Flowy flowers with Particles GPU - TOUCHDESIGNER TUTORIAL

Download the project files here
/ supermarketsallad
hey guys, here's some flowy flowers using the optical flow input in the Particles GPU in touchdesigner.
0:00 Intro
0:30 setting up the grid
02:38 setting up the Particles GPU
06:03 setting up the optical flow
09:09 setting up the feedback
10:50 colors
11:52 animating
15:10 one more thing
@simondavidryden on instagram
simondavidryden.bandcamp.com/
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Specs:
Processor: 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-12400F 2.50 GHz
Installed RAM: 16,0 GB
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti

[@MovieMationStudios]

Thanks for the awesome video! If anyone is having trouble with low fps, I took some time to look into learning about the performance monitor (alt+y) to find any optimizations I could make in the project. In the particleGPU -> render1, turn the Transparency operator to "Sorted Draw with Blending" and then in particleGPU -> light1->Shadows->Shadow Type , turn off. This gave me about a 30fps speedup. I have a GTX 980 GPU for reference.

[@junli5087]

我只有960m显卡

[@kellywarner3748]

Stunning work, thank you for sharing this!

[@devinryan561]

you've taught me a new way to think in TouchDesigner! Thank you for these wonderful tutorials

[@Spalacidae]

Wonderful! Thank you!!

[@oluxezer]

This is awesome

[@sophialiarou4688]

Amazing!!!❤

[@wenchen1908]

Thanks so much for sharing the tutorial. Such cool effect that I had been looking for and look forward to more tutorials from you. Really appreciate it.

[@wenchen1908]

I have a question on how to change the resolution without squeezing the canvas? Say like make it into vertical (I changed the values for Output Resolution in Common but it seems it just squeeze in)

[@hekuli]

Really cool Thanks for sharing!

[@GerardoHernandez-zh9id]

woaaaaah! amazing! thank u so much, I really love ur work

[@jingjingzhang4555]

This is amazing! Thanks so much for sharing this, it helped me a lot!

[@merich623]

love this. it's over for refik anadol

[@user-sw4is4rj2m]

perfect video doesn't exi_ thank you

[@antonioluperini5684]

Great tutorial! That multipy block has a tremendous effect. I'll explore more complex operations to see how it gets

[@jadicerdas100]

Works... thank u

[@user-jp1wx6sy2w]

soso amazing !!!! you are best!!!!! Thanks!!

[@movieman1717]

Refik Anadol liked this

[@combatballer1na]

so pedagogical indeed

[@LongTran-xw5yp]

I love you! Please make more videos!

[@capitaoahab7069]

One quick tip that might make things more interesting is to add an image or video with the movie file in top in the noises that connect to the math and get an outline of the image made from the particles along with the movement from the seed parameter.

[@istarothe]

some help how?

[@capitaoahab7069]

@@istarothe Use a movie file in top with some alpha transparency if possible, then connect to an Edge top, then connect the edge to the SECONDS INPUT of the Noise1 and then to the SECOND INPUT of noise 2

[@RusticRaver]

top!

[@Monja191]

🤩

[@mariabarbulovic556]

Hey, thank you for the wonderful tutorial! I wonder if I could connect an audio to it and make it audioreactive. You think that would be possible? :)

[@AnderDj95]

Hello, thank you so much for the tutorial. I want to know if there is any way to use kinect with this particle system.My kinect azure is connected to the opticalflow tool and this is connected to the noise1. I see some interaction but it does not work smooth. Thank you so much

[@EDH-buttonpusher]

Amazing tutorial!! Thanks I got a problem that after inputing my UV map to pointtransform TOP and all Aligns are adjusted to Orgin and center, it became a little bit right and up side.😅 I checked my UV map which is no problem starting from (0x,0y) to(1x,1y). Thanks again!!

[@EDH-buttonpusher]

I turned off all the Align, and translate on x and y to -2 while scale is 4, and it worked. It’s finally in the center. But still don’t know why would that happened. Anyways, still thanks for this tutorial ❤

[@supermarketsallad]

I’m happy you found a solution and the one you used is the one that makes the most sense. There are often many ways to approach the same result.

[@danw6741]

Hello - quick question - what version of particlesGPU you are using? I am missing a lot of the options you have available and the version of the particlesGPU container is 1.0.1. Thanks!

