Annotate COMP

Summary

Annotates are displayed in the Network Editor as colored rectangles containing user-authored text and graphics. It is based on the Annotate COMP and allows you to document your networks with useful information like comments and node grouping.

There are three built-in forms of the Annotate COMP: Comments, Network Boxes, and Annotates that can be easily created:

• Comments are simple, text-only post-it notes. They can be created via the network RMB menu or with the shortcut Shift-C
• Network Boxes group nodes together for labeling/dragging. They can be created via the network RMB menu or with the shortcut Shift-B
• Annotates (Default Setup) do all of the above and incorporate a powerful node-viewing feature. They can be created via the network RMB menu, with the shortcut Shift-A, by holding Alt and left-dragging in the network, or by selecting Annotate from the COMP family in the OP Create Dialog.

annotateCOMP_Class

Default Setup

The default setup of Annotate COMPs is a full-featured comment, network box, and node viewer, designed to be a flexible network organization and documentation tool. The following features are built using internal nodes and an extension and are not inherent parts of the Annotate COMP itself.

The lock icon in the top-right of the box locks and unlocks text editing in the Annotate. In a locked Annotate, you cannot edit text and clicking on the body area clicks through to the network below. Annotates also have a RMB menu for quick access to many features. It is always accessible through the title bar, and accessible through the body when the Annotate is unlocked.

You can size Annotates by dragging the edges and move them by dragging the title bar. In Comment mode, which has no title bar, you can drag the Annotate by the text body. When the Enclose OPs feature is on, dragging an Annotate will drag all enclosed nodes (including other Annotates) with it. To drag an annotate without dragging its contents, you can hold down Alt while dragging.

Annotates have powerful built-in Operator Viewer features, including positioning and interaction, which can be controlled using Parameters - OP Viewer Page. For basic text features see Parameters - Text Page. For deeper text editing and color features including limiting text width, wrapping, and more, see Parameters - Settings Page.

Annotates are layered in the network so that smaller boxes are in front of larger boxes, but you have more control with the Depth Layer parameter. Annotates are positioned behind the grid by default, but you can put them in front of the grid, or even on top of the nodes tiles. For example, put an image with transparency in the Viewer OP and turn Back Color Alpha to 0, then set Layer Zone to be Above Nodes.

Because the Enter shortcut and zoom-to-enter are disabled in Annotates, to get inside an Annotate, use one of the following methods:

1. Box-pick an Annotate, then right-click on the network and select "Jump Down".
2. Find the Annotate via the path bar at the top of the network pane.
3. Box-pick an Annotate, right-click on the "i" icon on the Parameter Dialog and select Enter Annotation from the node menu.

You can switch between the three built-in Annotate modes by using the Mode parameter of the Annotate COMP or the Mode menu in the right-click menu.

Parameters - Text Page

Basic text features including editable/searchable parameters holding the Annotate's text.

Title Text Titletext - Text in the title bar.

Title Height Titleheight - Height of the title bar. Title font height adjusts automatically to fill.

Title Align Titlealign - ⊞ - Alignment of title text.

• Left left -

• Center center -

• Right right -

Body Text Bodytext - Text in the body area. Use an expression for newlines etc.

Body Font Size Bodyfontsize - Size of text in the body area.

Limit Body Text Width Bodylimitwidth - Limit the width of the text area.

Max Body Text Width Bodymaxwidth - Width limit that will cause wraparound or cut-off. Measured in Panel units.

Parameters - Settings Page

More advanced text control and color parameters.

Mode Mode - ⊞ - Switch between Comment, Network Box, and Annotate Modes. For more, see Network Utilities: Comments, Network Boxes, Annotates.

• Comment comment - Simple text only, no title or OP Viewer.

• Network Box networkbox - Use this to group/move/label a set of nodes only.
• Annotate annotate - All features available.

Smart Quote Smartquote - Converts quotes, ellipsis, and dashes to more typographically nice unicode versions.

Body Word Wrap Bodywordwrap - Wrap body text when it extends past right bound.

Back Color Backcolor - ⊞ - Background color base.

