Create depth-driven POP field
create_depth_pop_fieldCreates a depth-driven GPU POP scatter field in TouchDesigner, sampling a depth/mask TOP to displace or scatter particles; auto-spins up a depth source when none is specified.
Instructions
Build a depth-driven GPU POP scatter field: consumes a depth/mask TOP and uses lookup_texture_pop to sample depth for displacement/scatter proxies (and optionally color). When depth_top_path is omitted, auto-spins-up a setup_segmentation MediaPipe chain inside the container and uses its mask Null TOP as the depth source. Scatter modes: 'displace' applies a uniform depth-scale proxy, 'emit' adds an emission-like jitter scatter proxy, 'both' does both. Forward-compatible: pass create_depth_from_2d (Depth Anything, W4) output as depth_top_path. NOTE: POPs are Experimental — op types and par names are fail-forward, probe on a live TD. Returns a JSON block with container path, depth source info, controls, warnings, and unverified probe record.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| name | No | Name for the self-contained container created under parent_path. | depth_pop_field |
| spin | No | Y-rotation of the field in deg/sec, animated via transformPOP ry expression. Exposed as Spin knob. | |
| point_size | No | Render TOP point size, exposed as PointSize knob. | |
| resolution | No | Render TOP resolution [width, height]. | |
| depth_scale | No | Multiplier on the depth-driven displacement amount along +Z for displace/both scatter modes. Exposed as DepthScale knob when that displacement proxy is active. | |
| parent_path | No | Parent COMP path where the depth-pop-field container is created. | /project1 |
| invert_depth | No | Treat dark as near instead of bright. Implemented via Level TOP invert on a proxy feed. | |
| scatter_mode | No | 'displace' = uniform depth-scale proxy on the point cloud; 'emit' = emission-like scatter jitter around the sampled depth field; 'both' = depth-scale proxy + scatter jitter. True depth-weighted birth is unverified. | displace |
| color_by_depth | No | When true, copies sampled RGBA into POP Color attribute via a second lookup_texture_pop (near = bright / far = dark). | |
| depth_top_path | No | Absolute path of an existing depth/mask TOP (luminance = depth, bright = near by default). When omitted, the tool auto-spins-up a setup_segmentation chain inside the container and uses its mask Null TOP as the depth source. Future W4: pass create_depth_from_2d output here. | |
| expose_controls | No | Build the live artist knobs panel for the active depth field controls. | |
| particle_density | No | Approximate point count fed to pointgeneratorPOP.numpoints (100–500 000). |