Migrating from TouchDesigner 017
Contents |
Starting Out
The first thing you’ll see when you open TouchDesigner is the new network called /project1. This is a network (also known as Component) that is located at the top, or Root, of the Touch project’s hierarchy. This is where the obj/, ch/, comp/, and out/ networks used to be located in Touch017 (in TouchDesigner017 go into any network pane and keep pressing ‘u’ to get there). We have removed all these 017 networks in 077’s startup file, and you are presented with a single node called moviein1 which is found in the /project1 network.
The moviein1 node is a TOP (Texture OPerator). You will notice a thumbnail image is being displayed where the old vector image icon used to be found. This is a Node Viewer. Every OP in a Touch network can now display its own viewer in place of its icon.
These viewers are OP dependent. SOPs will display SOP viewers, CHOPs use CHOP viewers, etc. They are interactive viewers, allowing you to tumble, zoom, and pan in SOPs (using lmb, mmb, and rmb respectively, the same as in a full viewer), and zoom and pan in CHOPs. To turn on a node viewer, click the Viewer Flag which is the upper-most flag and looks like a circle (the flags which are going up the left side of the icon/viewer).
To facilitate displaying different types of data, nodes are also re-sizable. For example, if you are previewing a 16x9 image, you can resize the operator itself to be 16x9. Another good use for this is CHOP data that is many samples long, such as in Wave or Noise CHOPs. Grab the edge or corner and drag to resize a node.
Mixed Nodes
In previous versions of Touch, networks contained OPs of a single Operator Family. You would work on CHOP networks in a CHOP pane, SOPs in a SOP pane, and so on. Touch 077 breaks this limitation with the introduction of mixed nodes. Networks can now contain OPs of any family type mixed together. This lets you place all the operators you need to accomplish a task in a single network, bringing everything together into a tighter workflow. This is why the Root desk is the new starting place, there is no need to have different panes open for Objects, SOPs, CHOPs, etc now.
The OP Create Dialog (accessed by the <tab> key or by MMB or RMB on OP inputs/outputs) has been redesigned for mixed nodes, giving you access to all the operators. Here are the new features of the OP Create dialog:
• Select OP-type from sub-menu along the top
• Generators and Filters are now displayed together, with Generators being the darker shade and Filters the lighter shade of their OP color.
• You can start typing the name of the OP you are looking for in a text field at the bottom of the window. Any OP-name that matches the string you’ve typed will highlight in white. For example, type ‘t’ and all the OPs starting with ‘t’ will turn white, or type ‘Math’ and the ‘Math’ operator will be highlighted.
• New colors have been assigned to the OPs, OP families are color-coded.
• An Expert button at the top will hide/show expert operators, helpful for new users.
New Operators
TouchDesigner077 includes new OP types Components, TOPs (Texture Operators), MATs (MATerial operators), and DATs (DATa operators).
All OPs are now connected in a horizontal fashion. Operator’s inputs and outputs are on left and right sides respectively. Components (formerly Objects) can also be connected vertically to facilitate hierarchical parenting.
There are 4 common flags found vertically on the left side of the viewer of all nodes.
The OP family dependand flags are found in the lower-right area of the node, beside the node's name. These flags are different for each OP family, some examples below.
- CHOPs - Display Flag, Export Flag, Viewer Active Flag
- TOPs - Display Flag, Viewer Active Flag
- SOPs - Template Flag, Render Flag, Display Flag, Viewer Active Flag
UI Additions
There are some other UI additions worth noting.
• On multi-input OPs that have separate node connectors, you can quickly reorder the inputs by dragging 1 connector onto another. When you drop the connector, the inputs will swap places. This is very useful when using composite TOPs and you want to swap foreground and background elements.
• You can now also change parameters on multiple OPs simultaneously. The OPs must be the same type. Simply select the multiple OPs and edit the parameter dialog. The changes made will apply to all selected OPs.
• New spline OP wires connecting nodes, with data flow animating when cooking.
• Exported CHOP channels are indicated by a dotted straight connecting line. (when inside the same network pane) These connecting lines also appear for channel references to another OP and when a path points to another OP.
• Node outlines to indicate status - Green: current OP - Yellow: selected OP