• Back Color Backcolorr -

• Back Color Backcolorg -

• Back Color Backcolorb -

Back Color Alpha Backcoloralpha - Back color alpha.

Annotate Opacity Opacity - Opacity of the entire Annotate.

Parameters - OP Viewer Page

Controls for the embedded Operator viewer.

Viewer Display Opviewerdisplay - Turn the visibility of the viewer specified in the OP parameter below on or off.

OP Opviewer - The operator whose viewer is displayed in the Annotate.

OP Viewer Interactive Opviewerinteractive - Allow interaction with the OP viewer.

Size/Aspect Override Opvieweroversize - ⊞ - Use the Size/Aspect Override to control viewer's size in the background.

• Natural natural -

• Specify specify -

• Auto-fit autofit -

Size/Aspect Opviewersize - ⊞ - Diplay viewer as-if it were being displayed at this resolution. This is particularly useful for zooming into operators that don't have a built-in resolution, like CHOPs, SOPs, and DATs.

• Size/Aspect Opviewersizew -

• Size/Aspect Opviewersizeh -

Scale Opviewerscale - Scale the viewer by this factor.

Justify X Opviewerjustifyx - Move the border of the viewer towards left edge of Annotate when negative or towards right edge when positive.

Justify Y Opviewerjustifyy - Move the border of the viewer towards bottom edge of Annotate when negative or towards top edge when positive.

Cover Body and Title Opviewerfillbodytitle - When True, allow viewer to display in the Annotate title area as well as body.

OP Viewer Zoom Opviewerzoom - Zoom the viewer by this scale factor without increasing the size of its display area in the Annotate.

OP Viewer Offset Opvieweroffset - ⊞ - Offsets the displayed area within the viewer. Combined with OP Viewer Zoom, this lets you display a specific area of a viewer, such as a CHOP channel or table cell.

• OP Viewer Offset Opvieweroffsetx -

• OP Viewer Offset Opvieweroffsety -

Fill Alpha Opviewerfillalpha - Alpha value of the background area in the OP Viewer.

Parameters - About Page

Version Version - Annotate COMP default setup version.

Help Help - Click to open this page.

Annotate Extension

Members

BodyColor → [R, G, B, A] (Read Only):

RGBA of color used for body.

BodyFontColor → [R, G, B, A] (Read Only):

RGBA of font color used in body.

BodySelectColor → [R, G, B, A] (Read Only):

RGBA of selection color for body text.

BodyText →  :

Text of body.

Color → [R, G, B] (Read Only):

RGB of base color set in Back Color parameter

EncloseOPs → bool :

If True, Annotate encloses operators in its network area for movement and other features

TitleColor → [R, G, B, A] (Read Only):

RGBA background color of title area

TitleFontColor → [R, G, B, A] (Read Only):

RGBA font color of title area

TitleSelectColor → [R, G, B, A] (Read Only):

RGBA of selection color for title text

TitleText →  :

Text in title area

Methods

OnCreate(Mode):

Called on initial creation of Annotate. Mode can be "annotate", "comment", or "networkbox"

Parameters - Annotate Page

Operator Viewer opviewer - The operator whose view is displayed in the Annotate area. This defines what the entire Annotate looks like and is not to be confused with the OP parameter in the OP Viewer page, which is an integrated viewer _within_ the annotate.

Enable Interaction enable - When False, disables all interaction with the Annotate and passes any clicks through to the network below.

Enclose Operators encloseops - When True, other operators in the Annotate's area will move with it when it is moved.

Utility utility - Sets whether or not this is a Utility node.

Include in Order includeinorder - Include this Annotate in the Order of annotateCOMPs in this network.

Order order - Order number of this annotateCOMP

Layer Zone layerzone - ⊞ - Where this annotateCOMP is layered with regards to other items in the network.

• Below Grid belowgrid - Behind everything, including the grid.

• Between Grid and Nodes betweengridnodes - Behind nodes but in front of grid

• Above Nodes abovenodes - Above everything, including grid and nodes.

Depth Layer layer - Last ditch layering index. AnnotateCOMPs in the same zone will always attempt to display smaller annotateCOMPs they enclose on top.

