SOP
See Category:SOPs for a full list of articles related to SOPs.
Surface Operators, also known as SOPs, are operators that can generate, import, modify and combine 3D surfaces (also called geometry). The surface types are polygons, curves, NURBS surfaces, metaballs and particles.
See also: Geometry Detail, Point, Point List, Point Class, Primitive, Prims Class, Polygon, Vertex, SOP Class, SOP to DAT, Script SOP, Point Groups, Primitive Groups, Attributes.
Sweet 16 SOPs[edit]
The following 16 SOPs are commonly used, we recommend familiarizing yourself with them.
| SOP | Purpose | Related SOP |
|---|---|---|
| Circle | Circle, sphere, torus primitives. | Sphere, Torus |
| Grid | Grid, box, rectangle. | Box, Rectangle |
| Merge | Merge and delete. | Object Merge, Delete |
| Copy | Copy or replicate. | Limit |
| Switch | Switch or blend multi-inputs. | Blend, Sequence Blend |
| Texture | Apply texture coordinated to points or vertices. | Material |
| Noise | Apply noise, twist and deform. | Twist, Deform |
| Transform | Transform point positions. | Script |
| DAT to | DAT table to SOP points. | Add |
| CHOP to | CHOP channel samples to SOP points. | Line |
| Trace | Trace a TOP image to polygons. | File In |
| Clip | Clip and carve. | Carve |
| Facet | Facet, subdivide, convert. | Subdivide, Convert |
| Particle | Particles. | |
| Sweep | Sweep, skin, rails. | Skin, Rails |
| Sort | Sort and reorder. |
Using SOPs[edit]
- 3D geometry data, processed on CPU
- FBX Import: .fbx importer, File In SOP - recommend importing geometry from more mature modelers
- FBX Export: Right-click and select Save Geometry... In the File Browser that opens, change the file type to .fbx to create a FBX file of that geometry.
See Also[edit]
Category:SOPs
Geometry Detail
Primitive
Point
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An Operator Family that reads, creates and modifies 3D polygons, curves, NURBS surfaces, spheres, meatballs and other 3D surface data.
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.
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.
An Operator Family that creates, composites and modifies images, and reads/writes images and movies to/from files and the network. TOPs run on the graphics card's GPU.
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.
The 3D data held in SOPs and passed for rendering by the Geometry COMP.
