Hello,

I was wondering what was the left input of the COPs, and I finally found somewhere on the wab it was a mask input. But I didn't find anything about this input in the doc.

Is the help search engine so bad, or did SESI just consider it wasn't important to talk about this input ?

Any info about this input will be welcome. Thanks.

It should be described in the helpcard of any node that has a Mask input, under the section, “Masking”. The parameters that control the mask are also described under “Mask”.

In the general Compositing help (Houdini 9.5>Compositing; “Using Houdini”, “Compositing”), more information can be found in the topic “Masked Filters” on that page.

Basically, it restricts the area of the node's operation to that of the mask image. Greyscale masks blend the input with the node's output. Some nodes can vary their operation on a per-pixel basis based on the mask (Blur, Defocus, Expand).

Thanks.

But the “Masked Filters” doesn't say it is related to the left input. And I was looking for “left input” when I saw that COPS had a left input. :-)

I also think that there should be a tip when you click on the iput with the middle mouse button, as for the “top” input.

You are right, you can get info in the helpcard of any node, but as this input seems to be there for most of (all ?) the COPs, I think it would be clearly mentionned in this general page about COPs. Because it is there where a new user expects to see some info, when he asks himself : “What is this left input on all the COPs nodes ?”.

It seems the Mask input connector lost its label sometime during the H9 network overhaul. I've restored it in 9.5.295, which should point people in the right direction.

OK, thanks !

I take advantage of this thread to tell you I am sad that the Compositing module is neglicted in the documentation/tutorials.