Houdini 12 Nodes Compositing nodes

Keys out parts of the image based on pixel position or normal direction.

This operation keys out parts of the image based on point position, normal direction or both. A point plane and/or a normal plane are needed to perform this operation.

Geokey can simulate lighting from point lights and infinite sources by generating masks that can be used by color correction COPs, like the Bright COP. It can also cut out foreground or background objects, if point or depth information is present.

Overloading VEX Parameters

Parameters

Geokey

Key Operation
Distance from Point

All pixels within a certain distance of a specified point are keyed (Point plane required).

Normal Direction

All pixels with normals pointing in the same direction as the specified normal are keyed (Normal plane required).

Angle from Point

All pixels with normals pointing at the specified point are keyed (Point and normal planes required).

Distance & Angle

All pixels with normals pointing at the From Point specified point, within a certain distance are keyed (Point and Normal planes required).

Clip Plane

All pixels on one side of the clip plane are keyed (Point plane required).

Point Origin

A 3D point to key from, for 'Distance from Point', 'Angle From Point', and 'Distance & Angle'.

Point Distance

The distance from the point at which to stop keying.

Distance Dropoff

The size of the dropoff region after the distance radius.

Normal Direction

The normal direction to key from.

Normal Deviation

The amount of degrees that a normal can deviate from the specified normal before being rejected.

Normal Dropoff

The amount of degrees of dropoff after the normal deviation.

Rolloff

The dropoff shape for the Normal Dropoff area.

Clipping Plane

The orientation of the clip plane.

Clip Plane Normal

The normal of the user-defined clip plane.

Clip Plane Origin

Translates the clip plane so that it passes through this point.

Supersample

The number of subpixels sampled per pixel in one direction (2 samples 4 pixels, 3 samples 9). More subsamples produce finer edges, at the cost of performance.

Discard Keyed Region

If on, the keyed region is discarded; otherwise only the keyed region is kept.

Mask

A mask can be chosen to limit the effect of the operator to areas defined by the mask. The mask can be taken from the mask input (side input) or from the first input itself.

Effect Amount

If no mask is present, this blends the output with the input by a constant amount (0 = all input, 1 = all output).

If a mask is present, this amount multiplies the mask.

Operation Mask

Selects the mask plane to use as a mask from the mask input. The mask can be selected from:

A mask can be a component of a plane or an entire plane. If a vector plane is supplied as a mask, its components are multiplied by the images' components.

Scalar Mask ('A', 'C.r')

            C.r = I.r * M
            C.g = I.g * M
            C.b = I.b * M
            
            
Vector Mask ('C')

            C.r = I.r * M.r
            C.g = I.g * M.g
            C.b = I.b * M.b
            
            

First Input

Useful for masking the operation to the image’s own alpha plane.

Mask Input

Selects the mask from the side mask input.

Off

Turns off masking, without requiring disconnection of the mask input (useful for temporarily disabling the mask).

Resize Mask to Fit Image

If the mask image is a different resolution than the output image, turning on this parameter will scale the mask to the output image’s resolution.

If this node is changing constantly, and the mask is not, it is somewhat faster to put a Scale COP down to do the resize for the mask image. Otherwise, the scale will occur every time this node cooks.

Invert Mask

Inverts the mask so that all fully 'masked' portions become unmasked. This saves you from inserting an Invert COP after the node with the mask.

Scope

Plane Scope

Specifies the scope for both the RGB components of Color, Alpha, and other planes. The (C)RGBA mask only affects Color components and Alpha. 'C' will toggle all the RGB components.

For planes other than Color and Alpha, the plane name (plus component, if applicable) should be specified in the string field. The pulldown menu can be used to select planes or components present in this node.

A plane is specified by its name. A component is specified by both its plane and component name. The '*' wildcard may be used to scope all extra planes. Any number of planes or components can be specified, separated by spaces.

Examples:

            P
            N.x N.y
            P N Pz
            

Frame Scope

Frame Scope

Allows scoping of specific frames in the frame range. This is in addition to the plane scope (so a plane at a certain frame must be both plane scoped and frame scoped to be modified).

All Frames

All frames are scoped.

Inside Range

All frames inside a subrange are scoped.

Outside Range

All frames outside a subrange are scoped.

Even Frames

Even numbered frames are scoped.

Odd Frames

Odd numbered frames are scoped.

Specific Frames

A user-defined list of frames are scoped.

Frame Range

For Inside/Outside range, this parameter specifies the subrange of the sequence to scope (or unscope). This can be edited in Timeline viewer mode (Ctrl+2 in viewer).

Frame Dropoff

For Inside/Outside Range, this parameter specifies certain number of frames before and after to slowly ramp up to scoped. The operation will be blended with its input to 'ease in' or 'ease out' the scoping effect over a number of frames. This can be edited in Timeline viewer mode (Ctrl+2 in viewer).

Non-scoped Effect

For unscoped frames, this sets the blend factor between the input and modified images. Normally this is zero (use the input image). By setting this to a non-zero value, you can make unscoped frames be 'slightly' unscoped. The value can vary between 0 (unscoped) and 1 (scoped).

Frame List

The frame list for 'Specific Frames'. Frame numbers should be separated by spaces.

Automatically Adjust for Length Changes

If the sequence range changes, enabling this parameter will adjust the subrange and frame dropoff lengths to fit the new range.

Local variables

L

Sequence length

S

Start of sequence

E

End of sequence

IL

Input sequence length

SR

Sequence frame rate

NP

Number of planes in sequence

W,H

Width and height of image

I

Image index (0 at start frame)

IT

Image time (0 at start frame)

AI

Current plane array index

PI

Current plane index

PC

Num of channels in current plane

CXRES

Composite Project X resolution

CYRES

Composite Project Y resolution

CPIXA

Composite Project pixel aspect ratio

CDEPTH

Composite Project raster depth

CBP

Composite Project black point

CWP

Composite Project white point

Examples

Load | Launch

.../examples/nodes/cop2/geokey/BasicUses.otl

How to use 3D information to extract portions of an image for mattes or local modification. This examples uses the Geokey COP.