6.1 Going in-depth with Touchdesigner

Touchdesigner tutorial: https://youtu.be/qbupHTeJCeU?si=RNrKQOkRDrGAqVKa

TOP operators:

Lookup: allows us to change colors/have manual control over colors

Edge: outlines the edges of shapes in a previous operator

Transform: applies 2D changes to an image

**You can select all layers and change the resolution of all of them under the "common" tab

Noise: a data-generating operator

Displace: can be combined with data operators like "noise" to create mathematically-determined displacements/transformations of images

Level: changes brightness and contrast

HSV adjust: changes hue/saturation values

Crop: crops any output image

Movie file in: allows any video file to become a part of the generated images (in the screenshot above, it's the banana)

Tile: multiples the image

Mirror: flips images at different angles

Cross: combines images with a customizable ratio

Switch: blends from showing one input to the next (good for making animations that change over time)

CHOP operators

CHOPs get data from elsewhere to be input into Touch Designer: data can be used to drive other parameters.

Math: helps to remap the range of our inputs to be suited for their specific purpose in the next step of the program.

Null: allows networks of nodes to be closed properly so that the data can be used in the next section of the program

Pattern: produces different mathematical patterns that can be used to control other operators

Beat: acts as a timer that rests on a regular beat, allowing it to be used as a pace-keeping inpup

Lookup: combining lookup with beat and pattern (or other chops) to return the value of where the pattern is at:

**making sure the index ranges of chops that work together match up is important.

Lag: slows down rapid changes in input channels (for example, it makes animations cleaner)

Filter: smooths or sharpens input channels

COMP Operators:

COMP operators contain their own networks. COMP is short for component

Base: allows for a whole network to appear as a single operator in a larger network

In: used to create a TOP input within a COMP: (here, sop_tutorial is the COMP)

SOP operators:

SOP operators are surface operators; you can create, import, and modify 3D geometries with them.

Merge: combines 3D shapes

Transform: changing translation, rotation, scale; you can use them to make a 3D scene.

Noise: morphs shapes across time.

Adding images to the surface of COMPs requires:

    Camera COMP: acts like a real world camera to film your point clouds in pixel format

    Light COMP: casts a light in a scene

    Geo COMP: turns a geometric scene into a COMP

    Render TOP: renders all 3D objects as pixels

DAT Operators:

Text: allows the editing of freeform text; can also be used for writing and executing python scripts

    to run a script, right click on the text box and hit 'run script.'

    text boxes and global and do not correspond to a specific module

"members" in python return parameters/information about operators

use the Python TD documentation to create scripts for specific purposes

COMP Operators:

slider COMP can be send to a null to control the parameters of another operator

if you have a network of multiple operators you'll use repeatedly, drag them into a base COMP to be able to use them as a single operator

Working with Audio:

Audio file in CHOP -> Audio device out CHOP plays an audio file.

you can use data occurring in an audio file to affect other parameters

    Audio spectrum -> Analyze: outputs a single number to the channel

    tools -> audio analysis -> null: another way to have audio data cause change