[@supermarketsallad]

this is version 2.2.2

[@danw6741]

I updated to the new experimental version of touchdesigner and now I'm consistent with the video! The current version as of 9/3/23 is 2.2.5

[@szuhanlu_karen]

Excellent Job!! I would like to ask that we linked noise to particleGPU... to control the particles to move as the noise??

[@supermarketsallad]

Optical flow, there are some good tutorials if you search for optical flow and particles gpu. To see some other ways to use it.

[@szuhanlu_karen]

Thank you for your reply!! I will try to do more research!!@@supermarketsallad

[@ianglauco]

Wonderful, thank you very much. I just don't know why my project changes so slowly every time I change the seed; I'm not sure if it's because my computer can't handle this animation at 50 fps like yours.

[@supermarketsallad]

You are correct, this is not a very optimized technique and it can be a reason. Try turning the resolution down. Not the res of the render, but in the constant chop. You can also try increasing the “speed” parameter in the particles gpu. Or try increasing the amount in the math top. Hope it works out for ya

[@ianglauco]

Thank you @@supermarketsallad yes! It worked for me I increased the FPS and speed, but it made me lose sharpness, so I doubled the feedback to add contrast."

[@RPS3000]

super nice! would you share your patch?

[@fckndrummczinz]

wowwwwwwwwww.

[@csunburn]

I have TD commercial 2022.26590 and a RTX 2060 gpu. When I inserted the 'Particle GPU' operator, the particles appeared differently, without any leaves. After making some parameter adjustments, the particles disappeared. There were some differences in the Particles GPU operator by default, like "Hit Behaviour" is set with "avoid bounds" and I don't have the option "fade out". 1- The particles disappeared after changing their size, so probably they were too small for my project (?), so I changed to size min 4 and size max 10 (random values) 2- at 06 min setting up the optical flow, I have only three input for the optical gpu, and nothing change if I connect constant top or noise top operators to it. So, unfortunately, my adventure with this tutorial ends here ;(

[@supermarketsallad]

Bummer, note to my future self to not over-rely on prebuilt components.

[@luvates.7056]

same for me i been struggling for hours i thought i missed something on the tutorial but ididnt 😣

[@supermarketsallad]

@@luvates.7056 I’m sorry to hear that, I’m working on a tutorial for a particle system that doesn’t use particles GPU, and can produce effects similar to this hopefully that’ll work for you, it’ll be out in a week or so.

[@suyangmin9832]

I met the same problem with you! For the first one, the partical is too small to show. I adjust the random size min 1 and size max 3 after set the camera, and it works. For the second one, I guess there might be some settings need to be changed in partical GPU. I connect the noise map and nothing happened.

[@gabypezzi4573]

im with the same issue , no fade out in the particles gpu .... so dissapointing this is not working

[@user-ci8rn8gb5q]

Thanks for the tutorial, how can I also use this method to make particles move on the xyz axis at the same time?

[@supermarketsallad]

I’m not sure what you medan with ”at the same time” In the point transform TOP (inside the feedback loop) you have the translate x, y, and z on the top row. Just make sure you put a very small value in there (like 0.001) since the transformation will happen 60 times per second

[@spandanjoshi2128]

how can I make this audioreactive?

[@hinduspl]

Thanks man. What gpu you have there ?

[@supermarketsallad]

i'm rocking a RTX 4060 Ti

[@istarothe]

I tried to use perform mode to see it in a window but its not happening? any guide?

[@christinagerg7313]

somehow I have lost the flow, then I noticed you added some things without speaking, this confused me, but otherwise a wonderful artwork! Thank you so much :))))

[@supermarketsallad]

Sorry about that, good feedback :)

[@anlbolukbas6134]

Thank you! Is it possible to import a video and interact with it?

[@supermarketsallad]

probably, I haven't tried it. but you probably can't plug it straight into the optical flow input. remember that it only uses the red and green channel and try playing around with it. there is a component in the palette called "optical flow" that can be useful if you wanna try it.

