In Pictures: TouchDesigner Summit 2019 Montréal

With a whopping program of 45 workshops and 21 talks on a broad range of topics presented by both expert "guru"  members of the community and gurus-in-training alike there was more going on than could possibly be absorbed in 3 days.

The daytime program transitioned into NIGHT MODE evening socials at the venue and Open Beamer madness with even more pixels created and displayed culminating with performances by some of our brightest TouchDesigner luminaries. The 3 days and nights were as inspiring a forum and as friendly and stimulating a meeting ground as could be conjured or imagined.

People came from all over the world to meet old friends and new, to learn new skills and to share their knowledge and experience with the generosity and lack of pretence that is so typical of our community (but never taken for granted!).

Putting this article together 3 months later, and looking back through photographs and the vivid memories sparked by these was quite a bit like being transported right back there.

Not sure what can be said that isn’t already clear from these pictures... but certainly it’s thank you ALL for participating and making #tdsummit19 unforgettable and above all, so easy!

the brand, designers & merchandise

We were LUCKY beyond belief to work with designers VanTa and Aurora Mititelu who designed the TDSummit19 brand and produced all of our print assets and merchandise as well as our social media artwork and videos. A staggering amount of "réal" (nerdy) and considered design, as the below illustrates...

Designers' Statement: "With this design we want to translate the complexity and strength of the TouchDesigner community into an abstract 3D form. 

This #parametric shape is generated in TouchDesigner thanks to a #raymarching algorithm. The different variables that define the shape of the 3D element has been synthesised from anonymous data of the #tdsummit19 attendees.

This incredible community is traveling an average of 3082 km per person for a total of 795325 km to reach Montréal. This is the equivalent distance to a #triptothemoon and back!!!

Some of the parameters are curated by hand to achieve a specific desired effect. For example, within the main shape there’s a repetition of 4 elements. Those represent the attendees’ continent of origin, expanding from the Americas all the way to Oceania, Europe and Asia. Still, we left enough space in the shape for that number to grow.

The lobes that are forming within the shape represent the new connections and job opportunities that are to be built during the summit days and nights.

We hope this design inspires you to create great projects with TD and the power of its community."

— VanTa and Aurora Mititelu

"It’s great to see how TouchDesigner, by being a particularly versatile tool, is able to bring together such a hybrid community from all around the world. It was lovely to take part in the Summit and to meet so many talented people. I'm definitely looking forward to the next one!" 

— Aurora Mititelu

the venue, the arrivals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIdDTQB2PIg&list=PLSqkC3f_BSty7cMvPOi_lK...

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Parametric Thinking presented by Tim and Roy Gerritsen

the INTERVIEWS

Our friend Andrea Familari Fax who conducted and published an excellent series of interviews a the Berlin Summit 2017 was once again on the scene talking to this year's presenters and participants. The first interview is this one with Matthew Ragan and we recommend keeping an eye out for the rest.

"What a remarkable opportunity to connect with our inspiring community.This was the first TouchDesigner summit for both of us, and every time we turned a corner there was another person we only knew from the forum or instagram. Time and again we were reminded about how supportive this community is, and how powerful it can be to share your ideas and process with one another. We left energized and excited about the growth both of TouchDesigner, and the expanding group of artists and developers creating inspiring work."

— zoe Sandoval & Matthew Ragan

STATISTICS

Participants came from 32 countries.

9% Asia (vs. 5% at the Berlin Summit 2017)
14% Europe (vs. 80% at the Berlin Summit 2017)
75% North America (vs. 13% at the Berlin Summit 2017)
2% South America

1/3 of participants had company association
10% students
22% women (vs. 18% at the Berlin Summit 2017)

Feedback rate was 26%

workshops & talks DAY 1

For a the full schedule and descriptions of the presentations please refer to the Summit 2019 website and be sure to check out as much of the program as we were able to capture on our YouTube Channel.

Note that while we tried to capture all the presenters we did not always have a photographer present so sadly if you are not represented it's due to that :( 

"Being a part of this TouchDesigner Summit has been an honor. Sharing knowledge with the best in the industry, such brilliant minds. Derivative nailed it, montreal was crazy!"

