Filter node
Time Slice
Cuts a moving picture into slices and shows every slice at a different moment: the first one is now, the next a little in the past, and so on across the picture — anything that moves is smeared through time. Slices and Delay (frames between neighbours) set the look; Mode slices left, right, up, down, from the centre, in rings, in clock wedges, in a spiral, in tiles, or along a Map image (brightness = how far back — cable a gradient or a Depth Estimation pass in). Randomize makes the slices unequal without ever leaving a gap; a Wave travels through their widths and, with Wave Delay, through their time. Order runs time forward, backward, ping-pong or at random; Feather melts the steps into a smooth flow; Slice Shift slips the slices sideways; Freeze stops recording and Loop Speed plays the frozen past. Wave Mode = Trigger sends ONE swell through the slices for every trigger (a beat, a key) instead of an endless wave. Cursor sets where the slicing STARTS: before it the picture stays live. Drag it in the Render View (it moves only the way the mode slices: sideways for left and right, up and down for top and bottom; a radius for rings; the starting ray for wedges) or cable a tracked position into Cursor X / Y — the slicing then begins at the performer. The node keeps the frames it needs on the GPU — the Frames and Memory outputs say how many.
Inputs
| Port | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
| EnableOff clears the picture and gives the recorded frames’ memory back. Switching it on again starts with an empty past. | bool | true |
| ImageThe moving picture to slice: a Video Player, a Camera Input, any generator or filter. One frame of the past is kept for every NEW frame of this source. | image | — |
| MapMode = Map: an image whose brightness says how far back each pixel reaches — black is now, white is the oldest slice. A gradient, a noise, a Depth Estimation pass (near = now, far = the past). Uncabled, the picture’s own brightness is used. | image | — |
| WidthThe content width this node reports downstream, in Grafit units. Cable the source’s Width here so that proportions survive the chain. | float | 2 |
| HeightThe content height this node reports downstream, in Grafit units. | float | 2 |
| ModeHow the picture is cut. The four directions: where NOW is and which way the past lies. Center Out: from a middle line to both sides. Radial: rings. Angular: clock wedges. Spiral: one arm winding outwards. Tiles: a grid, time snaking through it. Map: by the brightness of an image. | int | 0 |
| SlicesHow many slices (columns, in Tiles mode). 1–2048 (one slice per pixel column on a wide picture — a true slit scan). Few and wide reads as panels; hundreds read as a continuous smear. | int | 50 |
| RowsTiles mode: rows of the grid, 1–64. | int | 8 |
| DelayHow many frames of the source lie between one slice and the NEXT: 4 = every slice is 4 frames behind its neighbour, so 50 slices reach 196 frames back (about 6 s of a 30 fps video). Fractions are allowed. The line under the knob says how far the effect reaches and whether that much past has been recorded yet. | float | 1 |
| Curve1 = even steps in time. Above 1 the first slices stay close to now and the last ones fall far behind; below 1 the opposite. | float | 1 |
| OrderForward: the first slice is now. Reverse: the last one is. Ping-Pong: now at both ends, the oldest in the middle. Random: every slice its own moment (by Seed). | int | 0 |
| RotationTurns the slicing, in degrees, clockwise — diagonal strips, a tilted grid, where the clock’s wedges start. | float | 0 |
| Center XCentre of the Center Out, Radial, Angular and Spiral modes, in Grafit units (0 = the middle of the picture). | float | 0 |
| Center YCentre of the centred modes, in Grafit units, up positive. | float | 0 |
| TurnsSpiral mode: how many times the arm winds between the centre and the farthest corner. Negative winds the other way. | float | 2 |
| Randomize0 = equal slices … 1 = a few wide ones among many thin ones. The widths always add up to the whole picture — never a gap, never an overlap. With Slice Shift it also varies how far each slice slips. | float | 0 |
| SeedAnother number, another set of random widths (and another Random order). The same seed looks the same tomorrow. | int | 1 |
| Wave AmountA wave running through the slice WIDTHS: they swell and shrink in turn, still tiling exactly. 0 = off. In Trigger mode: how far the front pushes the slice edges it passes \— they bunch up at its leading edge and ease home in its tail. | float | 0 |
| Wave FrequencyHow many crests of the wave fit across the slices. In Trigger mode it sets the front\’s length (mostly its tail): 2 = half the picture, 8 = a short ripple. | float | 2 |
| Wave SpeedHow fast the wave travels, in crests per second; negative runs the other way; 0 stands still. In Trigger mode: crossings of the picture per second \— 2 = a front takes half a second; negative sends it from the far side. | float | 0.25 |
| Wave DelayThe same wave pushes each slice\’s DELAY by up to this many frames \— the widths and the time breathe together. Works without Wave Amount too. In Trigger mode the front throws each slice back in time as it arrives, and the slice catches up in the tail. | float | 0 |
| Feather0 = hard steps between the slices’ moments … 1 = time runs smoothly through the picture (a continuous time displacement). | float | 0 |
| Slice ShiftSlips neighbouring slices sideways in opposite directions, in units of the picture; rings and spiral arms TURN against each other instead, wedges zoom. | float | 0 |
| Age FadeFades the slices with their age: 1 = the oldest slice is transparent. | float | 0 |
| SmoothBlends the two nearest recorded frames for a fractional delay. Off = always one real frame (crisper, steppier). | bool | true |
| FreezeStops recording: the slices show a fixed stretch of the past while the source goes on. | bool | false |
| Loop SpeedWhile frozen: plays the frozen stretch as a loop through all the slices. 1 = the speed it was recorded at, negative = backwards, 0 = still. | float | 1 |
| Buffer QualityThe size the past frames are kept at. Auto: full size whenever the whole reach (Slices \× Delay) fits in memory \— an eighth of the machine\’s, 2 GB at most \— otherwise as large as still holds all of it: a softer past beats a past cut short. Full, Half, Quarter, Eighth force a size. | int | 0 |
| Wave ModeContinuous: an endless wave runs through the slices. Trigger: nothing moves until Wave Trigger fires \— then ONE front crosses the picture, one way, and is gone. Made for beats, keys and MIDI notes. | int | 0 |
| Wave TriggerTrigger mode: every rising edge sends one front through the slices (a trigger that stays on fires once). Up to 8 can be under way at once, so fast beats overlap. Uncabled, the Fire button does it by hand. | bool | false |
| CursorOn: the slicing STARTS at the cursor instead of at the edge. Before it the picture stays live; all the slices share what lies beyond. Rings start at the cursor’s distance from the centre, wedges and spiral arms at its angle. | bool | false |
| Cursor XThe cursor, Grafit units. Drag it in the Render View (Show Cursor on) — it moves only the way the mode slices — or cable a tracked position in (a body joint, a face): the slicing then begins at the performer. | float | 0 |
| Cursor YThe cursor, Grafit units, up positive. Left / Right modes ignore it, Top / Bottom modes use only it. | float | 0 |
| Show CursorDraws the start line and the cursor\’s dot into the picture and lets you drag it in the Render View. Off: the cursor goes on working, invisibly \— switch it off for the show, the guide is part of the output. | bool | true |
Outputs
| Port | Type |
|---|---|
| ImageThe moving picture to slice: a Video Player, a Camera Input, any generator or filter. One frame of the past is kept for every NEW frame of this source. | image |
| WidthThe content width this node reports downstream, in Grafit units. Cable the source’s Width here so that proportions survive the chain. | float |
| HeightThe content height this node reports downstream, in Grafit units. | float |
| Frames | int |
| Memory MB | float |
Open Time Slice in the interactive catalog →
Time Slice is one of 381 nodes in Grafit Pro.
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