Hi

I am confused as to how a CHOP is used. Details please. I have an object aniamted along a spline path with a F-Curve for position. I also created a Noise CHOP. My intention is to ‘modify’ the path F-Curve with Noise CHOP so that the object shakes and vibrates randomly as it moves along the path. What is the procedure to overlay the Noise CHOP on top of the Pos F-Curve?
Thank you

David Rindner

Hi David,

Since your object is on a path, you'll want to use the Noise CHOP to affect the Translate channels, tx, ty & tz.

This is how you can use the Noise CHOP to shake and vibrate your object:

a. Switch to the CHOPs_Training desk as it's easier to see what's happening in both CHOPs and Objects.

b. Add a Noise CHOP & under the Channel tab, replace chan1 with tx.

c. Append an Export CHOP & set OP to be obj & Net to be object_name. You can skip the Node parameter because you're exporting to the Object and not to a SOP within the Object.

d. Type tx in the path parameter, if it's not already there.

e. Now, click on the lower right rectangle of the CHOP node(the area below the Display flag. The Export flag will come on.

Notice your Object's tx parameter is now coloured orange? This means the parameter is overridden by the Noise CHOP. If you playback now, you'll notice your Object vibrating randomly while moving along the path.

Repeat the steps above for ty & tz. Please hold down the Shift key while setting the Export Flag. This is to ensure other Export flags are not turned off accidentally. Also, remember to rename the Channel Name to ty & tz accordingly.

If you would like to make adjustments, hit play & adjust the parameters of the Noise CHOP interactively till you're happy with the values.

The above is a really basic guide to exporting data from CHOPs though there are CHOPs Introductory videos on CD2. You can find them in LearningData/video_tutorials/animation.

I hope the above helps!

Cheers!
steven