Filter channel node

Smooths or sharpens the input channels.

This CHOP smooths or sharpens the input channels. It filters by combining each sample and a range of its neighbor samples to set the new value of that sample. Each filter type uses its own weighting factors for the neighboring samples. The Filter Width determines the number of neighbors to use.

This CHOP can filter both motion and sound, but other CHOPs are more appropriate for filtering sound (see the Pass Filter CHOP, Band EQ CHOP, and Parametric EQ CHOP).

Parameters

Filter

Type

There are 7 types of filters.

Gaussian	This filter has a Gaussian (normal or “bell” curve) shape that smooths the channel. It acts as a low pass filter. The wider the filter, the lower the cutoff frequency, resulting in smoother data.
Left Half Gaussian	This produces a lag on the channel. If the input channels represent values over time, this filter is seen as only using samples back in time from the current sample. For time-data, this is more realistic as you can not look ahead in time. It has a half-bell shape.
Box	This filter is box-shaped, meaning that each neighbor sample it uses has the same weighting factor. It can produce unwanted steps in the output channel because the effect of the samples at the extremes of the filter do not fade out as the window slides over the samples. It low-pass filters data, similar to the Gaussian filter.
Left Half Box	This filter produces a lag on the data, uses only samples back in time, and otherwise acts like a box filter.
Edge Detect	This filter detects “edges”, sharp changes in the input channels. It acts as a high pass filter. As the filter width is increased, more low frequencies are added.
Sharpen	This filter sharpens all high frequencies. It is the sum of the edge detect result and the original data.
De-spike	This filter removes “spikes” (samples more than `Spike Tolerance' above or below of the expected sample value). The filter width allows you to eliminate spikes that are several samples long. Wide filters will remove wide spikes (spikes of several samples) and small filters will only remove narrow spikes (one or two samples in length).

Effect

The extent to which the filter affects the channel (0 = not at all, 1 = maximum effect).

Filter Width

The amount of surrounding samples used in the calculation of the current sample. It is expressed in Units (in the Common page).

Spike Tolerance

For the De-spike filter type, this is the amount that a sample can differ from its neighbors without being considered a spike.

Number of Passes

The number of times the filter is applied to the channel.

Common

Some of these parameters may not be avaiable on all CHOP nodes.

Scope

To determine which channels get affected, some CHOPs have a scope string. Patterns can be used in the scope, for example * (match all), and ? (match single character).

The following are examples of possible channel name matching options:

`chan2`	Matches a single channel name.
`chan3 tx ty tz`	Matches four channel names, separated by spaces.
`chan*`	Matches each channel that starts with `chan`.
`foot`	Matches each channel that has `foot` in it.
`t?`	The `?` matches a single character. `t?` matches two-character channels starting with t.
`r[xyz]`	Matches channels `rx`, `ry` and `rz`.
`blend[3-7:2]`	Matches number ranges giving `blend3`, `blend5`, and `blend7`.
`blend[2-3,5,13]`	Matches channels `blend2`, `blend3`, `blend5`, `blend13`.
`t[xyz]`	`[xyz]`matches three characters, giving channels `tx`, `ty` and `tz`.

Sample Rate Match

The Sample Rate Match Options handle cases where multiple input CHOPs’ sample rates are different.

Resample At First Input’s Rate	Use rate of first input to resample others.
Resample At Maximum Rate	Resample to highest sample rate.
Resample At Minimum Rate	Resample to the lowest sample rate.
Error if Rates Differ	Does not accept conflicting sample rates.

Units

The units for which time parameters are specified.

For example, you can specify the amount of time a lag should last for in seconds (default), frames (at the Houdini FPS), or samples (in the CHOP’s sample rate).

Note

When you change the Units parameter, it does not convert the existing parameters to the new units.

Time Slice

Time Slicing is a feature which boosts cooking performance and reduces memory usage. Traditionally, CHOPs calculate the channel over its entire frame range. If the channel does need to be evaluated every frame, then cooking the entire range of the channel is unnecessary. It is more efficient to calculate only the fraction of the channel that is needed. This fraction is known as a Time Slice.

Unload

Causes the memory consumed by a CHOP to be released after it is cooked and the data passed to the next CHOP.

Export Prefix

The Export prefix is prepended to CHOP channel names to determine where to export to.

For example, if the CHOP channel was named geo1:tx, and the prefix was /obj, the channel would be exported to /obj/geo1/tx.

Note

You can leave the Export Prefix blank, but then your CHOP track names need to be absolute paths, such as obj:geo1:tx.

Graph Color

Every CHOP has this option. Each CHOP gets a default color assigned for display in the Graph port, but you can override the color in the Common page under Graph Color. There are 36 RGB color combinations in the Palette.

Graph Color Step

When the graph displays the animation curves and a CHOP has two or more channels, this defines the difference in color from one channel to the next, giving a rainbow spectrum of colors.

Usages in other examples

Example name	Example for