- Workshop TouchDesigner version - 2022.35320
The Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry is excited to offer a public-facing workshop with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.
Before we begin, there are a few important things to keep in mind that will make the workshop run smoothly, and ensure you can focus on getting the most out of our time together. Below you’ll find a list of required first steps / tools to have with you, and some recommended steps to help you prepare.
Bring you Laptop – Mac or PC. Make sure you review the System Requirements from Derivative so you know you have a machine that’s TouchDesigner ready. Don’t forget your power adapter – TouchDesigner is largely a GPU based environment. This makes for fast operations, but often means that your battery will get consumed quickly. You’ll definitely want your adapter, even if it’s a pain to lug around.
Download TouchDesigner 099 – it’s very important to make sure your machine can run TouchDesigner before you get to the workshop. There are some specific graphics card requirements and making sure everything works before the first day will make sure we can get the group started right away.
Get your TouchDesigner 099 License – you can register for a Derivative account here - Derivative Registration, and that will make sure you can create a non-commercial license key. The non-commercial license is free, and we won’t need anything more than this for our workshop.
A 3 Button mouse – You certainly can use a track pad while you’re working, but you’ll be much happier to have an actual mouse for working in Touch. Download and Install a text Editor – Visual Studio Code is a great place to start if you don't have one.
Bring some Assets – You certainly don’t have to bring any extra assets, but it’s often nice to have more than just the stock images / videos handy. Business Cards – the best resources you’ll find at any workshop will be the other people in the room with you. If you’ve got some extra business cards make sure you bring a stack to share with the folks in our group.
Take a look at some of the projects featured on the Derivative Blog to see what people are making and doing with TouchDesigner.
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 1:00 PM | Intro, Context & Roundtable |
| 1:30 PM | Navigating the Environment |
| 2:00 PM | Operator Families |
| 2:30 PM | Live Camera Video FX |
| 3:15:PM | Break |
| 3:30 PM | Realtime Rendering |
| 4:30 PM | Custom Parameters |
| 5:30 PM | Setting up Outputs |
| 6:00 PM | Wrap |
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 1:00:PM | I/O with TouchOSC |
| 2:00 PM | Instancing & Point Clouds |
| 3:00 PM | 10 Minute Break |
| 3:15 PM | Audio Reactive Visuals |
| 4:00 PM | Pressure Project |
| 5:00 PM | Wrap |
On our first day we'll focus on the basics. We'll start with a quick round of introductions and then dive into working with TouchDesigner. We'll start by looking at the user interface, and learning about the different operator families. We'll then get started right away by setting up a render network, and working with post processing effects. There are lots of ways we can manipulate video in TouchDesigner, and getting a firm handle on what image manipulation looks like will set us up for working with camera effects in the late afternoon. We'll warp the day by looking at creating custom parameters and outputting our content to another window or another screen.
During the workshop we'll create everything together so you have the hands on experience of building networks yourself. While that's great for working in the moment, sometimes you want (or need) an extra reference. The workshop repo also contains a file that's the end of day file - this contains all of the exercises we've gone over together in the workshop. This can be helpful as a reference, but also if you get stuck and need to compare you work to an example.
On Day 2 we'll be using TouchOSC. Make sure you download and install this application before tomorrow - we'll only be working locally, so you only need to install it on your laptop. While there is a paid version of this app, we will only be using the features in the free version for the workshop.
The first time you open any new application it can be frustrating or confusing as you try to understand how the interface works. TouchDesigner is a node based toolkit, and while it's similar to many tools, it's also distinctly unique. We'll take a little time to cover the basics of getting around the environment, and how to understand what we're seeing. Before you know it you'll be zooming around your networks like it's second nature.
Half of learning a new tool or development environment is just figuring out where all the knobs and buttons are. In this first course we’ll focus on getting your bearings in TouchDesigner, learning the essential interface elements and controls, as well as the fundamental principles of each operator family.
Learn more at Navigating the TouchDesigner Environment
Operators are the building blocks of our TouchDesigner networks. In a typically TouchDesigner project you'll find a series of operators connected by wires into a network. These networks make up the code for your project. The operators in our networks are separated into families which also represent that kinds of data that they contain.
A picture’s worth a thousand words… in TouchDesigner we work with images all the time, and the texture operator family is our primary means of manipulating pixels. From importing files to building visual FX this course will look at how we work with images and video, and how we can manipulate them in TouchDesigner.