Parameters - Extensions Page

The Extensions parameter page sets the component's python extensions. Please see extensions for more information.

Object ext0object - A number of class instances that can be attached to the component.

Name ext0name - Optional name to search by, instead of the instance class name.

Promote ext0promote - Controls whether or not the extensions are visible directly at the component level, or must be accessed through the .ext member. Example: n.Somefunction vs n.ext.Somefunction

Re-Init Extensions reinitextensions - Recompile all extension objects. Normally extension objects are compiled only when they are referenced and their definitions have changed.

Parameters - Common Page

The Common parameter page sets the component's node viewer and clone relationships.

Parent Shortcut parentshortcut - Specifies a name you can use anywhere inside the component as the path to that component. See Parent Shortcut.

Global OP Shortcut opshortcut - Specifies a name you can use anywhere at all as the path to that component. See Global OP Shortcut.

Shortcut iop0shortcut - Specifies a name you can use anywhere inside the component as a path to "Internal OP" below. See Internal Operators.

OP iop0op - The path to the Internal OP inside this component. See Internal Operators.

Operator Viewer opviewer - Select which operator's node viewer to use when the Node View parameter above is set to Operator Viewer.

Enable Cloning enablecloning - Control if the OP should be actively cloneing. Turning this off causes this node to stop cloning it's 'Clone Master'.

Enable Cloning Pulse enablecloningpulse - Instantaneously clone the contents.

Clone Master clone - Path to a component used as the Master Clone.

Load on Demand loadondemand - Loads the component into memory only when required. Good to use for components that are not always used in the project.

Enable External .tox enableexternaltox - When on (default), the external .tox file will be loaded when the .toe starts and the contents of the COMP will match that of the external .tox. This can be turned off to avoid loading from the referenced external .tox on startup if desired (the contents of the COMP are instead loaded from the .toe file). Useful if you wish to have a COMP reference an external .tox but not always load from it unless you specifically push the Re-Init Network parameter button.

Enable External .tox Pulse enableexternaltoxpulse - This button will re-load from the external .tox file (if present).

External .tox Path externaltox - Path to a .tox file on disk which will source the component's contents upon start of a .toe. This allows for components to contain networks that can be updated independently. If the .tox file can not be found, whatever the .toe file was saved with will be loaded.

Reload Custom Parameters reloadcustom - When this checkbox is enabled, the values of the component's Custom Parameters are reloaded when the .tox is reloaded. This only affects top-level parameters on the component, all parameters on nodes inside the component are always reloaded with the .tox.

Reload Built-In Parameters reloadbuiltin - When this checkbox is enabled, the values of the component's built-in parameters are reloaded when the .tox is reloaded. This only affects top-level parameters on the component, all parameters on nodes inside the component are always reloaded with the .tox.

Save Backup of External savebackup - When this checkbox is enabled, a backup copy of the component specified by the External .tox parameter is saved in the .toe file. This backup copy will be used if the External .tox can not be found. This may happen if the .tox was renamed, deleted, or the .toe file is running on another computer that is missing component media.

Sub-Component to Load subcompname - When loading from an External .tox file, this option allows you to reach into the .tox and pull out a COMP and make that the top-level COMP, ignoring everything else in the file (except for the contents of that COMP). For example if a .tox file named project1.tox contains project1/geo1, putting geo1 as the Sub-Component to Load, will result in geo1 being loaded in place of the current COMP. If this parameter is blank, it just loads the .tox file normally using the top level COMP in the file.

Relative File Path Behavior relpath - ⊞ - Set whether the child file paths within this COMP are relative to the .toe itself or the .tox, or inherit from parent.

• Use Parent's Behavior inherit - Inherit setting from parent.

• Relative to Project File (.toe) project - The path, when specified as a relative path, will be relative to the .toe file.

• Relative to External COMP File (.tox) externaltox - The path, when specified as a relative path, will be relative to the .tox file. When no external COMP file is specified, or when Enable External .tox is not toggled on, this doesn't have any impact.

Info CHOP Channels

Extra Information for the Annotate COMP can be accessed via an Info CHOP.

