Create datamosh / time-smear effect
create_datamoshCreate a datamosh visual effect network with three modes: feedback echo, frame blend, or time echo. Adjust decay and displacement for custom ghost trails and smear.
Instructions
Build a datamosh (broken-codec / time-echo / ghost-trail) visual effect network in one call. Three modes: 'feedback_echo' (classic datamosh — a Feedback TOP loop decays and re-composites each frame, creating ghost trails); 'frame_blend' (blends current and previous frames for a motion-blur smear); 'time_echo' (Time Machine TOP samples different time offsets per pixel for per-pixel delayed ghosting). All modes expose a Decay knob; set source to an existing TOP path or omit it for a built-in animated test source. Returns a container with a Null TOP output, exposed controls, and a live preview.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| name | No | Name for the generated container COMP (default 'datamosh'). | datamosh |
| parent_path | No | Parent COMP path where the datamosh container is created (default '/project1'). | /project1 |
| source | No | Path to an existing TOP to use as the mosh source. Omit to use a built-in animated Noise TOP so the loop cooks and previews even with the timeline paused. | |
| mode | No | Which smear algorithm to build. 'feedback_echo': classic datamosh — the Feedback TOP layers the decayed previous frame over the new source, creating ghost trails. 'frame_blend': blends the current frame with a cached previous frame via a Level TOP opacity, creating a motion-blur smear. 'time_echo': delayed-frame ghosting via a Time Machine TOP driven by a displacement map (UNVERIFIED — falls back to feedback-delay if Time Machine is unavailable). | feedback_echo |
| decay | No | How slowly the trail fades (0–1). Higher values = longer smear / more persistent ghost. Applied via levelTOP brightness1. Default 0.9. | |
| displace | No | Pixel displacement of the fed-back frame each cycle (the 'mosh wobble'). Applied via displaceTOP displaceweight1 (falls back to displaceweight on older builds). 0 = no wobble. Default 0.0. | |
| resolution | No | Output resolution [width, height] in pixels. Forced on the feedback loop to prevent flickering. Default [1280, 720]. |