Hey all – I’m trying to do something extremely simple, and for some reason can’t find a tutorial or question that addresses this at a basic level. When using a Mac with a second monitor, I’d love to send one output to the first monitor and a different output to the second monitor. Totally standard basic stuff. However, it seems like there is only one Perform mode button in the top left of the interface, which no matter what I do or how many perform nodes I create only ever outputs a single perform window. Say I create MovieFileIn1–> Out1 and then MovieFileIn2—>Out2 (either in two different project container nodes, or in the same one) what would be the next step? I have tried putting them in two different project container nodes, with each project pointing to a perform node, and that didn’t work. I also watched a ton of the tutorials but somehow this basic setup hasn’t been addressed in the ones I’ve seen. Help much appreciated!
I jist checked youtube for “touchdesigner output to projector” and this came up first “with at least 4 other tutorials explaining this”
I’ve seen that one. If you watch it, it doesn’t really answer the question I asked. There are a ton of tutorials that sound like they answer the question, but when you watch them, they answer a slightly different question.
Bileam is explaining exactly what you are asking: How to display content/containers on more then one display. Starting at 5:30.
This is exactly the way to do it. You will not find a tutorial handling this in any other way as this is how it works.
There is only one performMode, as it is, as the name suggests, a mode. So using the approach of a large container and window comp is the best way to display content on more then one display, which is what yo are asking. If I understand your question wrong though let me know, but after reading your initital post again I still will post the tutorial as it offers a solution to the issue you are describin.
Hi Cate,
As @alphamoonbase wrote, Bileam’s video explains how to do this in TD. He also goes over the use cases for one or another approach, which is worth paying attention to because that depends on your need and has an impact on performance.
For division of UI and content, I tend to use two different Window containers, because you don’t want your UI to have the same priority as the one that is handling content (the video briefly alludes to that as well).
Now, it sounds like you want to show content on both screens, in which case is certainly better to arrange your output in one single texture and then do it as it is explained in the video, with one big container.
That being said, it is good to be aware of all possibilities, so here an example of how to set two different outputs manually. I wrote some comments but make sure to play around with all the parameters of the Window operators, to get familiar with the workflow.
To clarify, the “perform” node is nothing special. Is just a “Window” operator (you can find it in the COMP tab when making a new operator), so you can create one anywhere in your network and use it as a perform window. There are best practices for that, which Bileam’s video cover nicely. So once you are more familiar with it all, maybe you can re-watch it and see what works best for your case.
TwoMonitors.toe (6.4 KB)
Hope that helps.
Best,
Darien