[@attracteuretrange2543]

@@supermarketsallad i'm using optical flow and the noise chain in the tuto , connected together in a switch with blend between input and it's quite nice ;-)

[@user-qt5tz1gb1q]

Hello, I would like to ask why the count under chop is not responding? By the way, can I have a look at the source file? Thank you❤❤

[@supermarketsallad]

It’s difficult to know. Maybe make sure that the keyboard in chop is connected and assigned correctly. you can get the files on my patreon in the description

[@attracteuretrange2543]

Thx so much !! ( my 2019 mbp is dying though reduicing resolution and particule number... ) what is your hardware config please?

[@supermarketsallad]

My specs are in the video description. But yeah, this method isn’t exactly optimized.

[@blockthechainer]

is there a way to add a 3D scenery to full fill the background space? i mean is cool and everything but the black bg mmmh you know, Im a blender user but cant find an easy way to do this stuff till I saw your videos, and they are amazing but the scenery is something I miss here, didn't know this software exist btw so im totally new

[@supermarketsallad]

I mean you can. You can import models and add pbrs etc. But it can seriously affect your real-time capabilities. And if you are going for something that is not real-time, blender and Houdini etc are 1000 times better than td. I think most of us working in TD are thinking of them as real-time interactive projections and so on.

[@silabayir]

I am currently working on my physics project that I find the wavelength of notes on xylophone depending on the bars' material and length on the xylophone. I calculated the frequencies and all I need is a program to convert the waves into sight where the wave's color depends on the wavelength. I asked my couisin and she told be that this Touch Designer app is appropriate. What should I do. I have got only 10 days so please help me (:

[@folders_apries]

NICE! but i wonder what the title of the background music? :)

[@supermarketsallad]

that's just a track I made for this tut. haven't released it anywhere

[@thetetracyst]

hello, this is very nice, however there is no pixel formatting in particles gpu. I am trying my best, I can't reach result you showed. did anyone tried to do this, or they are just mesmerised by the beauty of the flower flow? thanks

[@supermarketsallad]

Step inside the component by Double clicking the particles gpu component. - find the render TOP - go to the common page - and change the pixel format there

[@thetetracyst]

@@supermarketsallad found it, thank you!

[@raavenstark5905]

9:58 There is no pixel settings in the render bracket of ParticulesGPU if someone has the right solution, i'm interested :) And after the pause he changed a parameters we don't see and his result looks more brighter than mine, all the mouvement is different etc so we can't have the same result without these informations

[@supermarketsallad]

Double click the particles gpu component, find the render TOP node, go to the common tab, you’ll find it there

[@designerathislowervalue]

when I used particlesGpu, there is no leaf but just a single box, how I can fix it...... i'm just start learning touch designer that's why I don't know how to fix it!

[@supermarketsallad]

I’m not in front of td right now, so I can’t help you troubleshoot. But I’m not sure what your problem is actually. It sounds strange and could be a lot of issues. But to start troubleshooting, make sure that your timeline is actually playing. (Look at the bottom of your screen and make sure that it’s not paused)

[@designerathislowervalue]

@@supermarketsallad I checked it, its not paused 🙃

[@supermarketsallad]

I ran into the same problem when tried it on an old Mac without a decent gpu, I don't know a good fix tho..

[@csunburn]

I had some issue too. Probably, it depends on the version of TouchDesigner, I have TD commercial 2022.26590, maybe it's time to upgrade, and a RTX 2060 gpu. When I inserted the 'Particle GPU' operator, the particles appeared differently, without any leaves. After making some parameter adjustments, the particles disappeared

[@designerathislowervalue]

@@csunburn I download TD two month ago,

[@opipico9144]

i made robot happy too!

[@supermarketsallad]

affirmative

[@yahugartsandmedia]

Refik Anadol

[@laif9857]

why you dont made the pause visual , sorry can you explain what is the parameter to change pls , thanks for the viodeo

[@supermarketsallad]

I did… the thumbnail is a screengrab from the patch. If you just watch the tutorial until the end.

[@laif9857]

thanks@@supermarketsallad

[@infinite_mantra]

I am trying to change the material to line in the particle gpu - leaf and snow and the others work but when I use line- nothing shows. I looked online and asked chat gpt….. nothing is working. Any ideas? @supermarketsallad

[@tiktoktrends561]

Hello friend, what is this genre of music called?

[@supermarketsallad]

Idk… maybe ambient. You can find my bandcamp in the description