Summary
This workshop is designed to teach you the essentials of Signed Distance Fields (SDFs) and volumes in TouchDesigner. The concept of SDFs are likely behind some of the most striking works and large-scale experiences you’ve seen but they can feel incredibly difficult to learn about. This is often due to the opaque nature of the math behind them and the simple concepts that build up advanced functionality. This 4-hour course led by Matthew Ragan starts from the absolute basics of SDFs and advances you into real-world practical use cases of them.
You will learn about the structure and application of SDFs as well as understand them both conceptually and practically. You’ll build SDF workflows with both GLSL code and in native TouchDesigner networks which can be used for cleaning up point clouds, generating 2D and 3D content, creating interactive triggers from 3D environment data, and creating content for volumetric LEDs. In the eyes of many pros, SDFs are one of the greatest tools that has slowly become more accessible to immersive media artists and this is your opportunity to harness them to unleash your creativity!
Instructor
Matthew Ragan
Course Contents
• Introduction to SDFs and Basic Setup: Learn the foundational concepts of Signed Distance Fields (SDFs) and setting up basic SDFs in TouchDesigner with both GLSL and native node networks. Understanding the basic concepts of SDFs are essential for building more complex applications.
• Drawing and Transforming Shapes in 2D and 3D with SDFs: Master the techniques of generating shapes like circles, boxes, and toruses and transforming them that are crucial for creating and manipulating both 2D and 3D graphics efficiently. Especially with more advanced workflows these shapes are often used as volumes in your SDF pipeline
• Creating and Combining Complex 3D Shapes: Explore advanced methods for creating and combining complex 3D shapes using SDFs, enabling the creation of intricate and detailed volumes and fields that can be adjusted quickly and efficiently on the GPU.
• Point Transformations and Weight Fields: Understand how to use SDFs for creating point weight fields that allow you to apply different effects and transformations to specific parts of point clouds. This is a relatively new concept to TouchDesigner and will become a mainstay pipeline to understand with the new POPs family of operators.
• Spatial Triggers: Set up spatial triggers in 3D space using SDFs to create interactive zones and triggers based on movement of real-time point clouds. This is especially useful for workflows using sensors like Kinects, Orbbecs, and Ousters that provide large point cloud volumes and can often be difficult to turn into actionable data.
• Volumetric Content Creation with SDFs for Volumetric LEDs: Develop skills to create volumetric content using SDFs and convert native TouchDesigner renders into 3D volumes. This is a new critical skill that will unlock a world of possibilities for working with volumetric LEDs and sculptures, which can be difficult to create content for without the use of SDFs.
Reference links
- Wikipedia – Signed Distance Function
- RayTK
- IQ – SDF Overview
- Derivative Wiki – Write a GLSL TOP
- Derivative WIki – Write a GLSL Material –
- Ray Marching and Signed Distance Fields –