Interactive Particles using particlesGpu in

In this #touchdesigner #tutorial we take a look how we can use webcam and #kinect as a particle source in particlesGpu from the palette for some funky interactivity, and learn some things about particlesGpu along the way. These techniques can be used with any video or pointcloud input! We also incorporate simple motion tracking and audio reactivity.
Let me know if you'd like to see more particlesGpu tutorials from me!
Get the project file on my Patreon: / 87259820
- My toolbar: github.com/function-store/Fun...
- InSession stream recording with @touchDesignerOfficial: • TouchDesigner InSessio...
- Simple Directional Motion-Detection: • Directional Motion Det...
- Webcam Skeleton Tracking from @blankensmithing: • Tutorial 2/3 - Audio R...
- Introduction to Visual Sensors workshop: musichackspace.org/product/an...
- Intermediate Tracking and Depth Sensors workshop: thenodeinstitute.org/courses/...
Patreon:
/ function_store
Follow me:
/ function.str
/ functionstore
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00:00 Intro
01:06 Preparation
04:12 Using Webcam
08:04 Disabling Source Interpolation
9:23 Adding Color
11:16 PostFX
14:10 Temporary Workaround
16:54 Webcam Interactivity
19:24 Kinect Workshops
20:06 Using Kinect
25:57 Audio Reactivity
28:10 Recap
29:24 OpTemplates quick demo
31:18 Outro

[@jaxinger]

For all those beginners like me who are just following the tutorial and getting nervous as soon as your own output does not match: At 2:26 after adjusting the total number of particles he changes it to life 1 and lifevariance to 0.5 in the particles GPU tab. Loved the tutorial!

[@FunctionStore]

Thanks a lot, didn't realize I somehow cut that part! I actually usually add the following expression to the life variance parameter: me.par.Life/2

[@dariyglush4664]

thank you man, you helped me a lot

[@Eckavolts]

Thank you for adding this. I thought I was going nuts.

[@FunctionStore]

@@Eckavolts sowwy!

[@Eckavolts]

@@FunctionStore Totally fine, don't worry about it! Thanks for a really excellent series of tutorials. You've really helped me a lot in learning TD.

[@MechBullRodeo]

You know it's a good tutorial when you are coming back to it multiple times. I'm on my third rewatch

[@FunctionStore]

Thanks! :3

[@ordinaireX]

Really sick technique, can't wait to mess around with this.

[@taeyangyoo1941]

Simple and so nice! Thank u so much 💪🏼

[@JonahHache]

so good! You're the best!

[@joaonunez695]

perfect!

[@PaulikasKarolis]

Great tutorial! What I find limiting with particlesGpu is that the spawn point tends to be blurry or disappears. But adding another kinect renderer inside the particleGpu component solved it! Also possible to move the camera 360 inside the particlesGpu

[@carlosserrano9753]

As always doing amazing tools and sharing with the community!!! appreciate that Dan you rock !!!

[@FunctionStore]

Thanks Carlos, it is my pleasure!

[@camilosandoval4905]

its amazing thanks, its very useful

[@Nanotopia]

🤯Did you hear that explosion? That was the top of my head blowing off! Thank you for sharing this tutorial. This has helped me tremendously!

[@FunctionStore]

ouch! happy to hear though!

[@folders_apries]

Amazing!

[@alchemist.D]

nice job

[@clearwavepro100]

great video, thanks for sharing!

[@lionblack5065]

thanks a lot

[@menybliss]

Love your contant! Tnx for sharing with ous your technics.

[@FunctionStore]

🤗

[@sakharov00in]

Big Like and Thank you!

[@yosukeDVJ]

Nice! I've found that using the cameraViewport OP instead of the Camera OP is nice if you want to be able to smoothly move around the 3D space in real time rather than having the Camera output render after you've moved to the position you want.

[@FunctionStore]

I usually use my CamSequencer camera comp tbh. It's been on my TODO list to integrate it with cameraViewport! But yeah been using the viewport a lot lately too

[@barbodelic]

Very nice tutorial, thanks! But I have a problem with the refresh rate of the video. It is not playing the webcam input. I only get like snapshots of the webcam every 5 seconds and then that picture floats around and refreshes with the next still that was in the videodevin. Can you help?

