Filter node
Time Slice 3D
A block of time: the last frames of a picture — a video, a camera, a plot, anything — are kept and stacked one behind the other along z, a monolith you walk round with a Camera node (cable one in and switch it to Interactive). Slices is how many frames (up to 2048), Spacing the distance between them. Slice (0…1) runs a cut through the block frame by frame: the frame at the cut is its face, the frames the cut has passed remain as ghosts of Passed Opacity (try 0.01), the rest is the block. Frames keep their alpha, so a plot or a keyed picture becomes a volume. Solid draws the block as real surfaces (fast even with two thousand frames; a transparent background is simply not there); switch it off for a soft, fully blended volume with Block Opacity and a Blend mode. Age Fade darkens older frames so the sides read as depth. Interactive outlines the cut face and lets you drag it through the block in the Render View (through an Interactive camera too). Layout arranges the frames in space: a Linear block, a Fan or a Book of pages, a Carousel round a drum, a Helix, a Tunnel of time to fly through, a Wave, a Sphere, a Scatter; Spread, Radius and Twist shape them.
Inputs
| Port | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
| EnableOff clears the picture and gives the block’s memory back (hundreds of megabytes). Switching it on again starts with an empty block. | bool | true |
| ImageWhat the block is made of: a Video Player, a Camera Input, a plot, any generator or filter. One frame is added for every NEW frame of this source (every Frame Step-th). Its alpha is kept — a transparent background makes the block a volume. | image | — |
| CameraA Camera node: walk round the block. Switch the camera to Interactive and orbit it in the Render View. Uncabled, the block is seen straight from the front — where it looks like its face and nothing more. | structure | — |
| Width0: the frame is as wide as the source\’s picture \— a cropped picture keeps its proportions, a full-frame video fills the view. Any other value sets the frame\’s width in space, Grafit units (the picture is stretched to it). What is used goes out on the Width output. | float | 0 |
| Height0: the frame is as tall as the source\’s picture. Any other value sets the frame\’s height in space, Grafit units. | float | 0 |
| SlicesHow many frames the block holds, 2–2048. The note under the field says how long that is, how many are recorded yet, and at what size they are kept: many frames are kept smaller (Buffer Quality = Auto) so that the whole block fits in memory. | int | 256 |
| SpacingThe distance between neighbouring frames, Grafit units. Slices × Spacing is how deep the block is: 256 × 0.01 = 2.5. Small = a dense monolith; large = separate panes of glass. | float | 0.01 |
| SizeScales the frame in space: 1 = as large as its picture is on the screen. 0.6 leaves room to orbit. | float | 0.6 |
| SliceThe cut, 0…1, frame by frame through the block: 0 = at the newest frame, 1 = at the oldest. The frame at the cut is the block’s face (fully there); the frames the cut has passed stay as ghosts of Passed Opacity. Cable an LFO or a slider in and travel through time. | float | 0 |
| Passed OpacityHow visible the frames are that the cut has already passed — very little goes a long way: with hundreds of frames, 0.01 is a fine haze and 0.05 is dense. 0 removes them. | float | 0.02 |
| SolidOn: the block is drawn as real surfaces — a pixel is there or it is not (a plot’s transparent background is not), hidden frames cost nothing, two thousand frames stay fast. Off: every frame is blended — a soft volume with Block Opacity and Blend, heavier on the GPU. | bool | true |
| Block OpacitySolid off: how visible each frame of the block is. As with the ghosts, small numbers add up: 0.05 over 500 frames is a dense cloud. | float | 1 |
| BlendHow the blended frames (the ghosts; the whole block when Solid is off) lie over each other. Normal: layers. Add / Screen: light adds up, glowing volumes. Lighten / Darken: the brightest / darkest wins. Multiply: frames darken each other. Subtract: light cut away. Overlay: darks multiply, lights screen. | int | 0 |
| Age FadeDarkens frames with their age (1 = the oldest is black): the sides of the block read as depth instead of a flat smear. | float | 0.5 |
| NewestWhich end of the block the newest frame is on: In Front (towards +z, where the default camera is) or At the Back. | int | 0 |
| Frame StepKeeps only every N-th frame of the source: 1 = all of them, 30 = about one a second from a 30 fps video — a block that spans minutes instead of seconds. | int | 1 |
| Max DrawnAt most this many BLENDED frames are drawn; beyond it every second, third… ghost is left out and the rest made stronger to match. Blending is what costs GPU time — raise it on a strong machine, lower it if the render slows down. The solid block is not affected. | int | 512 |
| FreezeStops adding frames: the block stands still while the source goes on — to look at it, cut through it, orbit it. | bool | false |
| Buffer QualityThe size the frames are kept at. Auto: full size while the whole block fits in memory (an eighth of the machine’s, 2 GB at most), otherwise as large as still holds all the Slices. Full, Half, Quarter, Eighth force a size. | int | 0 |
| InteractiveOutlines the cut face and lets you drag it through the block in the Render View — through an Interactive camera too: grab the face, move along the block. Anywhere else the mouse stays the camera’s. A cabled Slice cannot be grabbed. The outline is part of the output: switch it off for the show. | bool | false |
| LayoutHow the frames are arranged in space. Linear: a block. Fan: pages hinged at the bottom. Book: pages turned round the left edge. Carousel: round a drum, facing in. Helix: a spiral staircase. Tunnel: the block bent round an arc — fly through it. Wave: a bobbing block. Sphere: a ball of frames. Scatter: a seeded cloud. | int | 0 |
| SpreadThe angle the frames spread over, degrees: a Fan or Book of 90°, a Carousel of 360° (a little less keeps the last frame off the first), a Helix of 720° = two turns, a Tunnel of 180° = a half circle, a Wave of 360° = one wave. | float | 360 |
| RadiusGrafit units: the drum, the helix, the tunnel’s bend, the sphere; the height of a Wave; the reach of a Scatter. | float | 1 |
| TwistDegrees per frame about each frame’s own facing: a twisted tower, a corkscrew tunnel, a wave that rolls. 0 = none. | float | 0 |
| SeedScatter: another number, another cloud. The same seed is the same cloud tomorrow. | int | 1 |
Outputs
| Port | Type |
|---|---|
| ImageWhat the block is made of: a Video Player, a Camera Input, a plot, any generator or filter. One frame is added for every NEW frame of this source (every Frame Step-th). Its alpha is kept — a transparent background makes the block a volume. | image |
| Width0: the frame is as wide as the source\’s picture \— a cropped picture keeps its proportions, a full-frame video fills the view. Any other value sets the frame\’s width in space, Grafit units (the picture is stretched to it). What is used goes out on the Width output. | float |
| Height0: the frame is as tall as the source\’s picture. Any other value sets the frame\’s height in space, Grafit units. | float |
| Frames | int |
Open Time Slice 3D in the interactive catalog →
Time Slice 3D is one of 381 nodes in Grafit Pro.
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