To see what’s in store for the audiovisual / generative-interactive 3D powerhouse TouchDesigner, look at the bleeding-edge “experimental” build release notes. And there’s a ton here – just a few highlights:
(pictured at top – Grand Canaria telescope digital twin, see below…)
- ProRes decoding and encoding (any OS)
- Leap Motion TOP is upgraded with Gemini v5 support on macOS Apple Silicon. We’re excited about Leap updates generally, which benefit both old and new hardware – see Leap Motion’s return and our friend Geert updated his GECO, too. There’s also an update for the Windows SDK.
- Audio and Video DATs make it easier to list/query attached audio and video devices, with callbacks.
- Integration with Adobe Substance is updated for use with E.6 Materials. (And, uh, no, probably that is not in your Adobe Creative Cloud subscription if you do 2D design and wondered. Adobe has a separate “Collection” plan for that.)
- FreeD is a network protocol for cameras; now you can use multiple cameras. It’s an older format but that also means you might find the cameras cheaply.
- Transform CHOP now works directly with matrix transforms.
- New Python stuff
- New Palette stuff including – if you were jealous of TDBitwig – now TDAbleton works with multiple instances of Ableton Live.
- … oh and, uh, Drop Shadow text? Heh…
There’s a huge list of improvements and fixes, and a bunch of updates to SDKs, from OpenCV to RealSense. Check it out:
And TouchDesigner lovers, let us know if there’s anything you’re particularly excited about.
Separate from the experimental build, there’s also some good news in Unreal Engine integration, which enables, crucially I think for the future of humanity, floating bananas:
The coolest recent application I think is this:
Building a digital twin at Gran Telescopio Canarias
(thanks, Isabelle!)
Remember, if you’ve got no cash, fear not: TouchDesigner Non-Commercial “can be used (free) for personal and educational use, including demoing and learning how to use TouchDesigner.”
And learning is really easy these days, with this beautifully organized site and tons of resources:
plus https://docs.derivative.ca/Learn_TouchDesigner
They did not pay me to say any of that.