[@FunctionStore]

hey sorry for the late response. Make sure you add some Life Variance as I did in the video

[@kidnimbus3562]

The newer versions of touch designer dont have "Life" option on particlegpu tab so change "Life min" = 1 if the particles arent following your camera properly

[@FunctionStore]

This was made with version 2022.33910 which is the latest stable, I believe you are using the experimental version? Good info thanks.

[@yilinwu9787]

Hi! I wanna know why I can't using the space bar after installing this function-store tools ? And thanks for your great tutorial！！

[@FunctionStore]

Hey, no idea, I don't have this issue, also there is nothing that messes with spacebar :S

[@smyrkphace]

Is it possible to give some depth to the first video source method using b&w height field video? I've tried to emit from a displaced mesh but cant get the particles to recognize the uv displacement, it just uses the base mesh. amazing tut! I dont have a kinect so looking for alternative way.

[@FunctionStore]

hey, yea sure check this tutorial by @Freivonstil kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIrWYmRtraqBhpY or check my Patreon for a more optimized approach

[@mattiaminerva2685]

one of the best video about that ! Can I ask you where is possible to find the component "MoveDetectDir1" that you show at the minute 17:35? I didn't find on your Patreon. Thank you man

[@FunctionStore]

Hey mate, thanks! You can find the youtube tutorial link in the description as directional motion detection

[@dereklindsay3431]

hey! im using a thresholded video source into the Particle GPU instead of a webcam, but I can't figure something out. Its a 1920x1080 video all the way up until the Particle GPU where it appears like its squished a bit and the ends are cut off. I changed the Particle GPU render to no avail, and am not sure how to fix it. Any ideas? Thanks for a great tutorial!!!!

[@FunctionStore]

Hey, I'm not sure what could have gone wrong if you followed all the steps, the webcam can be replaced with any video source "out of the box". As you can see around 6:00 we start with a squished image, and correct it at the source. When you view your point source input points (active viewer and hit V while mouse over the viewer) does it look like it should?

[@NrDeLiso]

I’m running into the same issue. Not sure what went wrong. All the output resolutions are the same but the particle GPU is cropping to one corner and is a different ratio

[@puikwanlee251]

May i know why my particle box is moving like waves but not moving inside the square box as you in 3:48? Thank you😪

[@wq6052]

hi wondering if this could work with Arduino with the ultrasonic sensor to control the movement? If so how to do the adjustment to connect with Arduino? Tysm 😊

[@FunctionStore]

For sure! I have an online workshop at The NODE Institute covering Arduino and it will give you all the info you need for this! (not directly with this patch but easily applied)

[@UneekStudio]

Hey guys, Can you help me a bit with something. I have reached the point that I need the layout from top from "fx" to the "volume" that is not showing on my app. Does anyone know when can I make that one visible? Many Thanks!

[@user-id2kf4nq5i]

I use the same specs in particlesGpu but the result is totally different, don't know what's wrong with it

[@FunctionStore]

Not sure. Obviously make sure it's 2022 version of particlesGpu and you follow all steps very carefully such as turning off interpolation and adding that one line of glsl

[@___Axel_]

Hi, I've seen the video 100 times but I don't understand why when I connect the treshold with the multilay (min.4:55) the particles don't follow my face and don't react to the movement, could you help me please!? 🙏🙏🙏

[@FunctionStore]

Hey make sure that you are in 32bit float, in the common tab of your inputs to the multiply

[@1yin____]

I also faced this problem.

[@gamalieljustinflores5109]

Hello! Will a normal webcam on my laptop work?

[@FunctionStore]

Yup

[@djsmokey1180]

i am interested in getting a Kinect to use with touchdesigner. But from what i see is that those are very old and have outdated cabling options. Will they work on a modern M1 with the proper adapters?

[@FunctionStore]

Kinect is not supported on Macs. Btw they have (or you have to buy) a USB adapter normally for PC.

[@kallinikos100]

Thanks for the tutorial. I am stuck as I can't find the directional motion detector tool, 16:54, for my webcam. Is it available as download anywhere>?

