Point Generator POP

Summary

The Point Generator POP creates a specified number of points, either randomly or in a pattern, on the surface of shape or within the volume of a closed shape.

The Shape is not a set of polygons (see Sprinkle POP for that) but is a common mathematical shape like a sphere, circle, box, cylinder, torus, rectangle or line, whose shape and position/scale/rotation is controlled with POP parameters.

A menu chooses between points on a surface, or points within its volume.

Volumes should be closed surfaces, but Point Generator still gives a distribution of points around holes of non-closed surfaces.

A Random toggle, when off, gives predictable but patterned distribution of points on/in surfaces.

There are controls of orientation axis and angles of the basic shapes.

Note: Presently there is no option to make the distribution of points be uniform per unit of surface area. For example, triangles get approximately the same number of points on small triangles as on large triangles. (future option)

A Random distribution of points along a line segment in Line mode is controlled with two points in XYZ.

You can add normal (N float3) and tangent (T float4) attribute vectors on points, vertices or primitives, with some choices of further randomization of these attributes.

See also Sprinkle POP, Random POP, Noise POP

pointgeneratorPOP_Class

Parameters - Point Generator Page

Shape shape - ⊞ - Sets the points generated shape.

• Sphere sphere -

• Box box -

• Torus torus -

• Tube tube -

• Rectangle rectangle -

• Circle circle -

• Line line -

Create Point Primitives createpointprim - Enable creating point primitives

Number of Points numpoints - Sets the number of points.

Distribution distribution - ⊞ - Determines what distribution type is returned

• Volume volume -

• Surface surface -

Random random - Enable random surface distribution.

Seed seed - Numerical value that initializes the randomization.

Orientation orient - ⊞ - Sets the point cloud orientation.

• Default default -

• XY Plane (Z axis) xy -

• YZ Plane (X axis) yz -

• ZX Plane (Y axis) zx -

Size size - ⊞ - The geometry 3D size.

• Size size1 -

• Size size2 -

• Size size3 -

• Size sizex -

• Size sizey -

• Size sizez -

Radius radius - ⊞ - Radius.

• Radius radius1 -

• Radius radius2 -

• Radius radius3 -

• Radius radiusx -

• Radius radiusy -

• Radius radiusz -

Height height - The height of the tube.

Point A pointa - ⊞ - Line first point.

• Point A pointa1 -

• Point A pointa2 -

• Point A pointa3 -

• Point A pointax -

• Point A pointay -

• Point A pointaz -

Point B pointb - ⊞ - Line second point.

• Point B pointb1 -

• Point B pointb2 -

• Point B pointb3 -

• Point B pointbx -

• Point B pointby -

• Point B pointbz -

Normal normal - ⊞ - Choose whether to create a normal attribute and the attribute class of the normal attribute.

• None none -

• Point pointNormals -

• Vertex vertNormals -

• Primitive primNormals -

Normal Direction normaldirection - ⊞ - Choose the normal direction.

• Default default -

• Random random -

Tangent dotangent - ⊞ - Sets the tangent mode.

• Off off -

• Default default -

• Random to Normal randomtonormal -

• Random random -

Parameters - Transform Page

Transform Order xord - ⊞ - Sets the overall transform order for the transformations.

• Scale Rotate Translate srt -

• Scale Translate Rotate str -

• Rotate Scale Translate rst -

• Rotate Translate Scale rts -

• Translate Scale Rotate tsr -

• Translate Rotate Scale trs -

Rotate Order rord - ⊞ - Sets the order of the rotations within the overall transform order.

• Rx Ry Rz xyz -

• Rx Rz Ry xzy -

• Ry Rx Rz yxz -

• Ry Rz Rx yzx -

• Rz Rx Ry zxy -

• Rz Ry Rx zyx -

Translate t - ⊞ - Translate the points in the three axes.

• Translate tx -

• Translate ty -

• Translate tz -

Rotate r - ⊞ - Rotate the points around the corresponding X, Y and Z axes. Angles are given in degrees.

• Rotate rx -

• Rotate ry -

• Rotate rz -

Scale s - ⊞ - These three fields scale the Source geometry in the three axes.

• Scale sx -

• Scale sy -

• Scale sz -

Pivot p - ⊞ - The pivot point for the transform rotates and scales.

• Pivot px -

• Pivot py -

• Pivot pz -

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.

Info CHOP Channels

Extra Information for the Point Generator 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\nwikieditor2025.30000

Operators that do not need any inputs connected are called Generators in TouchDesigner, like a Pattern CHOP. See Filter.

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.

Each SOP has a list of Points. Each point has an XYZ 3D position value plus other optional attributes. Each polygon Primitive is defined by a vertex list, which is list of point numbers.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.