Chapter 02

Circle of Fifths

Sometimes, we want to make something out of nothing! In this project, we'll create our own shapes, split their color channels, distort them, and put them back together again! We will then remap the colors to align harmoniously with a bespoke color scheme of your own design.

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final.zip

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Videos

What exactly can we do with this project? Let's find out! P.S. If you're wondering about the name, it's from the musical pattern of a sequence of chords.

Lesson 01

Welcome to Circle of Fifths

What exactly can we do with this project? Let's find out! P.S. If you're wondering about the name, it's from the musical pattern of a sequence of chords.

Firstly, let's set up our project with our display layout, so we have a better view when it comes to making our project.

Lesson 02

Setting up Circle of Fifths

Firstly, let's set up our project with our display layout, so we have a better view when it comes to making our project.

We could create our own shapes in an image program but luckily TouchDesigner has a bunch of defaults we can use quickly!

Lesson 03

Creating new shapes using TOPs

We could create our own shapes in an image program but luckily TouchDesigner has a bunch of defaults we can use quickly!

Blending and compositing may be familiar from other image editing software such as Photoshop... here we can blend several textures together using Composite

Lesson 04

Blending using the Composite TOP

Blending and compositing may be familiar from other image editing software such as Photoshop... here we can blend several textures together using Composite

Every texture is made from red, green, blue, and alpha channels and we can alter and change their power using Channel Mix

Lesson 05

How to alter color channels with Channel Mix

Every texture is made from red, green, blue, and alpha channels and we can alter and change their power using Channel Mix

In the last project, we distorted a whole texture using noise. Now we can distort individual color channels separately and then composite them back together again!

Lesson 06

Displacement individual color channels with noise

In the last project, we distorted a whole texture using noise. Now we can distort individual color channels separately and then composite them back together again!

Smooth noise is nice but what about a different, bolder effect? Using Limit, we can round areas to an average color so we can distort in a boxy way.

Lesson 07

Rounding noise with a Limit TOP

Smooth noise is nice but what about a different, bolder effect? Using Limit, we can round areas to an average color so we can distort in a boxy way.

What if we like the general look but not the color scheme? Let's introduce ourselves to the Lookup and Ramp TOPs to take an input's brightness and map it to a new color!

Lesson 08

Applying a color scheme with a Lookup TOP and Ramp gradient TOP

What if we like the general look but not the color scheme? Let's introduce ourselves to the Lookup and Ramp TOPs to take an input's brightness and map it to a new color!

What about other shapes? How do letters look when you distort them too? Turns out... it looks pretty good!

Lesson 09

Variation 1: Letter A

What about other shapes? How do letters look when you distort them too? Turns out... it looks pretty good!

Introducing Channel Operators... or CHOPs for short. These are ways to control singular parameters, usually numbers, that make our artwork look less static.

Lesson 10

Adding a CHOP for controlling border width

Introducing Channel Operators... or CHOPs for short. These are ways to control singular parameters, usually numbers, that make our artwork look less static.

Channel Operators can be used for a range of parameters, including Texture Operator parameters that we've covered elsewhere. Here we alter the displacement weighting on a Displace TOP!

Lesson 11

Using CHOPs to control displacement weighting

Channel Operators can be used for a range of parameters, including Texture Operator parameters that we've covered elsewhere. Here we alter the displacement weighting on a Displace TOP!

Another simple effect we can use is by altering the noise TOPs to make them just a pixel in height (or width) and TouchDesigner will stretch this pattern to give us a slit scan effect.

Lesson 12

Variation 2: Slit scan

Another simple effect we can use is by altering the noise TOPs to make them just a pixel in height (or width) and TouchDesigner will stretch this pattern to give us a slit scan effect.

Sometimes, your output can look a little flat, especially when you're making textures from scratch, so to give it some life, we can add a touch of static noise over the top to give our artwork some depth.

Lesson 13

Variation 3: Adding textural noise

Sometimes, your output can look a little flat, especially when you're making textures from scratch, so to give it some life, we can add a touch of static noise over the top to give our artwork some depth.

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Next: Chapter 03

Kurinuki

Back: Chapter 01

Alla Prima

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