transforms #

Transforms are the functions that we can call over sources using dots. They are “effects” that we can apply to visuals and chain together. There are different type of transforms, the most basic ones being color and geometry.

Some color transforms #

Color transforms change the colors (the RGBA values) for all pixels in a texture.

invert #

Inverts the color of any visual. The amount argument allows us to bypass the effect by inputting 0, or exaggerate the effect using numbers higher than 1.

invert( amount = 1 )

color #

Allows you to modify (multiply) the color channels of a visual. Using negative values will invert only that channel (it doesn’t output negative values).

color( r = 1, g = 1, b = 1, a = 1 )

brightness #

Changes the brightness of the image by some amount.

brightness( amount = 0.4 )

luma #

Applies a luma key. This means it will remove any parts of the image with a luma (brightness) lower than the threshold value.

luma( threshold = 0.5, tolerance = 0.1 )

hue #

Rotates the hue of colors in a visual. Inputting 1 (or any integer) will have unnoticeable effects, since each unit represents a whole turn in the color wheel. For example 0.5 will output complementary colors.

hue( hue = 0.4 )

Much more #

Check the color section in the interactive function reference for a glossary of all the color functions.

Some geometry transforms #

Geometry transforms will affect how the texture is displayed on screen, allowing us to do geometric changes such as rotating, scaling, positioning, and much more. They don’t affect the colors of the visuals but rather where they appear.

rotate #

Rotates a texture by some amount of radians. Most people just eyeball rotations on Hydra, but you can be precise by using Math.PI. You can also set a speed for automatic rotation.

rotate( angle = 10, speed )

scale #

With scale you can zoom in or out of your visuals by some amount. You can also scale only horizontally or vertically. Inputting 1 won’t do anything, inputting 0.5 will be half the size, 2 double the size, and so on. The offset arguments let you place the center of scaling other than the center of the screen, in case you need that.

scale( amount = 1.5, xMult = 1, yMult = 1, offsetX = 0.5, offsetY = 0.5 )

scroll #

Let’s you move textures left and right, up or down.

scroll( scrollX = 0.5, scrollY = 0.5, speedX, speedY )

kaleid #

Kaleidoscope effect with nSides repetition.

kaleid( nSides = 4 )

Much more #

Check the geometry section in the interactive function reference for a glossary of all the geometry functions.