters referencing CHOP channels, DAT tables and other nodes. In contrast is a Wire that connects nodes in the same Operator Family.

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.

An operator whose Bypass flag is set does nothing: All data going into its first input appears at its output unaffected.

Attributes are data associated with POP geometry. Points, Vertex (Vertices) and Primitives (polygons, lines, etc) can have any number of attributes.

A parameter reference can be setup between any two parameters by putting an expression in one parameter that refers to another parameter. This creates a Link between the two parameters such that when one changes, the other will change automatically (known in other software as a "constraint").

A custom interactive control panel built within TouchDesigner. Panels are created using Panel Components.

There are 2 kinds of parenting. The "parent component" is the component in which a node resides. The metaphor is extended to include grand parents, grand-grand parents, etc. The root / is the ultimate parent to all nodes. See also 3D Parenting and panel Parenting.