[@FunctionStore]

It's not really required for the tutorial, I just show it as an example. You can find the video om my channel, and the component on my Patreon. You should look into MediaPipe plugin on Torin Blankensmith's channel though

[@kallinikos100]

thank you so much, might be annoying as I'm a total beginner, but what would you recommend for a simple setup with a webcam (depth camera too much for me) and would it be possible to make an interactive projection where students can interact with their own scanned drawings? I'm a teacher. thanks@@FunctionStore

[@FunctionStore]

@@kallinikos100 not sure about the scanned drawing part but for a person interacting with the webcam mediapipe for sure

[@Cluks]

thanks for the tut. everything works quite fine but at the point of multiplying the point grid and my videoinput i am getting stuck. all the picture is resembled by points but there are also lines facing all towards the middle point. Im on the newest 23 version. is there a workaround?

[@FunctionStore]

Hey I'm pretty busy in the next few days, but if you upload a picture/video of what's happening to my discord it should be easier to help.

[@Cluks]

​@@FunctionStorethanks for the reply but i just couln't find your discord so i posted it on the TD discord and referenced you :)

[@andrew1550]

Witchcraft!

[@faisaltaher851]

the particle gpu for me moves way too much and when i try to multiply it with my camera it just gives a weird box, could someone help me

[@FunctionStore]

would like to help but I'm not sure at which point of following the video you have this issue, could you elaborate?

[@faisaltaher851]

@@FunctionStore the preparation

[@faisaltaher851]

@@FunctionStore specifically after i add the reorder to the particles gpu

[@FunctionStore]

@@faisaltaher851 make sure the textures are 32 bit float RGBA

[@faisaltaher851]

i did that yet it still did not work :(@@FunctionStore

[@ManuMarea]

is touch designer web capable? Can we have touch designer instances embedded in a ..outside of touch designer ?Stand alone. Or these incredible things need touch designer soft working?

[@FunctionStore]

you need TouchDesigner running to run TD patches, so not web capable (you could run instances on the cloud but it's super limiting)

[@FunctionStore]

can suggets looking into CablesGL

[@jansengoldy]

hallo it's so nice to see your tutorial videos, but now i'm stuck at inputing MoveDetectDir1, because in my touchdesigner (version 2023.11340) there is no MoveDetectDir1 in tools section :( can you help me please?

[@FunctionStore]

Hey it's a custom tool of mine. You can find the info in the description for tutorial / patreon. It's only used as an example, you can obviously use any tracking like MediaPipe as well.

[@jansengoldy]

@@FunctionStore hey thanks for the answer, i am new to touchdesigner, now i'm gonna search how to add tox (custom tools) any suggestion??

[@FunctionStore]

@@jansengoldy simply download them (patreon, github, etc) and drag and drop to your project. You can then also drag it to the Palette under My Components

[@user-ip6km5po1n]

hi，How to find the movedetectDir component？

[@FunctionStore]

HI, kzbin.info/www/bejne/oKaXd2SZfM14bLM

[@user-ip6km5po1n]

@@FunctionStore thanks 💕

[@user-uq2sk8dp4y]

6:01 这个按钮在哪啊 mac有吗

[@FunctionStore]

you have to download my toolbar, link in the description "My Toolbar"

[@user-uq2sk8dp4y]

@@FunctionStore oh thanks where is toolbar

[@FunctionStore]

@@user-uq2sk8dp4y link is in the description of the video!

[@kritimalina]

when i connect a threshold to my videodevin it does not just take in my face. it takes in the background too. in your case, it is automatically just ur face and the rest is transparent. how does that work?

[@kritimalina]

4:36

[@FunctionStore]

Only if your background is dark it will separate. Threshold works with luminance of the input pixels. If you have nvidia gpu you can use nvidia background to separate you from the background.

[@kritimalina]

@@FunctionStore thank you! I do have nvidiagpu when I hook up videodevin directly to nvidiagpu it just shows my silhouette but does not recognise my eyes and features like yours. i don't have threshold involved anymore in this setup. Could you please elaborate more on the nvidia setup?

[@FunctionStore]

@@kritimalina in TD there is a TOP for nvidia background, use that with your video devixe in, put a threshold after it, then multiply that again with your video device in top. Make sure the textures are 32 bit float.

[@user-fw5yh1cs7e]

perfect!