Early 2000s-style Glitch / Net Art In TouchDesigner - TouchDesigner Tutorial 112

Get access to 200+ hours of TouchDesigner video training, a private Facebook group where Elburz and Matthew Ragan answer all your questions, and twice-monthly group coaching/mastermind calls here: iihq.tv/Trial
If you’re a TouchDesigner Beginner, check out our TouchDesigner Tutorial Series! We teach you all the basics of how to use TouchDesigner, including mouse controls, hotkeys, parameters, the operator families, and more: interactiveimm...
Today, the glitch is probably known mostly as a visual effect applied to images or video (and maybe the vaporwave movement). In the 1990s, it was much more common to run into the glitch in daily technology use, whether it was corrupted data files, badly-tracking VHS tapes, or scratched CDs that started to skip. During this time period, the glitch aesthetic made its way into a variety of art forms, including new media art/early net art, electronic music and graphic design. In this video, Jack DiLaura will walk you through creating a generative art piece inspired by the aesthetics of the early net art / glitch art of that era, using feedback and displacement in TouchDesigner. You’ll also take a look at some of the inspirations for the work, along with a couple of ways to modify the outcome.

[@anxiety]

I’m totally new to TD; thanks for the easy tutorial

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

Our pleasure! Glad to hear you found it easy to follow :)

[@stan8832]

Great tutorial and nice background knowledge, to actually understand what you're doing. Interested in seeing more of these kind of effects :)

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

Thanks for the feedback, really glad to hear it!! I always find the context/foundational knowledge helpful as I'm trying to push further with the effect. Added to the list of potential future topics, stay tuned :)

[@ajk_]

These tutorials are cool thanks for sharing some background behind the effect.

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

Great to hear, thanks for that feedback!

[@Adam-ef6ij]

awesome video! appreciate you diving into some of the history beforehand

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

Thanks, much appreciated! Always find that the context makes things a little more interesting, and often can be a source of inspiration itself. Cheers!

[@lirawhite5799]

it's also interesting to play with UW Weight on our displace which create that psy infinite look like you just fall into rabbit hole.

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

That's a great tip! Glad to hear you're experimenting more with the effect 😀 there's a lot of additional cool visuals you can get out of this one

[@yura901]

really nice videos, thx !! this is my second and i want more xD really smooth tutorial congratz!

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Highly recommend taking a look through our videos, we have many that focus on similar topics. We've also got new videos each week, so stay tuned for more :)

[@frekvensnord]

Very good video!

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

Thank you, cheers! 🙂

[@ethangloverfilmmusic1411]

Great video!

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

Thank you! Cheers :)

[@r_aru_x]

hi, TD beginner here, love the effect and tutorial, quick question: how to change the shape of feedback generation, for example, instead of rectangle, but triangle, is that possible just inside of TD? or I need to make some kind of grid animation outside to drive animation. My understanding is the noiseTOP is driving the feedback animation, right?

[@r_aru_x]

by grid animation, I meant grid made of triangle shapes

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

Unfortunately there's not a way to do this directly -- we're relying on the Limit TOP's quantize function for the rectangular grid, which is only going to produce squares or rectangles. That said, if you chose a square (1:1) aspect ratio for the effect, it might be possible to create a triangular grid by using a Transform and Composite TOP (though you'd have to generate a second Noise texture as well)

[@nek1pelova]

amazing tutorial! thank you so much!

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

You're so welcome! Thanks for watching :)

[@squareglobeplus]

cool stuff

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

Thanks! 😀

[@bitface11]

supercool!

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

Appreciate it! 😀

[@xavierpilot2033]

the only downside i would say is that it fades over time... if you let it run it will eventually disappear at some point. is there any way to make it constant ? but other than that wonderful tutorial

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

Probably the best way to approach this would be to composite in the original noise texture somewhere into the feedback loop. You might think about adding in a timed trigger to briefly mix the signal into the feedback loop to restart the movement

[@michaelcarnohan]

Go out of the Feedback TOP to a Resolution TOP. Set a custom resolution of 32 x 32, change the two smoothness params to Nearest Pixel. Then add a Monochrome TOP. Set Alpha to Zero. Then add a Limit TOP. Set Min/Max to Clamp. Set Min/Max values to 0 and 1. Add an Analyze TOP. Set Operation to Average. Add a TOP to CHOP. You can optionally turn off Alpha. Set Output as Single Channel to ON. Add a Math CHOP. Set Combine Channels to Average. Then add two Triggers. The first should have a threshold of .0001 triggered on decreasing values. The second should have a threshold of .999 triggered on increasing values. Then combine the outputs of the two Triggers into one Logic CHOP. Set Convert Input to Off When Zero and Combine CHOPs to Or. Pulse the Feedback operator with the value of r from the Logic operator in the last step, by dragging it to the pulse button. Viola... The feedback will pulse when the screen is all black or all white, thus never washing out or requiring manual pulsing.

[@xavierpilot2033]

@michaelcarnohan thank you very much for the answer i'll try this

[@unveil7762]

It s just a feedback displacement… you can have experiment with slopeTop before the second input of the displaceTop. this will derivate the curvature from the noise so the displacement is less messy. We can even do the same with out the feedback chain and just move the displacement weights with some noiseChop. The effect is different but looks cool

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

Great tips! These sound like some cool experiments that people can try to add some variation to the aesthetic. As always, there's a lot of different ways to continue pushing an effect further 🖼

[@zipnone1996]

nice

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

Thanks!

[@lirawhite5799]

thank you Jack for your tutorial, for me it's more looks like a motherboard:)🫀☠🤖

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

Our pleasure! You're right, it does look like a glitchy motherboard 👾 😂