— Jakob Povel, GRANTECAN 

"We had such an amazing experience at TD summit in Montreal. A gathering of creative and intelligent minds, completely open and ready to help each other grow to the next level. The non-existing factor of egos, amazing conversations, multiple days of endless knowledge spread over uncountable workshops and talks, brought a huge smile on our faces! Far out the best community of artists we have encountered and we can't wait to join the next summit, wherever in the world that may be."

— roy & tim, y=f(x) lab

"The Montreal summit was my first TD summit, and I had a great time hanging out with familiar faces and meeting internet acquaintances IRL. I very much enjoyed the different moods, between the talks showcasing various and unusual uses of TD, the in depth workshops and the performances in the evenings. Another high point was the official Q&A, to get to learn a bit more on the future of my favorite software, accompanied by more in depth discussions with the lovely Derivative team! As a presenter it was a great opportunity for me to give an overview of my work, and share techniques I've been using. Thanks to Derivative for making it happend and looking forward to the next one!"

— Vincent Houzé

"The TD summit was a colossal infuse of inspiration and the perfect opportunity to experience in person the wonderful sense of community that this superb piece of software has around it. Not only great work was shown, but more importantly everyone was really eager to share with each other in the form of ideas, code, patches and knowledge in general. It is remarkable that such openness arises from any given group of people, but soon it makes sense when you have a chance to talk directly with the creators of the software, who are absolutely open to engage with their users and support their wildest ideas. Really looking forward to the next summit!"

— Darien Brito

"From an academic perspective, the proposed formula for the gathering, the presence of all the main actors and the quality of intervention was highly valuable. The TD Summit is precisly in the core domain of applied research, which is also in the mission of an University and of Hexagram-UQAM center."

— Jean-François Renaud Full Professor, École des médias UQAM - Université du Québec à Montréal

"Derivative yet again put together an excellent summit experience, with insightful content that addressed the needs of the community who either work within or create products or services for large enterprises. Touchdesigner summit is a meeting point of cultures and innovations."

— sahar Homami

night mode day 1 - open beamers

“The TouchDesigner Summit brought together the collaborative, generous Touch community to connect in person. It had the vibe of a family reunion—my beloved nerd family reunion. I left inspired to make more art and with new techniques to put into use.”

— Mary Franck

Talks & Workshops Day 2

“It’s incredible all the connections we made at the Summit and the future collaborations that came up from there. It’s always good to meet in person the people from the community and talk beyond TouchDesigner. It’s amazing how we share similar thoughts, ideas and creativity it feels like we’ve know these people for longer.”

— josué ibáñez, Cocolab

"I left TouchDesigner Summit counting down the days until the next one. This was my first TDSummit, and in the course of only a few days I met so many amazing like-minded people, attended some incredible workshops, experienced some inspiring audiovisual performances, and made many professional connections as well. As one of the workshop presenters, I felt it was very well organized —  even the food trucks were pretty tasty and made grabbing food between talks convenient. There was a sense of community and mutual love for creating and sharing, whether you were just starting out with TD, or have been working with TD for years. Can’t wait to see everyone at the next one!"

— Ginger Leigh (Synthestruct) 

Derivative Q&A

"For me some of the most special moments were getting to hang out with the Derivative team. It's so rare to have such a personal relationship with the creators of such a powerful piece of software. The users are all obviously inspired by their work, and in these moments i realize that this respect and inspiration is mutual, two-way."

— Gabe Liberti, Dave & Gabe

night mode day 2 - open beamers cont.

 

"It was my first time joining the summit and so glad I made it! TouchDesigner community is my favorite people!'

— Akiko Yamashita"

talks & workshops day 3

Homing in on the finish line Day 3 packs another full day of workshops and presentations...

