Joystick CHOP
Summary[edit]
The Joystick CHOP outputs values for all 6 possible axes on any game controller (joysticks, game controllers, driving wheels, etc.), as well as up to 32 button, 2 sliders and 4 POV Hats.
It handles game controllers connected to the gameport or USB ports, including the 3D Connexion mouse. You can have several devices attached, and any number of Joystick CHOPs in a project per device.
Before you use the game controller on your computer, calibrate them using Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Gaming Options -> Properties.
The main two outputs, the X-axis and Y-axis are output through channels called xaxis and yaxis. The other four axes are output through channels with similar names.
The range of the values for each channel is 0 to 1. For any axis, a value 0.5 is considered "centered". A value of 0 is given if the axis doesn't exist.
For any button, a value of 0 means the button is up or doesn't exist. A value of 1 means the button is pressed.
POV Hats behave like an X and Y axis. A POV axis only has 3 values though, 0, 0.5 and 1.
Contents
Parameters - Control Page
Joystick Source source - This menu will list all the game controllers currently attached to the computer. The selected game controller is the one the CHOP reads data from. If the synth is saved with one joystick name, and the synth is moved to a machine with another joystick type, the CHOP will adopt the first game controller it find to replace the missing device.
Axis Range axisrange - ⊞ -
- [-1, 1]
negoneone-
- [0, 1]
zeroone-
X Axis xaxis - The name of the channel that records the X-axis position of the game controller.
Y Axis yaxis - The name of the channel that records the Y-axis position of the game controller.
Invert Y Axis yaxisinvert -
Z Axis zaxis - The name of the channel that records the Z-axis position of the game controller.
X Rotation xrot - The names of the channels that record the X-rotation axis position of the game controller.
Y Rotation yrot - The names of the channels that record the Y-rotation axis position of the game controller.
Invert Y Rotation yrotinvert -
Z Rotation zrot - The names of the channels that record the Z-rotation axis position of the game controller.
Slider 1 slider0 - The name of the channel that records the position of the first slider on the game controller.
Slider 2 slider1 - The name of the channel that records the position of the second slider on the game controller.
Button Array buttonarray - The names of the channels for the buttons on the game controller. This CHOP can handle up to 32 buttons.
POV Hat Array povarrray - The names of the channels for the POV Hats. This CHOP can handle up to 4 POV Hats. The channels a POV hat is split up into are POVHatName_X and POVHatName_Y.
POV Hat State Array povstatearray -
Connected connected -
Axis Dead Zone axisdeadzone - This value defines how much of the area in the center of the joystick is considered 'dead zone'. When a joystick axis is in this dead zone it is considered to be centered. This value applies to all normal axes and rotation axes. This value is a percentage that defaults to 7%.
Parameters - Channel Page
Sample Rate rate -
Extend Left left - ⊞ -
- Hold
hold-
- Slope
slope-
- Cycle
cycle-
- Mirror
mirror-
- Default Value
default-
Extend Right right - ⊞ -
- Hold
hold-
- Slope
slope-
- Cycle
cycle-
- Mirror
mirror-
- Default Value
default-
Default Value defval -
Parameters - Common Page
Time Slice timeslice - Turning this on forces the channels to be "Time Sliced". A Time Slice is the time between the last cook frame and the current cook frame.
Scope scope - To determine which channels get affected, some CHOPs use a Scope string on the Common page.
Sample Rate Match srselect - ⊞ - Handle cases where multiple input CHOPs' sample rates are different. When Resampling occurs, the curves are interpolated according to the Interpolation Method Option, or "Linear" if the Interpolate Options are not available.
- Resample At First Input's Rate
first- Use rate of first input to resample others.
- Resample At Maximum Rate
max- Resample to the highest sample rate.
- Resample At Minimum Rate
min- Resample to the lowest sample rate.
- Error If Rates Differ
err- Doesn't accept conflicting sample rates.
Export Method exportmethod - ⊞ - This will determine how to connect the CHOP channel to the parameter. Refer to the Export article for more information.
- DAT Table by Index
datindex- Uses the docked DAT table and references the channel via the index of the channel in the CHOP.
- DAT Table by Name
datname- Uses the docked DAT table and references the channel via the name of the channel in the CHOP.
- Channel Name is Path:Parameter
autoname- The channel is the full destination of where to export to, such hasgeo1/transform1:tx.
Export Root autoexportroot - This path points to the root node where all of the paths that exporting by Channel Name is Path:Parameter are relative to.
Export Table exporttable - The DAT used to hold the export information when using the DAT Table Export Methods (See above).
TouchDesigner Build:
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An Operator Family which operate on Channels (a series of numbers) which are used for animation, audio, mathematics, simulation, logic, UI construction, and many other applications.
A custom interactive control panel built within TouchDesigner. Panels are created using Panel Components whose look is created entirely with TOPs.
samples-per-second of a CHOP. Each CHOP in your network has a sample rate, whether it is used or not. The overall timeline has a "frame rate", which is the number of animation frames per second, generally your monitor display frequency.
A Time Slice is the time from the last cook frame to the current cook frame. In CHOPs it is the set of short channels that only contain the CHOP channels' samples between the last and the current cook frame.
A parameter in most CHOPs that restricts which channels of that CHOP will be affected. Normally all channels of a CHOP are affected by the operator.
Exporting is the connection of CHOP channels to parameters of operators. The output of each exporting CHOP is one or more channels, active only while the CHOP Viewer is on. The current value of a channel can be exported to a parameter of any operator, overriding that parameter's value. See Parameter.
An Operator Family that manipulates text strings: multi-line text or tables. Multi-line text is often a command Script, but can be any multi-line text. Tables are rows and columns of cells, each containing a text string.
Parameters in TouchDesigner are an operator's settings (numbers, menus, flags, strings, paths) which the user can alter. Parameters for any operator can be opened by right-clicking on the operator and selecting "Parameters..." A currently selected operator's parameters can be viewed in a Network Editor by pressing the keyboard shortcut 'p'.
TouchDesigner is a hierarchy of components. "root" is the top-most network in the hierarchy. The Path is simply /. A typical path is /project1/moviein1.
