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TOP To T3D

Summary

The TOP To T3D brings 2D images into a volume in one of three ways:

  • Time Based stacks the incoming frames: every cook the slices move one step towards the front and the new image enters at the back, so the volume's depth is the last depth frames. Slicing it along another axis gives slit-scan images; rendering it shows motion as a shape.
  • Plane places the image as a slab of Thickness at Z Offset, which the Transform page can move and tilt through the volume.
  • Height Map builds a solid: each column is filled with the image's colour up to the height read from the second input, like a terrain or a relief.

The image is fitted to the volume's width and height by Pre-Fit Overlay; the depth comes from Resolution on the Common page.

Parameters - TOP to Page

Mode Mode ⊞ - How the 2D image fills the volume. Menu · default Plane

  • Time Based Timebased - A history: each cook the volume's slices move one step towards the front (Z = 0) and the newest image enters as the back slice, so depth is time and a depth of 64 holds the last 64 frames.
  • Plane Plane - The image as a slab Thickness thick at depth Z Offset, placed by the Transform page (which can tilt it through the volume).
  • Height Map Heightmap - A solid: at each pixel, the voxels from the front up to the height map's value × Height Scale + Z Offset + Thickness take the image's colour; Depth Softness fades its top.

Reset Resettoggle - While on, the history is cleared every cook (Time Based). Toggle · default Off

Reset Reset - Clears the history once (Time Based). Pulse

Thickness Thickness - Thickness of the slab (Plane) or of the layer above the height (Height Map), as a fraction of the depth. Float · default 0.1

Depth Softness Depthsoftness - Fades the slab's faces, or the top of the solid, instead of cutting them off. 0 is hard. Float · default 0

Z Offset Zoffset - Depth of the slab's centre (Plane) or of the height map's zero (Height Map), 0 to 1 across the depth. Float · default 0.5

Height Scale Heightscale - Multiplies the height map's value. Float · default 1

Height Channel Heightchannel ⊞ - The value of the height map used as height (luminance is 0.3 R + 0.6 G + 0.1 B). Menu · default Luminance

Parameters - Transform Page

Pre-Fit Overlay Prefit ⊞ - How the image is fitted to the volume's width and height, as the Fit TOP's options. Menu · default Fill

  • Fill fill
  • Fit Horizontal fithorz
  • Fit Vertical fitvert
  • Fit Best fitbest
  • Fit Outside fitoutside
  • Native Resolution nativeres

Justify Horizontal Justifyh ⊞ - Horizontal placement of the image, for Native Resolution. Menu · default Center

  • Left left
  • Center center
  • Right right

Justify Vertical Justifyv ⊞ - Vertical placement of the image, for Native Resolution. Menu · default Center

  • Bottom bottom
  • Center center
  • Top top

Extend Overlay Extend ⊞ - What the image returns outside its bounds after fitting and transforming. Menu · default Zero

  • Hold hold
  • Zero zero
  • Repeat repeat
  • Mirror mirror

Transform Order Xord ⊞ - Order in which scale, rotate and translate are applied (Plane and Height Map). Menu · default Scale Rotate Translate

  • Scale Rotate Translate srt
  • Scale Translate Rotate str
  • Rotate Scale Translate rst
  • Rotate Translate Scale rts
  • Translate Scale Rotate tsr
  • Translate Rotate Scale trs

Rotate Order Rord ⊞ - Order of the rotations. Menu · default Rx Ry Rz

  • Rx Ry Rz xyz
  • Rx Rz Ry xzy
  • Ry Rx Rz yxz
  • Ry Rz Rx yzx
  • Rz Rx Ry zxy
  • Rz Ry Rx zyx

Translate Tx Ty Tz ⊞ - Moves the image through the volume, as a fraction of each axis's extent. Float × 3 · default 0

Rotate R1 R2 R3 ⊞ - Rotates the image in the volume, in degrees, around Pivot; tilts the plane. Float × 3 · default 0

Scale Sx Sy Sz ⊞ - Scales the image along each axis, around Pivot. Float × 3 · default 1

Pivot Px Py Pz ⊞ - Pivot of rotation and scale, 0 to 1 per axis; 0.5 is the centre. Float × 3 · default 0.5

Uniform Scale Scale - Uniform scale, multiplied with Scale. Float · default 1

Parameters - Common Page

Output Resolution Outputresolution ⊞ - Where the output's width, height and depth come from. With nothing connected to the first input the operator always uses Resolution, whichever option is set. Menu · default Custom

  • Use Input useinput - The first input's width, height and depth.
  • Custom custom - The Resolution parameter.

Resolution Resolution1 Resolution2 Resolution3 ⊞ - Width, height and depth of the output in voxels. Used when Output Resolution is Custom, or when the first input is not connected. Memory is width × height × depth × bytes per voxel of the Pixel Format: 256³ at 16-bit float RGBA is 128 MiB. Int × 3 · default 64 · min 1

Input Smoothness Inputfiltertype ⊞ - Filtering of the internal GLSL TOPs' input samplers, as TouchDesigner's Input Smoothness. Inputs are read at normalised coordinates, so this matters whenever the input and output resolutions differ or an input is transformed. Nearest Pixel returns voxels unblended; Interpolate Pixels is trilinear. Menu · default Interpolate Pixels

  • Nearest Pixel nearest
  • Interpolate Pixels linear
  • Mipmap Pixels mipmap

Passes Npasses - Runs the operation this many times, each pass taking the previous pass's result in place of the first input. Cost scales linearly with the number of passes. Int · default 1

Pixel Format Format ⊞ - Pixel format of the output. Use Input takes the first input's format. With nothing connected, Use Input resolves to 8-bit fixed (RGBA), which clamps values to 0–1 and quantises them to 1/255: set a float format for signed distances, densities above 1, velocities or anything else outside 0–1. Menu · default Use Input

Bypass Bypass - Passes the first input through unchanged and skips the operator's work. With nothing connected the output is a single black voxel. Toggle · default Off

Version Version - T3D version of this operator. Read-only information; include it when reporting a problem. Str

Operator Inputs

  • Input 0: Color in_color - The 2D image placed into the volume.
  • Input 1: Height in_height - The height map, for Mode Height Map: its Height Channel sets the height at each pixel.

Operator Outputs

  • Output 0: Output T3D_output - The volume built from the image.

Performance

GPU time when the operator recooks: 0.007 ms at 64³, 0.013 ms at 128³, all of its passes summed (GeForce RTX 4090, TouchDesigner 2025.33230). An operator whose inputs and parameters are unchanged does not recook and costs nothing.