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Trying TouchDesigner


TouchDesigner is a node-based visual programming language for real-time interactive multimedia content, developed by the Toronto-based company Derivative (via Wikipedia). TouchDesigner is so flexible that it can be used to create audiovisual-based projects, detailed 3d projects, create complex interactive UI solutions, amongst others. I honestly have never heard of this software before being introduced by my lecturer. So far, I have been doing experiments with nodes and looking up tutorials to get familiar with the details. Tutorials I've been following are mostly by Bileam Tschepe where he thought the basics of using the software to create audio and visual-related artwork.


To get a project working, we must always remember that the flow of the network must be arranged in a flow from left to right. Start everything on the left side of the screen, and end the project on the right, preferably into one output (node).

To start a project, it requires operations, and to create(or add) these operations, we need to open the Operations Dialog, and listed in the dialog, are Operators Family. There are six Families of Operators. Of the six families, five are basic operator families and one is the Component family which can further contain networks of operators. Components containing components form the TouchDesigner hierarchy and give rise to the operator Paths.

  • COMPs - Components - Object components (3D objects), Panel components (2D UI gadgets), and miscellaneous components. Components contain other operators.
  • TOPs - Texture Operators - all 2D image operations.
  • CHOPs - Channel Operators - motion, audio, animation, control signals.
  • SOPs - Surface Operators - 3D points, polygons, and other 3D "primitives".
  • DATs - Data Operators - ASCII text as plain text, scripts, XML, or organized in tables of cells.
  • MATs - Material Operators - materials and shaders.

Within each operator family, "generator" operators have 0 inputs and create data, and "filter" operators have 1 or more input and filter data.
Each operator's family is a unique color. Only operators of the same family (color) can be Wired together.

You can convert data between different Operator families using the following conversion operators. For example, you can convert geometry into a DAT list of point positions using the SOP to DAT operator, or convert a TOP image's pixel values into red, green, and blue channels in CHOP using the TOP to CHOP operator.
  • TOP to CHOP
  • CHOP to TOP
  • CHOP to DAT
  • CHOP to SOP
  • DAT to CHOP
  • DAT to SOP
  • SOP to CHOP
  • SOP to DAT
  • Object CHOP

Reference:
https://docs.derivative.ca/Operator
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