Simon Alexander-Adams

Bullet Solver and TDAbleton in TouchDesigner

This tutorial uses the Bullet Solver and TDAbleton to create a mouse based interactive in TouchDesigner. We’ll touch on the Bullet Dynamics operators, render picking, adding visual effects, and finally triggering audio in both TouchDesigner and Ableton Live. The project is based on the “multiTouch” example found in the palette, which is examined in the […]

Fixed Width Outlines – TouchDesigner 10

Part of my TouchDesigner 10 series, where I cover topics or projects that can be covered in 10 minutes or less. This video looks at how to create consistently spaced outlines using any black and white shape as an input. This can be used in combination with interactive inputs, like a webcam, or generative visuals […]

Animating Noise – TouchDesigner 10

Part of my TouchDesigner 10 series, where I cover topics or projects that can be covered in 10 minutes or less. This video covers a few aspects of animating noise in TouchDesigner in the context of instancing. This includes quantization, shuffling the seed, smoothing discontinuous motion, and looping the animation to the timeline. Please note […]

Sketchy Toon Shader in TouchDesigner

This tutorial looks at porting a sketchy toon shader into TouchDesigner from Jaume Sanchez’s Digital Inktober 2020. https://spite.github.io/sketch/ Beyond discussing the process of going from Three.js and WebGL to TouchDesigner, I’ll touch on convolution and sobel filters. I’ll also preview a polished version of the shader which is available in the example file. Lastly I’ll […]

Easing in TouchDesigner

This video looks at easing in TouchDesigner. Specifically, what it is, why it is useful and how to use it in your projects. We will look at the core basics, followed by a walkthrough of an example project. Lastly I’ll demo a tool called TDEase I’ve created that makes it a bit faster to play […]

Distance Map Displacement in TouchDesigner

This TouchDesigner tutorial covers creating a displacement effect using distance maps, specifically focusing on the jump flooding algorithm. It also looks at generating a simple plexus style pattern for use with the effect. Please note this tutorial uses TouchDesigner Version 2023.11600. If you’re using an older or newer version there may be features that don’t […]

Instancing with TOPs in TouchDesigner

This TouchDesigner tutorial covers instancing with TOPs through the creation of a “particle donut.” It’s at a beginner to intermediate level, with a more advanced section at the end touching on GLSL. Consider supporting me on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/Polyhop There you can gain access to project files, help guide future topics and support the creation of […]

ASCII Effect in TouchDesigner

This is a tutorial for creating an ASCII effect in TouchDesigner. It is a beginner to intermediate level tutorial, though I do expect you have some familiarity with how to navigate the TouchDesigner interface. Consider supporting me on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/Polyhop There you can gain access to project files, help guide future topics and support the […]

Variable Line Width in TouchDesigner

This beginner level TouchDesigner tutorial looks at how to create variable line width using the Line Material. If you have questions, comments, suggestions or corrections please leave them below, and thanks for watching! TouchDesigner build used: 2020:20020 Download an example .toe file here: https://github.com/Simonalexanderadams/TD-Tutorials/tree/master/2020-03-17_Variable_Line_Width Topic Timestamps: 00:10 – Intro 02:02 – Grid setup and render […]

Looping Noise Part 2: Infinite Tunnel Zoom (TouchDesigner Tutorial)

This beginner level TouchDesigner tutorial uses 1D looping noise for the purpose of creating infinite tunnel zooms that start and stop in the same spot (okay, technically not infinite, but it does feel like it goes on forever!) We will also look at a technique for getting smooth camera motion and more generally explore methods […]

Looping Noise Part 1: Ending at the Beginning (TouchDesigner Tutorial)

This beginner level TouchDesigner tutorial explores a method for looping noise for the purpose of creating looping animations. In it we will recreate a Processing sketch by Étienne Jacob, which is featured in his blog post Drawing from noise, and then making animated loopy GIFs from there. The article has lots of great examples of […]

Noise Displacement in TouchDesigner

This beginner level TouchDesigner tutorial covers using the Noise TOP to generate vertex displacement effects within the Phong MAT. It also touches on how to create a render network from scratch, recoloring with the Lookup TOP, and adding post-render shading with the SSAO TOP. In the article linked to below I discuss these topics in […]

Instancing Geometry in TouchDesigner

This beginner level TouchDesigner tutorial covers instancing with the Geometry COMP, a technique that lets you copy one piece of geometry many times in an efficient way. To accomplish this we go through various methods for generating and manipulating CHOP data to represent position, rotation and color values. Instancing is a flexible tool that is […]