Learn more at Working with TOPs
Channel operators (CHOPs) are the signals and controls that bring a TouchDesigner project to life. CHOPs bring in controls from outside devices, allow us to work with Audio, build simple state machines, and animate elements in the network. This course will cover the principal aspects of the channel operator family, as well as examine use cases and mechanics that will help you build your first interactive project.
Learn more at Working with CHOPs
With a long history in authoring 3D worlds and figures, TouchDesigner’s roots reach back to principles of non-destructive procedural geometry authoring. Surface Operators (SOPs) are the geometric and modeling primitives in the TouchDesigner environment; they’re also our introduction to the world of real time rendering and open a world of opportunities for creating both artistic and technical visual worlds
Learn more at Working with SOPs
Text, tables, and scripts – a little bit of Python can go a long way; from controlling how operators function in the network, to more complex state and preset machines. While it’s not required that you learn Python to use TouchDesigner, it does open a wide world of possibilities for expanding your projects and creativity. In this course we’ll dip our toe into the scripting waters while also learning about the flexibility and power of the text based operators in TouchDesigner.
Learn more at Working with DATs
Making something visually compelling only half the story, it’s also important to consider how you paint the world with the pixels you’ve manipulated. In this course we’ll look at the essential organization and output mechanics for displaying your work on a screen or through a projector. We’ll also look some the high level organizational capabilities in TouchDesigner, and how this can make your projects easier to navigate.
Learn more at Working with COMPs - Network Organization
In addition to building aesthetically focused elements, TouchDesigner is also used to author full UI packages for applications, exhibition pieces, and installations. In this lesson, we’ll look at the building blocks for creating interactive user interfaces, as well as how to build resolution adaptable elements.
Learn more at Working with COMPs - Building Interfaces
While it’s great to see how we connect operators of like families together, most of the work we do with TouchDesigner often requires connecting operators of different families together. Here we’ll look at a few simple examples of how we can start building relationships between operators of different families, and how we can use these ideas to build responsive and interactive networks.
There's no shortage of things you can do with TouchDesigner, and one of the fun and exciting ways to get started learning TOPs is to build video FX networks and work with live cameras. In these examples we'll look at how we can approach several different techniques for working with video - both live footage and video files. We'll look at how simple transformations can create interesting effects with only a few nodes in our network. We'll also take a closer look at the mechanics of working with texture operators, and how you can take build your own reusable effects.
There are lots of ways we might use real time rendering in TouchDesigner - from rendering an abstract 3D scene to data visualization. We'll cover some of the basics that you need to know when setting up your rendering pipeline so you can start creating your own 3D scenes.
Real time rendering in TouchDesigner requires a few primary ingredients. These are made up of both Component Operators, Texture Operators, and Surface Operators. Our most basic set-up starts with a Light, Camera, and Geometry COMP. Component operators can hold entire networks, and the Geometry COMP typically holds the SOPs we plan on rendering. In order to actually render our scene we need to add a Render TOP to our network. The Render TOP uses the Light, Camera, and Geo COMPs to create a 2D view of our 3D scene.
Learn more at TouchDesigner Basic Render Setup
Custom parameters are an essential part of the modern TouchDesigner workflow. This feature makes it easy for us to create custom components that have their own controls without needing to build complete UIs. They also allow for a streamlined approach to creating sharable and reusable elements inside of TouchDesigner. In this section we’ll look at how to get started with using custom components.
We’ll also look at how we can output the image and video contents of our network to Window COMP. This is how we can display content on another screen, projector, or other output device.
An overview of what we'll cover on Day 2
Building interfaces for your projects is no small feat and there are lots of ways to approach this challenge. While TouchDesigner itself has a built-in UI system it's often helpful to separate your UI schema from your project. You might create a web interface with something like tools like:
If you wanted to use a dedicated app instead of something web based you might consider:
Any of the solutions above will help you create an interface that's on a different screen or even a different computer than your TouchDesigner project's main output. For this workshop we're going to use TouchOSC. Full disclosure, there is both a free and paid version of this app - for this workshop we'll only be using features that are in the free version. The latest version of TouchOSC runs on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS - which makes it easy to build an interface on your desktop and then share it to your mobile device.
Organize as you program
While it can be temping to just drop another OSC in CHOP or DAT into your network wherever you need one, this is generally considered bad practice. Every operator you use has some computational overhead associated with it, so it's best to only add the operators you need. But how do you only work with one OSC in op? You use select ops. A select op can route the contents of an operator to anywhere in your network. To put this into practice, at the root of your project create a base called base_com or base_io. Put your OSC In operator in this network, and then use select Ops to pull it's contents anywhere you need them.
