TYPE: CHOP
TITLE: Slope CHOP

This CHOP calculates the slope (or derivative) of the input channels.

If the input CHOP represents position, the slope can be interpreted as speed.
By default, the Slope CHOP converts position to speed.

In mathematical terms, the slope is the first derivative of the channel
curve. The second and third derivatives can also be calculated. The second
derivative can be interpreted as acceleration (and the third derivative
could be interpreted as the rate of change in acceleration).

This CHOP can be used in conjunction with the Area CHOP to manipulate speed
or acceleration directly. You can calculate the speed or acceleration of a
moving object with a Slope CHOP and manipulate it with other CHOPs. Then
you can convert the new speed or acceleration curve back to position data
with an Area CHOP. You may need to adjust the starting position, since the
Slope CHOP removes this information. This can be done with the use of the
Constant parameters in the Area CHOP.

The Units option causes the output to be expressed as a change in value per
sample, value per frame, or value per second.

This CHOP may be time sliced by enabling the Time Slice flag in the Common page.

There are no local variables.

Parameters
    Type   - The type of slope to calculate.
        Slope                 - Calculates the slope of the channels.
        Acceleration          - Calculates the acceleration of the channels.
        Acceleration of Slope - Calculates the acceleration of the slopes of
                                the channels.

    Method - The sample pairs used to calculate the slope.
        Use Previous And Current Sample - The current sample and the sample
                                          before it are used. This is the only
                                          method applicable in realtime
                                          applications.
        Use Current And Next Sample     - The current and the next samples are
                                          used.
        Use Previous And Next Sample    - The previous and the next samples are
                                          used, producing slightly more
                                          continuous slopes than the other
                                          methods.

See also: Area, Math