Elburz Sorkhabi | How to Make a Living with TouchDesigner (Talk)
Yan Breuleux & Rémi Lapierre | Case Studies of FullDome Storytelling Projects (Talk)
Shandor Chury | Art with a Purpose (Talk)
Gil Castro | Network System Control (Talk)
Stefan Kraus | The Post AME Batch Video Encoder (Talk)
Ruokun Chen & Jimmz Zhang | Kinetic Installation and Laser Control System in China (Talk)
Ioannis Bardakos | Aesthetics, Arrows and Connectivity (Talk)
Dave Rife & Gabe Liberti | Touching Sound: Building Interactive Music Installations (Talk)
404.zero | How to Create Kickass Generative Stuff and Not Die (Workshop)
Richard Burns |3D Projection Mapping Workflow (Workshop)
Harvey Moon | Vive Tracking Projection Mapping (Workshop)
Peter Sistrom | Advanced Techniques in Media Management, Sequencing and Playback (Workshop)
Jacob Martinez |Fast Track for 3D and VFX Artists (Workshop)
Vincent Houzé | GLSL in TouchDesigner (Workshop)
Ulysses Popple | Livecoding TouchDesigner (Workshop)
Karl Skene & Matt Mansion | Pixel Mapping and Performing with LEDs (Workshop)
Axel Mulder | Sensors & TouchDesigner (Workshop)
Matthew Ragan &Zoe Sandoval | External Python Libraries (Workshop)
Ken-ichi Kawamura | Audio Visualization and UI Implementation Using 3D Data (Workshop)
Javier Alvarez Bailen | CMS for Permanent Installations (Workshop)
Tomasz Miśkiewicz | Complex Systems For Simple Minds (Workshop)
Simon Alexander-Adams | Creating Generative Visuals with Complex Systems (Workshop)
Rémi Lapierre | Live Performance with TouchDesigner (Workshop)
Keith Lostracco | Multi GPU System Design (Workshop)

"There are way too many nice things to say about Summit in Montreal. Perfect city with perfectly creative people for perfectly uniting cause.The sheer amount of shared knowledge was astonishing and one cannot help but be challenged, inspired and moved by such a vibrant community. Professionally challenging and inspiring, and personally warm and superfriendly – Montreal Summit had it all!"

— Shandor Chury, OVVO

 

 

 

 

 

 

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night mode | performances

And finally we come to the end of these 3 paradigm-shifting days and a final night with 4 stellar live AV sets (till late!) from some of our finest TouchDesigner artists. Goes without saying we can’t believe our luck to have such talent in our community and are forever grateful that these lovely people would perform for us.

Elemaun (Ali Phi)

Ali Phi's experiences in media arts started with the project ‘Elemaun’ in 2008 through audio-visual performances concentrated on persian motifs, the forgotten essence of Iran as an inspirational material. The flow of his works is based on programming , generative audio-visual design, interactive media & immersive environment installations which depict the relation between geometry, science, light, poetry and their transformations in computer. 

Exploring ritual roots in Persian art, culture and architecture has affected his creations by taking elements from old era of Persia & middle-eastern lifestyle to build his futuristic utopia made with conceptual installations.

Woulg (Greg Debicki)

Woulg creates dark sonic landscapes disrupted by glitches that are equally likely to break into dark pounding techno as they are to expand into ambient bubbles of texture ready to burst; reminding us that nothing lasts, that we should always expect the unexpected. His mind bending live sets explore these ideas while taking the crowd on an unpredictable journey, inexorably leading to dance.

404.zero

404.zero is an artist duo that was born out of an effort to eviscerate conventional dogmas and values. In 2016 the two artists that make 404.zero joined together to create projects that push the meaning of clarity to the limits in the field of modern generative art.

PRCDRL (Stanislav Glazov)

Stanislav Glazov is a Russian-born visual artist, musician, and photographer based in Berlin. For over fifteen years of working in the fields of light and visual art, he's always looking for innovative opportunities in the intersection of art and technology. 