Common COMP Info Channels

• num_children - Number of children in this component.

Common Operator Info Channels

• total_cooks - Number of times the operator has cooked since the process started.

• cook_time - Duration of the last cook in milliseconds.

• cook_frame - Frame number when this operator was last cooked relative to the component timeline.

• cook_abs_frame - Frame number when this operator was last cooked relative to the absolute time.

• cook_start_time - Time in milliseconds at which the operator started cooking in the frame it was cooked.

• cook_end_time - Time in milliseconds at which the operator finished cooking in the frame it was cooked.

• cooked_this_frame - 1 if operator was cooked this frame.

• warnings - Number of warnings in this operator if any.

• errors - Number of errors in this operator if any.

TouchDesigner Build: Latest\nwikieditorwikieditor2023.112802022.24140before 2022.24140

A pane type where networks of operators can be created and edited.

Annotates are displayed in the Network Editor as colored rectangles containing user-authored text and graphics. It is based on the Annotate COMP and allows you to document your networks with useful information like comments and node grouping.

An Operator Family that contains its own Network. There are sixteen 3D Object Component and ten 2D Panel Component types. See also Network Path.

A floating dialog, pane type, or dialog in a Network Editor that displays one operator's parameters.

Annotates are displayed in the Network Editor as colored rectangles containing user-authored text and graphics. It is based on the Annotate COMP and allows you to document your networks with useful information like comments and node grouping.

The viewer of a node can be (1) the interior of a node (the Node Viewer), (2) a floating window (RMB->View... on node), or (3) a Pane that graphically shows the results of an operator.

Any of the procedural data operators. OPs do all the work in TouchDesigner. They "cook" and output data to other OPs, which ultimately result in new images, data and audio being generated. See Node.

An Operator Family which operate on Channels (a sequence of numbers (Samples)) which are used for animation, audio, mathematics, simulation, logic, UI construction, and data streamed from/to devices and protocols.

Any component can be extended with its own Python classes which contain python functions and data.

The sub-Family of Component types that are used to define and render 3D scenes. A Geometry Component is an Object that contains the 3D shapes to render. A Camera COMP and Light COMP are other Object types. Separately, "Objects" also refers to Python objects.

A Parent Shortcut is a parameter on a component that contains a name that you can use anywhere inside the component to refer to that component using the syntax parent.Name, for example parent.Effect.width to obtain panel width.

A name for a component that is accessible from any node in a project, which can be declared in a component's Global Operator Shortcut parameter.

There are four types of shortcuts: Application Shortcuts that are built-in to TouchDesigner's authoring interface, Panel Shortcuts that you create for any custom built panels, Parent Shortcuts for accessing a component from within that component, and Global OP Shortcuts that access a unique component from anywhere in TouchDesigner.

Cloning makes multiple components match the contents of a master component. A Component whose Clone parameter is set will be forced to contain the same nodes, wiring and parameters as its master component. Cloning does not create new components as does the Replicator COMP.

To "pulse" a parameter is to send it a signal from (1) an exported CHOP channel or (2) a python command or (3) a mouse click that causes a new action to occur immediately. A pulse via python is via the .pulse() function on a pulse-type parameter, such as Reset parameter in a Speed CHOP. A pulse from a CHOP is typically a 0 to 1 to 0 signal in an exported channel.

The location of an operator within the TouchDesigner environment, for example, /geo1/circle1, a node called circle1 in a component called geo1. The path / is called Root. This path is displayed at the top of every Pane, showing which Component's network you are currently in. To refer instead to a filesystem folder, directory, disk file or http: address, see Folder.

TouchDesigner Component file, the file type used to save a Component of your TouchDesigner project.

TOuch Environment file, the file type used by TouchDesigner to save your entire project.

An Operator Family that contains its own Network. There are sixteen 3D Object Component and ten 2D Panel Component types. See also Network Path.

There are 2 kinds of parenting. The "parent component" is the component in which a node resides. The metaphor is extended to include grand parents, grand-grand parents, etc. The root / is the ultimate parent to all nodes. See also 3D Parenting and panel Parenting.