Did you know? #32 - Let's split

You have probably already seen the split node in the list of converter nodes. But why does it exist? What can you do with it? The existence of the split node can be explained by the example of the position or the color. In both cases several values belong to the complete definition of the respective property. In the case of the position, it is the value pair for the X and Y axis, while in the case of the color, the Input Assignment works in the RGB range by default. An RGB value basically consists of the proportions of the primary colors red, green, and blue in the total color, each in the proportion 0% to 100% or in alternative scales 0 to 255 or 0 to 1.

Nevertheless, it can make sense to split this combination in certain situations. Namely, when the target cannot work with the value in this way. You will get into this situation very quickly if you want to link a color bar with a fader, for example. The fader only understands one value, for example in the range from 0% to 100% or 0 to 1. The color bar, however, outputs this range of values three times, namely for each color, and combines them directly into a unique RGB value. With the help of the Split-Node you split this RGB value into its components. Divided in this way, you can continue to work with the individual values for red, green or blue separately from each other and link them to individual faders as described.

However, the split node is not limited to splitting an RGB value into its components. It can also convert color values directly into other color models such as CMY or HSV. The latter setting, in turn, offers you the possibility of addressing a parameter master from the Color Bar in order to set the color via the frequently mentioned Sawtooth workaround and to be able to change it live during a show. Because this way you control the Hue value of the color and move all the way to the outside of the color wheel. You can see how the corresponding connection set looks like in the wiki article about the split node.

By the way: if you want to split a position value, the procedure is quite similar. In this case the split node also works in RGB mode. However, the third output is not used in this case.

Your DMXControl Team