RFE - an improved workflow for animation and rendering

Wishlist and RFEs
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Huge thanks to Derivative for the POPs release in stable - it’s a massive game changer! I’d love to see TD push further into the VFX and motion design space by refining two specific legacy workflows.

First, we really need a native, modernized keyframe editor. While Keith Lostracco’s Keyframer is an incredible lifesaver, the inbuilt should ideally offer the same intuitive UI found in Unreal’s Sequencer or After Effects. Then pairing that with a dedicated, robust render queue module for exporting movies would be another game changer Bridging the gap between TD’s real-time approach and a standard linear animation workflow, it would open the doors for so many more designers to make the switch.

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I’m not a huge fan of Unreal Sequencer. For keyframes, I much prefer a Maya style graph editor + dope sheet or a Houdini graph editor which is already like the TD built-in one which would be the more natural choice, but maybe missing a few ease of use things. Keith’s Keyframer is a great stopgap solution, and I’ve used it in the past thought it worked well. I happen to have just finished an entire pre-rendered non-real time motion graphic video using the mov out Top to do multipass rendering out of TouchDesigner and compositing in After Effects, simple python scripts helped me augment the built-in functions with small bits of automaton. I think if I were to prioritize one area for animation and rendering, it would actually be manipulators in the 3D viewports to move and rotate geometry. Using the numerical entry and ladder sliders work, but sometimes hand manipulation is just easier and less tedious. The render itself is an area for improvement. Better lights / shadows, and more raytrace features, reflections, GI that are easier to access in render. I do wonder if NVIDIA Omniverse will somehow find its way as a top in TouchDesigner :slight_smile: I haven’t gotten too much into compositing timeline, but something like a disguise timeline would also be really handy for just layering and sequencing pre-rendered videos as a timeline or entire show, but I know there are some community tox and utilities that already do some of that kind of thing, but this is all a smashed up bunch of ideas for what motion designers maybe looking for. Generally I have found TD pretty good for motion graphic work with a little work around the edges.