OpenSoundControl (OSC) is a data transport specification (an encoding) for realtime message communication among applications and hardware. OSC was developed by researchers Matt Wright and Adrian Freed during their time at the Center for New Music & Audio Technologies (CNMAT). OSC was originally designed as a highly accurate, low latency, lightweight, and flexible method of communication for use in realtime musical performance. They proposed OSC in 1997 as “a new protocol for communication among computers, sound synthesizers, and other multimedia devices that is optimized for modern networking technology”.
learn more at the official page for OSC
When you're first getting started with instances it's easy to quickly feel like you've reached the limit of what you can create. As we start to explore some intermediate and advanced techniques for instancing there are more features of the Geo COMP we can use. We'll start by taking a closer look at how to work with many more instances by doing the computation for their movement in TOPs.
Manipulating point clouds often means thinking about your points spatially. We'll explore how we can use some simple tricks with a bit of math to calculate distance, create bounding fields where we can manipulate our points, and how some of the secrets of the Point Transform TOP.
In the reference TOE file you'll find examples on doing the following in TOPs:
- computing distance
- computing rotation
- benefits of using square textures for point clouds
- converting lat long coords to xyz coords
- loading a point file in TOP with a CSV
- SDF examples
There are lots of ways to add interactive elements to your projects, and it's not uncommon to want to make your project react to audio.
While we certainly could create our own audio analysis tool in TouchDesigner, we can also take advantage of an existing component in the palette called audioAnalysis. The audioAnalysis COMP takes an audio feed as an input and outputs several channels we can use to control our networks.
We’ll use the audioAnalysis COMP to build responsive and reactive behaviors that will animate our render network. We’ll build on what we learned on day 1 about rendering, and the techniques we’ve explored for using instances in our render networks.
While it's often tempting to do everything you can in a single application, it can also be beneficial to break up the work across multiple applications.
Depending on the type of audio integration you're looking for you may consider TDAbleton for achieving some of the audio interactivity you're after. The TDAbleton package can make integration with your Ableton set much easier, especially if you're focused on audio first.
Other node based programming environments that allow for signal processing include MaxMSP and Pure Data. Some artist / engineers preferer to do do their audio analysis in one of these applications and then send the results to TouchDesigner via OSC or UDP Messaging. This alternative can ensure that audio analysis is a separate concern and runs in another thread - which may help improve your application optimization.
Networking messaging
If you're collaborating with another artist, it can often be beneficial to use network messages to synchronize your applications. For example, if one creator is focused on audio you can still receive messages over the network to control the visual elements you've created in TouchDesigner. The same techniques we've explored using OSC messages from a control surface can also be used when sending control messages from another computer or application.
Pressure what now?
The intention of a pressure project is tackle a challenge or prompt in a short period of time. In this case the "pressure" in the project is only because it's intended to be a fast sketch as a way to explore and experiment - not something that needs to be polished or perfect. Our pressure project is going to combine the skills we've learned over the past two days - you're welcome to borrow any of the techniques we've explored or code we've written together. You're also encouraged to experiment and explore ideas that may have been percolating over the course of the workshop. Both of the instructors will be circulating during your worktime, so feel free to ask for help if you get stuck.
Code is only efficient or inefficient
As much as it'd be great if there was a single "right" way to solve a problem or achieve an outcome, programming is mostly about efficiency. There's not wrong way to solve a problem in TouchDesigner - it might be more efficient to use one technique over another, but it's important to explore and try different techniques. Don't be afraid to explore an idea just because it might slow down your computer.
Using the techniques we've explored during the workshop, create a component that responds to the prompt:
- a love letter to a place you've never been before
OR
- a love letter to a place you can longer return to
Project requirements:
- Encapsulated in a
base - Use Custom Parameters
- Use an
inandoutto move textures or other elements into your component
You'll have about 30 minutes to complete your pressure project. After 30 minutes you'll walk through the room to see what other participants have created.
Unfortunately we can’t build complete EXEs with TouchDesigner, but we can build components to share called TOX files, and we can embed files in project file (our TOE). Here we’ll look at a few of the techniques you might use when packaging up your project file either to share or save as a TOX or to build a TOE file that holds all of the assets your project needs to move to another computer.