Utility objects

From 17dc0febb17888015be1e4ad1ed4b096a4909865 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Travis CI Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2015 20:12:11 +0000 Subject: Gem 206d71791bc3642e8c5391a4c59c30ba7411fab8 osx/i386 built 'master:206d71791bc3642e8c5391a4c59c30ba7411fab8' for osx/i386 --- Gem/manual/Utility.html | 149 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 149 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Gem/manual/Utility.html (limited to 'Gem/manual/Utility.html') diff --git a/Gem/manual/Utility.html b/Gem/manual/Utility.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8f6e17 --- /dev/null +++ b/Gem/manual/Utility.html @@ -0,0 +1,149 @@ + + + + + + + Utility objects + + + + +

+Utility objects

+There are a number of objects which were written to make it easier to use +both GEM and pd. For instance, you often pass around 3 floats at +a time in GEM, either for position or colors. To help with this, +there are a collection of vector objects. Use the list below to find +out about the objects. +

These objects used to be in a separate library called MarkEx, but they +have now been folded into GEM. +

counter - count the number of bangs +
average - average a series of numbers together +
change - only output when there is a change in +the number +
invert - invert a number +
randomF/randF - floating point random number +
tripleLine - line object for 3 values +
tripleRand - three random numbers +
vector objects - process a series of numbers +
hsv2rgb and rgb2hsv - convert between RGB and +HSV color space +

+counter

+ +

The inlets are: +
bang (increment or decrement the counter) +
set direction (1 = count up, 2 = count down, 3 = count up and down) +
set low value +
set hight value +
The outlet is the current count. +

So in this case, the top counter will count up from 1 to 10. +The bottom counter will count up from 2 to 5. +

The counter also accepts the messages reset and clear. +Reset immediately sets the counter to its low value and outputs the value. +The clear message means that the next bang will set the counter +to its low value. +

+average

+The average object just averages a series of numbers as they come +in. The left inlet accepts a single float. It then outputs +the current average. The default number of floats to average together +is 10, but that can be changed by sending a new value to the right inlet. +

The average object also accepts the messages clear and reset. +Clear will immediately set all of the values that the object has been storing +for averaging to 0. With the reset message, you must pass in a number +to set all of the values. +

+change

+Change only accepts a number into its left inlet. If the number +is the same as the last number sent to the change object, then it +does nothing. If the number is different, then the change +object will output the new number and store it for the next comparision. +

This object is very useful for the == object and others like it, since +they send a 0 or a 1 every time they do a comparision, and you usually +only care when the state actually changes. +

+invert

+The invert object is very simple. If the number sent to its +left inlet is equal to 0., then invert outputs a 1. If the +number is not equal to 0., the invert outputs a 0. +

+randomF/randF

+One problem with the random object in pd is that it only sends out +integers. This a real problem in GEM, where you often want a value +between 0 and 1. randomF is exactly like the random +object. +

When the left inlet gets a bang, randomF outputs a random number +between 0 and the given range. The range can be set with a number +to the right inlet. +

randF is just an alternate name for randomF. +

+tripleLine

+ +

The line object is really great for dealing with a single number. +To do a line with 3 values, like an RGB color value, means that you have +to unpack, do a line, then repack the number. Not only is +it a pain, but it expensive computationally. +

tripleLine behaves just like the line object, only it +accepts three numbers to interpolate between. In the example, tripleLine +will interpolate from the current values to 1., .2, .4 over 1000 milliseconds. +The default output resolution is 50 milliseconds, which is the same default +rendering time. Going faster with GEM objects will not produce any +benefit, unless you increase the frames per second. +

+tripleRand

+ +

Just as using tripleLine makes it easier to interpolate between +3 values at once, tripleRand makes it easy to generate three random +values. In the above example, when the bang is sent, tripleRand +will create three values and output them, with the first between 0 - 1, +the second between 0 - .5, and the third from 0 - .8. +

+Vector objects

+The vector math objects are +
vector+ or v+ +
vector- or v- +
vector* or v* +
vector/ or v/ +
All of the above objects perform math on a list of numbers. The +left inlet accepts a list of numbers of any length. The right inlet +accepts a single value, which is the operand for the computation. +In other words, they work just like the normal *, +, -, and / objects, +except they can handle more than one number in the left inlet. +

There are two other objects which are also useful. +

The first is vectorabs or vabs. It computes the absolute +value on a list of numbers. +

The second object is vectorpack or vpack. vpack +accepts a list of numbers in the left inlet and a single number into the +right inlet. The output is a single list of numbers that is the vector +with the single number appended to the end. This is very useful when +you want to change the time for a tripleLine without unpacking and +repacking all of the data. +

+hsv2rgb and rgb2hsv

+These two objects convert three numbers between HSV and RGB color space. +HSV stands for hue, saturation, and value. The simple way to think +of HSV space is that hue is the "color", such as red, blue, etc, the saturation +is how intense the color is, and the value is how bright the color is. +

You can get some really nice effects by varying the hue of a color, +because the brightness will not change while you do it. +

[return] + + -- cgit v1.2.1