In much of today’s contemporary media practice there is a tight coupling of compositional form, content, and underlying computational mechanisms. This integration holds the potential to yield new modes of expression and wholly new art experiences as is evident in emerging forms of real time generative art, network-based art, game-based art, and interactive performance. As both practitioners and participants, we must develop a critical understanding of the relevant compositional and computational principles that frame this work. In this course, students will develop a working understanding of fundamental compositional and computational principles, and apply their understanding through the realization of exploratory media artworks.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• identify opportunities to use modular based programing methods in your own work.
• experiment with dynamic media structures.
• compose interactive TouchDesigner networks that use sound and video.
• communicate with other programs or computers over a network.

Projects and Assignments

• Project 1 – Composition
• Op Snippets 2 – Building a Nervous System
• Project 2 – Manipulation
• Op Snippets 3 | Buttons and Sliders Everywhere
• Project 3 | Control
• Project 4 – Final Project First Draft
• Final Proposal
• Final Project

Learning Resources & In Class Examples

• Parameter Expressions
• Local Variables
• Storage
• Interface Elements
  • Interface Building
  • Table Referencing
  • Panel CHOP
  • Button Customization
  • Slider Customization
  • Building 2D Sliders
  • Nesting Containers
  • Slider with Feedback
  • Scripting
  • CHOP Execute DATs
  • Buttons with Color
  • Sliders with Color
• Open Viewer
  • Buttons to Run Scripts
  • Panel Execute DAT
  • View Script
  • Open Viewer Command
  • Panel Values
• me.digits
  • Name – me.name
  • Digits – me.digits
  • Container Align Order
• Radio Buttons
• Hierarchy
• Perform Mode & Open in Perform Mode
  • Configuration for Perform Mode
  • Open in Perform Mode
• Simple VJ Set-UP
  • Select TOPs
  • A|B Switching
  • Real Time Rendering
  • Logic Testing – If Else Statements
  • Setting Parameters with Scripts
  • Panel Execute DATs
• Replicators
  • Replication
  • Table Referencing
  • Clones
  • Interface Building
• Audio Analysis
  • Audio Analysis – Based on Mary Franck’s Rouge
  • Interface Building
  • Table Referencing
  • Panel Execute DATs
  • File Path Referencing
• Multi-Process Communication
  • Touch In and Touch Out
  • OSC In and OSC Out
  • Shared Memory In and Out

Download the Course Code pack from GitHub