Getting Started with TouchDesigner: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:38, April 20, 2024

By Imoni McCorvey Published: April 20, 2024

Hi! My name’s Imoni. I’m an artist based in ATL @imonitroni, and I’ve been creating a lot of TouchDesigner based work recently.

Fundamentals

First things first you’ll want to download TouchDesigner - derivative.ca/download. A Nvidia GPU is not required to use TouchDesigner.

A great aspect about TouchDesigner is that there is a lot of free information online. If you’re looking for somewhere to begin, TouchDesigner offers a fundamentals course here: learn.derivative.ca/courses/100-fundamentals/lessons/101-navigating-the-environment/

You don’t have to finish it all in order to get into things like projection mapping. However the first section of the TouchDesigner fundamentals course, navigating the environment, may be useful if this is new to you. I definitely encourage playing around with it!

Another good resource is The Interactive and Immersive HQ. They have a video on projection mapping here: youtube.com/watch?v=mTH7ZB4x47Q. Feel free to try it out if you have access to a projector or if you just want to see how easy set-up can be.

TouchDesigner is really great for live visuals and connecting various components like lights, music, Arduinos (microcontrollers) etc. This person worked on a live interactive music experience for Toro y Moi. They detail their process here: youtube.com/watch?v=8zHPGbraW4Q

These links are just the tip of the iceberg. It’s really powerful and offers deep programming capabilities if you’re interested in that.

Additional Resources

PPPANIK youtube.com/@pppanik007/videos Great tutorials showcasing TouchDesigner’s visual capabilities

Projector and Display specific

github.com/laserpilot/Guide_To_Projectors_For_Interactive_Installations

poniesandlight.co.uk/reflect/how_far_push_screen/

Online communities

TouchDesigner Discord - td-discord.com

TouchDesigner Facebook - facebook.com/groups/touchdesignerhelp/

TouchDesigner forums - forum.derivative.ca/

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Fundamentals==
-First things first you’ll want to download TouchDesigner [https://derivative.ca/download]. A Nvidia GPU is not required to use TouchDesigner.
+First things first you’ll want to download TouchDesigner - [https://derivative.ca/download derivative.ca/download]. A Nvidia GPU is not required to use TouchDesigner.
-A great aspect about TouchDesigner is that there is a lot of free information online. If you’re looking for somewhere to begin, TouchDesigner offers a fundamentals course here: [https://learn.derivative.ca/courses/100-fundamentals/lessons/101-navigating-the-environment/]
+A great aspect about TouchDesigner is that there is a lot of free information online. If you’re looking for somewhere to begin, TouchDesigner offers a fundamentals course here: [https://learn.derivative.ca/courses/100-fundamentals/lessons/101-navigating-the-environment/ learn.derivative.ca/courses/100-fundamentals/lessons/101-navigating-the-environment/]
 You don’t have to finish it all in order to get into things like projection mapping. However the first section of the TouchDesigner fundamentals course, navigating the environment, may be useful if this is new to you. I definitely encourage playing around with it!
-Another good resource is The Interactive and Immersive HQ. They have a video on projection mapping here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTH7ZB4x47Q]. Feel free to try it out if you have access to a projector or if you just want to see how easy set-up can be.
+Another good resource is The Interactive and Immersive HQ. They have a video on projection mapping here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTH7ZB4x47Q youtube.com/watch?v=mTH7ZB4x47Q]. Feel free to try it out if you have access to a projector or if you just want to see how easy set-up can be.
-TouchDesigner is really great for live visuals and connecting various components like lights, music, Arduinos (microcontrollers) etc. This person worked on a live interactive music experience for Toro y Moi. They detail their process here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zHPGbraW4Q]
+TouchDesigner is really great for live visuals and connecting various components like lights, music, Arduinos (microcontrollers) etc. This person worked on a live interactive music experience for Toro y Moi. They detail their process here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zHPGbraW4Q youtube.com/watch?v=8zHPGbraW4Q]
 These links are just the tip of the iceberg. It’s really powerful and offers deep programming capabilities if you’re interested in that.
 == Additional Resources ==
-PPPANIK [https://www.youtube.com/@pppanik007/videos] Great tutorials showcasing TouchDesigner’s visual capabilities
+PPPANIK [https://www.youtube.com/@pppanik007/videos youtube.com/@pppanik007/videos] Great tutorials showcasing TouchDesigner’s visual capabilities
-=== Projector and Display specific === [https://github.com/laserpilot/Guide_To_Projectors_For_Interactive_Installations/blob/master/Guide%20to%20Projectors%20for%20Interactive%20Installations.md github.com/laserpilot/Guide_To_Projectors_For_Interactive_Installations]
+=== Projector and Display specific ===
-[https://poniesandlight.co.uk/reflect/how_far_push_screen/]
+[https://github.com/laserpilot/Guide_To_Projectors_For_Interactive_Installations/blob/master/Guide%20to%20Projectors%20for%20Interactive%20Installations.md github.com/laserpilot/Guide_To_Projectors_For_Interactive_Installations]
+[https://poniesandlight.co.uk/reflect/how_far_push_screen/ poniesandlight.co.uk/reflect/how_far_push_screen/]
 === Online communities ===
-TouchDesigner Discord - [http://td-discord.com/]
+TouchDesigner Discord - [http://td-discord.com/ td-discord.com]
-TouchDesigner Facebook - [https://www.facebook.com/groups/touchdesignerhelp/]
+TouchDesigner Facebook - [https://www.facebook.com/groups/touchdesignerhelp/ facebook.com/groups/touchdesignerhelp/]
-TouchDesigner forums - [https://forum.derivative.ca/]
+TouchDesigner forums - [https://forum.derivative.ca/ forum.derivative.ca/]