‍Driven by his audiovisual expertise and a perpetual desire to create unforgettable experiences that inspire a strong emotional response, he developed his own algorithms, synchronizing a sound with cinematic visuals and abstract digital shapes. His large-scale spatial visual art installations and live performances explore meaning and narration within a self-written audio-visual language

THANK YOU · merci · Dankeschön · domo · arigato · gracias · do jeh · Dank U · Spasiba · Kiitos · 감사합니다 · hvala ti ·  Dziękuję Ci · obrigado · Tack · teşekkür ederim · grazie · спасибі · todah · متشکرم

The list is long and includes each and every participant who put their time, resources and energies towards joining us in Montreal, without you there'd be no Summit!

Of course a HUGE thank you to our 72 presenters and performers for being so generous not only with their time but also with their hard-won knowledge, mad skills and infinite energy. Without you we would not have a community and probably no software either!! So big love to:

Eugene Afonin | Simon Alexander-Adams | Javier Alvarez Bailen | Ben Benhorin | David Bianciardi | Quentin Bleton | Guillaume Bourassa | David Braun | Yan Breuleux | Darien Brito | Jeffrey Bryant | Richard Burns | Gil Castro | Ruokun Chen | Shandor Chury | Bertrand de Becque | Philippe Dubost | Mary Franck  | Tim Gerritsen | Roy Gerritsen | Stanislav Glazov | Tim Greiser | Alex Guevara | Matthew Haber | Wieland Hilker | Jacques Hoepffner | Vincent Houze | Colin Hoy | Josue Ibañez | Yan Kalnberzin | Kristina Karpysheva | Ken-ichi Kawamura | Owen Kirby | Stefan Kraus | Hugo Laliberté | Rémi Lapierre | Mathieu Le Sourd | Ginger Leigh | Alexander Letcius | Ofir Liberman | Gabe Liberti | Keith Lostracco | Matt Mansion | Jacob Martinez | Michael McKellar | Tomasz Miśkiewicz | Harvey Moon | Lucas Morgan | Axel Mulder | Yuki Narumi | Esra Özkan | Ted Pallas | Ali Phi | Ulysses Popple | Jakob Povel | Matthew Ragan | Jean-François Renaud | Dave Rife | Zoe Sandoval | Corey Schneider | Peter Sistrom | Karl Skene | Elburz Sorkhabi | Ronen Tanchum | David Tennent | Jonathan Thompson | VanTa | Akiko Yamashita | Emrah Yayici | Jimmz Zhang | Woulg

To our brilliant designers Aurora Mititelu and VanTa, your branding and design of all our Summit media assets and merchandise helped to shape the event and the experience in the most cohesive and exciting ways. Working with you both was an eye-opening experience and we <3 you very much!

To UQAM - Cœur des sciences and Hexagram for your extreme courtesy in so proffesionally and amicably facilitating our experience with all things venue-related and technical. Jason Pomrenski, Jean Dubois, Catherine Béliveau, Catherine Jolin, Jasmine Pigeon-Bourque and staff we could imagine no better place to host our summit and people to do it with. Un gros merci!

To our Technical Director Dan Ahmad - you made things happen in the most organized way moving mountains and making it all look effortless - and always with a smile. You're our guy and your team is amazing!

To our MUTEK Montreal family and our ongoing collaborations. You guided us in scaling up our act and facilitated our Monreal experience in so many practical and supportive ways and of course provided our participants with the best possible festival following the Summit! Alain Mongeau, PoLee, Grégoire Martel and Katherina Meissneer we hope to do this with you again :)

To our hardworking and always enthusiastic super team of volunteers we cannot thank you enough: Mari Asada, Adam Benoit, Nix Campbell, Elsa Donovan,  Andrea Familari Fax, Rey Jarrell, Anita Kucharczyk, Terry Lewis, Chelsea Liggatt, Samantha Matthews, Brian Moore,  Christine Ng, Andrew Nowacki, Jules Roze, Craig Tozzi, Suzan Zhu, Peter Zhuang. 

And last but definitely not least, to our DJs Wheelie Houdini aka Patti Schmidt, Matt Mansion and Fezz Stenton for setting the mood and beats during our NIGHT MODE sessions.