Hey here is my function/expression of the week. In production scenarios we get our layers mostly with framepadding. This padzero helps to load and to offset them.
padzero(size, value)
https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/expressions/padzero.html
Here is an production example:
$HIP/tex/rushes/bubbles_electropol_gradet_Rescale/middelWipePrecompHigh_`padzero(3, $F+80)`.tif