- For Tuesday, April 9, please do assignment 4a: Getting Started.
- For Tuesday, April 16, please do assignment 4b: TouchDesigner Warmup (see below).
- For Thursday, April 25, please do assignment 4c: Audioreactive Environment (see below).
4b. TouchDesigner Warmup
(1.5-2.5 hours. Exercise designed by Em Lugo.) We are still learning the basics. For Tuesday, April 16, please do the following:
- Watch: Shapes and Colors (5 minutes)
- Watch: Basic Compositing (5 minutes)
- Feel free to watch any of the other sections of the 100-series Working with Images lectures.
Then: follow along and execute these two TouchDesigner tutorial projects, shown below:
- Do: Organic Color Tunnel (30-60 minutes)
- Do: Instancing Geometry with Mouse Interactivity (60-90 minutes)
Now, in a Discord post in the #4b-tutorial-work channel, please do the following:
- Embed a brief moving image (screen-captured video, animated GIF, or unlisted YouTube link) for each of the two project tutorials. It doesn’t have to be a lengthy video; I just need to see receipts.
- Write a sentence or two about your experience. What do you appreciate about TouchDesigner? What concerns or confusions do you have? Did you tinker with the project, and if so, how?
4c. Audioreactive Environment
(10-12 hours. Exercise designed by Em Lugo.)
For this project, you will develop an “audio-reactive” visual composition. Your project should use audio in at least two ways to either generate or modify a graphic. It will help to:
- Identify some suitable audio. Given the tools you have available, instrumental rhythmic music may work best, but that’s just a suggestion, not a requirement. Edit and/or trim your audio to produce a clip that’s about 1-3 minutes long.
- Study project examples to understand what sorts of signals you can obtain from audio (such as amplitude from certain frequency bands).
- Identify a set of visual parameters you want the audio signals to control (such as the color, position, displacement, etc. of a visual design).
- As you develop your project, consider whether there are visual parameters that you’d like to perform manually (e.g. with a mouse or keyboard), to change how your visuals respond to the music over time.
Now:
- (3 minutes) Browse these brief video documentations of artworks by others: one, two, three, four
- (15 minutes) Watch the two tutorials below, to give you some additional ideas about what’s possible.
- Create a Discord post for your project, in the channel #4c-audiovisual system.
- Develop an audio-reactive composition, as discussed above.
- Record a screen-captured video of your project. (Make sure it includes the sound!) Make sure your video is “full-screen” and does not show the TouchDesigner program network.
- Embed a link to the video of your project. An ideal format would be an unlisted Youtube video. If you decide to use a Box or Google drive link, make absolutely sure that the link is set to public.
- Write a few sentences about your project. How would you describe the mappings you established? What do you like best about the project?
Additional Tutorials
Below are some TouchDesigner tutorials and demonstrations that may be helpful. Spend at least a few minutes watching each, so you know what they offer.