Intro to TouchDesigner · Schedule

Weekly Schedule

Deadlines

Each weekly assignment is due by 11:59 PM one week after it’s assigned, the same day as the following class. Late work is accepted only under specific circumstances, considered case by case. See Policies.

Week 10 (Nov 11) is pre-recorded instead of in person, for a campus holiday.

Week	Topic	In Class	Assignment
01Sept 9TD	Welcome to TouchDesigner: Pixels, Assets, and an Exploratory Palette	Install TouchDesigner and tour the interface. A short live demo on why fundamentals matter before leaning on AI tools: solving a short sequence of arithmetic problems by hand, starting simple (two-digit addition) and getting harder each time (multi-digit multiplication, then a multi-step order-of-operations problem with parentheses and division), then handing that last problem to an AI tool and watching it solve it live, sometimes correctly, sometimes with a wrong step buried in the middle. The point: a student who worked through the problem by hand can immediately catch the AI’s mistake; a student who skipped straight to the AI has no way to know it’s wrong. Pixels and resolution, what an asset is, and how to find an operator’s own documentation (right-click any operator → Help). Building a palette component by feel: Constant TOPs into a Table DAT into a Ramp TOP, compacted into a COMP. A first look, just to see it, at the pre-made “2D Compile” network, a preview of where the semester is headed.	Recreate the palette component from class, and find and use one TOP you haven’t used before, found through its own documentation rather than demoed in class. Also: research one artist working in interactive or real time digital art, and submit a short write-up with a link.
02Sept 16TD	Signal Processing: Animate with CHOPs	A quick color theory mention, the deep dive is homework. CHOPs as numeric signals over time: a Wave CHOP set up as an LFO, exported into a TOP parameter to animate the Week 1 palette. HSV Adjust and Lookup TOPs applied to the palette.	Animate your palette using a Wave CHOP exported into a TOP parameter, and apply an HSV Adjust or Lookup TOP using an actual color harmony. Find and use one new TOP, as before.
03Sept 23TD	Feedback Loop Introduction	A generative, self referencing Feedback TOP network: a TOP network’s output fed back into itself. No webcam, kept simple enough to build a real mental model of feedback on its own. Also introduces the Displace TOP and a first look at the Noise TOP.	Build a feedback based piece using the Feedback TOP, and find and use one new TOP, as before.
04Sept 30TD	Feedback Loop Synthesis	Reaction diffusion, built on top of Week 3’s feedback foundation. Full content for this week is still being finalized.	Build a reaction diffusion based piece, and find and use one new TOP, as before.
05Oct 7TD	Audio Reactivity and Control Panel	An audio reactive piece: the Audio Spectrum CHOP driving visuals, plus Panel COMPs (buttons, sliders) for manual control.	Build an audio reactive piece where at least two visual parameters respond to sound, plus one manual override control. Find and use one new TOP, as before.
06Oct 14TD	2D Compile: Revisit, Explore, and Render	Revisiting the pre-made “2D Compile” network first previewed in Week 1, now expanded with a few more examples of techniques covered this semester, a handful of Luisa’s own personal networks, networks from previous semesters, and a video input setup, all walked through live in class. Image manipulation techniques inside it (Noise TOPs, Composite TOP, Level/Blur) are part of what’s being explored. Also: a walkthrough of how to render a file out of TouchDesigner, which the Midterm Project’s submission needs. This doubles as the midterm dry run.	Pick one or two sources from the “2D Compile” network, image processing, geometric shapes, noise, or video input, and start folding them into your audio reactive midterm piece. Previous student work is linked in Canvas alongside the assignment for inspiration.
07Oct 21Shared	Midterm	Midterm, presented in class. No fixed time slot, coordinated across the three Fall 2026 Creative Computing courses (Coding Art Fundamentals, Intro to TouchDesigner, and Coding Music Fundamentals).	See Midterm Project for the full assignment, including the Creative Computing website submission step.
08Oct 28TD	3D Introduction	Geometry, Camera, and Light COMPs, and a Render TOP. The Week 1 palette applied as material color.	Build a simple 3D scene, a few geometries, one camera, one light, with your palette applied as material color.
09Nov 4TD	Instancing	GPU instancing: per instance position, color, and scale, driven from data. Also the deadline to have your final project group formed.	Build an instanced system, particles, a grid, or a crowd, with per instance color pulled from your palette. This is the last required weekly assignment of the semester. After this, use the time to start prepping your final project.
10Nov 11TD	Talking to Other Software	No class this week, a holiday. The OSC/MIDI In material, receiving a live signal from a ChucK or Coding Art Fundamentals classmate’s software to drive a TouchDesigner parameter, is pre-recorded instead and already available in Canvas. Watch it during the week since there’s no class to cover it in. A sign-up sheet for the Week 13 presentation slot still goes out this week, posted in Canvas.	No required assignment this week. Use the time to keep prepping your final project. Watching the pre-recorded OSC/MIDI video is still required groundwork for the final project, even though nothing is submitted for it.
11Nov 18TD	POPs: Point Clouds and GPU Particles	A quick TA-led workshop introducing POPs, TouchDesigner’s newer GPU compute particle and point cloud family. Not a required topic, worth exploring further if it fits your final project, but optional. The rest of class is final project workshop time.	No required assignment. POPs are optional to explore further for the final project. Use the rest of class, and the time after, to work on your final project.
12Nov 25Shared	Final Project Work	Remote day. An optional Stanford CCRMA workshop on multimedia creative coding research and development. Help is available during class time, and additional help slots are added throughout the week. Final project work continues. A new pre-made “2D+3D Compile” reference network is shared for final project use.	Final project work time, help available during class. No separate submission this week.
13Dec 2Shared	Final Performance	Final performance, in person, within a shared 1–6 PM window. Groups sign up for their exact slot during Week 10.	See Final Project for the full assignment.
14Dec 9Shared	Digital Submission and AI Workshop	Required remote AI workshop, including a TouchDesigner-specific segment on using Claude to help debug TD expressions and Python DAT scripts, and to explore asset generation feeding into TOPs. The Digital Expo portfolio deadline is Friday, Dec 11.	Attendance at the AI workshop counts as this week’s assignment. See Final Project for the portfolio deadline.