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Let’s examine the wave CHOP.

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—

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Here we have an example with
three wave CHOP operators.

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Remember we can hit the H key to
home our screen, which will
center all of operators.

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And we can hit the P key to
display the parameters for the
selected operator.

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—

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In the first example we will
examine the concept of time in
Touch Designer.

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—

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These are examples of Python
expressions,

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that reference the amount of
time a node has been cooking.

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We can use this constantly
updating value to create an
animation engine.

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—

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We are animating the phase
parameter of the wave CHOP,

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then using the generated value
to animate the alpha channel of
a constant TOP.

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—

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We can generate different types
of waves.

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—

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The different types of waves
will affect the different

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values generated along the
waveform, and in turn affect

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the animation of any node that
references the resulting wave-
form data.

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—

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Let’s adjust the speed of our
animation by reducing the value

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referenced by our Python
expression.

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We’ve created of pulse waveform
type with a range of 0 to 1.

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If I keep the same wave CHOP
parameters and switch the type
to square,

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you’ll see our waveform
amplitude now ranges from -1 to
1.

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In order to create the desired
output range of 0 to 1,

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we must adjust the waveform’s
amplitude and offset

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depending on the desired type of
waveform.

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—

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Now let’s examine the concept of
samples in Touch Designer.

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Wave CHOP 1 has channel settings
of a start of 0 seconds and end
of 10 seconds,

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and a sample rate of 60, giving
us a grand total of 600 samples.

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For every frame processed by
Touch Designer, at 60 frames per
second,

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this operator will generate 600
samples of data.

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Wave CHOP number 2 has channel
settings of

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a start of 0 seconds, an end of
1 second, and a sample rate of
1.

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This means this operator will
generate 1 sample of data for
every frame Touch Designer
processes.

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—

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We can use a Python expression
to access CHOP data.

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We can access the CHOP name, the
names and numbers of channels
within the CHOP,

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and the data generated by each
channel at each sample.

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The Python expression works by
referencing the operator name,

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the channel name, and the
desired sample.

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—

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Here we reference the operator
“wave1”, the channel named
“chan1”, and sample 0.

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Here we reference the operator
named “wave2”, the channel named
“green”, and sample 0.

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—

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Let’s examine these Python
expressions in greater detail.

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Again we are referencing the
operator, the channel, and the
sample.

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In this case the channel we’re
referencing by name.

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The wave CHOP must name the
channel it creates.

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If I change the channel name,
our Python expression will
break.

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This is because we are
referencing the channel by name.

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In order for our Python
expression to work, it must know
where to look for data.

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—

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We can also reference channels
by number.

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The wave CHOP creates a single
channel.

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Remember to think in base 0 for
most of your numbering systems
in Touch Designer.

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Channel 0 is the first channel,
not channel 1.

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Now that we are referencing our
channel by number, we can name
our channel anything we like.

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—

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We have many options when we
deal with time In Touch
Designer.

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A simple but powerful method is
by using a Python expression to
reference the amount of time a
node has been cooking.

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But, as Einstein showed us, time
is relative.

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When we use the Python
expression “me.time.seconds”, we
are referencing the amount of
time this node has been cooking
in reference to the Touch
Designer timeline.

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As we watch the playhead on the
timeline, we’ll see that after
10 seconds the value of our
“me.time.seconds” expression
will reset.

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—

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Wave CHOP number 2 uses absolute
time as it’s time reference.

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This value is independent of the
Touch Designer timeline, and
references the amount of time
that has elapsed since Touch
Designer was launched.

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—

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Let’s investigate in more detail
the concept of a sample range
contained in an operator’s
channel.

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Wave CHOP number 3 is not
animating, and it contains a
range of sixty samples.

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—

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We will use the range of samples
created by the wave CHOP to
offset the center of a circle
TOP.

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—

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We’ll use the 60 discrete values
created by the wave CHOP to
offset the Y, the up and down
position of the circle TOP.

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—

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We have a horizontal slider that
generates an initial range of 0
to 1.

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We then use a simple CHOP
network to re-range the slider
data to fit our needs.

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The offset position of the
circle TOP corresponds exactly
to the shape of the generated
waveform.

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—

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As you can see, the wave CHOP is
a simple but extremely powerful
method for generating animation
paths.

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—

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We treat the initial 0 to 1
value range created by the
slider using a series of CHOPs.

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First we rename the incoming
channel to “x” and “y”.

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We re-range the 0 to 1 incoming
values to -.5 to positive .5.

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these values equate to “X”
position of the circle TOP.

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.5 represents the extent of
screen right, and negative .5
represents the extent of screen
left.

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—

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Next we re-range the incoming
“y” value of 0 to 1, to a range
of 0 to 60.

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This is our sample range. The
wave CHOP creates a range of 60
discrete samples.

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As we move the slider from left
to right, we change the value of
the waveform shape we are
sampling from.

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Here the slider has generated a
value of 17, and we are sampling
the 17th value of the sample
range of the waveform shape.

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—

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.5 represent screen top, -.5
represents screen bottom.

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—

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Let’s take a closer look at our
Python expressions.

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—

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In order to generate our “x”
value, we reference first the
“math1” operator, then channel
“x” from the “math1” operator,
and finally evaluate the sample.

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In this case, the “math1”
operator creates only one
sample, therefore we don’t need
to reference it specifically by
number when we evaluate it.

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—

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To generate our “y” value, we
use a slightly more complicated
Python expression.

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I’ll demonstrate how we nest one
Python expression within
another.

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We use the familiar sequence-
operator, channel, then sample-
when we create our expression
string.

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—

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We need to reference the
operator named “wave3” and its’
first channel.

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BUT which sample do we wish to
evaluate?

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We can choose any sample from a
range of 60.

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—

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In order to dynamically change
the sample we wish to evaluate,
we need another Python
expression.

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The value created by the slider,
and re-ranged by the “math2”
operator, is the number of the
sample we wish to evaluate.

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—

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To access this value, we use our
familiar Python string-
operator, channel, sample.

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The operator is “math2”, the
channel is 0, and we evaluate
the first sample.

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We can also access the channel
by name, in this case “y”.

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—

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Now I will cut that entire
Python expression string, and
use it as the “.eval” argument
in my first Python string.

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—

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Now the value of the “math2”
operator is the value we use to
sample the waveform shape of the
“wave3” CHOP.

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—

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By nesting one Python expression
in another, we are able to
access two operators
simultaneously-

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and apply selected values from
them to another operator- in
this case the circle TOP.