I have a series of objects on screen I would like to project into the distance and then at some point cause them to start spinning into a spiral into the centre of the screen. I am beginning by experimenting with just one object.
I have attempted this by causing my geo (simple rectangle) to move along the z-axis with diminishing values causing it to get smaller and smaller. I then have attempted to insert x and y data fed from two wave CHOPs with x and y values that diminish and increase together in sync with a slight decay that would cause the swirl to get smaller and smaller. In my mind I figured this would work. I’m not really getting the desired feel of a swirl. It feels more like a spring or something. I’m sure someone here must have created something like this to give a swirl or black hole effect. And if so, do you have any pointers as to what types of OPs and connections I should be trying to accomplish this?
Just to add to this… I have figured out that if I shift my x-axis out of phase by .75 my object now moves in a circular motion.
I now need to figure out how to trigger my x y waves at the moment I decide at the press of a button. Currently I am clicking a bypass button on a constant CHOP connected to the reset input of a speed CHOP. There’s got to be an easier way to trigger the wave inputs.
Two questions are A: What is the best way to trigger my wave data at the moment I decide?
and B: What is an effective way that I can speed up the circular motion with the use of a MIDI fader? Is it possible to link a fader to alter the period value of the waves?
Hey,
attache dis a component for you as reference for using UI elements which are part of the TUIK collection in your setup. You can find them buy navigating in the Palette to TUIK and then choosing Buttons or Sliders or whatever other UI element you might need.
For starting the animation, I’m using a Toggle Button which is used to reset and basically “stop” the Speed CHOP.
For controlling the speed I’m using a horizontal Slider.
Both of these Gadgets and many other gadgets of the TUIK collection also come with an input which can be used as the input for a midi channel.
You could also use the default COMP operators Slider and Button for this purpose just the TUIK gadgets come with some nice features like the mentioned input.
Thankyou for this information. I have watched part of your video here. These TUIKs are fantastic! I’m really starting to like this program.
I tried running your file and I think there me be some type of compatability issue. I get an error message saying that your version is newer than mine. When I open the project theres is a stack of nodes all on top of each other and they are not connected.
Im using FTE 077 Build 3715. When I open your file it says “loading a file saved in version: 077 build: 5167 into version: 077 build:3715.” “May cause compatibility issues. Proceed with load?”
I have successfully created 2 knobs that can control the size of my spiral motion and the speed at which it spins. I also have another slider that chages the z values to cause it to go more into the background. Using the TUIKs has proven very good, the problem I am having now is that I am attempting to control these TUIK knobs from my Korg NanoKontrol. I have successfully linked the controller to the respective knobs with a single slider that independently controls each one. Even though the slider graphically moves the knob to it’s min. and max. position, it is causing erratic behaviour now with my animation. If I use my mouse and manually turn the knob using the TUIK interface, it behaves properly. The second I touch the fader, it goes nuts. I am assuming the TUIK has to have a constant non varying number in it’s input?? But you mention that many of the TUIKs can also accomodate a MIDI input. Maybe that is not the case with the knob? Any help you could give me would be greatly apreciated.
you should be able to connect a Midi Channel to it… Not sure what is going on but maybe the mapping in the midimap is somehow off?
You can try if the gadget works fine but just attaching a Timing CHOP to the input… The slider should move up and down in sync with the timing channel.
If you want send me your file or post a tox so I can have a closer look…
The reason it starts going crazy is that you are setting the Period of the Wave CHOPs to be a negative number. Period is clapped at 0.001 and must be a postive number. When the Period is 0.0001 the wave is very short and makes it look erratic.
I added a Math CHOP to make the values always positive. I also cahnged you’re setup a bit so that the exporting is happening outside the TUK components from Null CHOPs, just so it is easier to work with and inspect what is happening.
Hope this helps, however changing Period of the Wave CHOP will always make the wave jump to the new length, so that might cause issues down the road for you.
OK, I have been able to successfully build a sequence that allows an object to move along the z axis into the distance, rotate in a circular fashion with x and y waves that can be varied on the fly with changing amplitude (using X CHOP with varying values by slider) and varying speed of rotation (currently done by X CHOP values fed to the period value). This has been done from both an x and y wave. There fore the circle of rotation gets bigger and smaller simutaneously from one slider.
It works fine if you set it to a particluar value and let it go. You can vary the z with smooth transitions and also vary the size of the circular motion and it still looks smooth. The main problem I’m having now is when you vary the period value it resets the wave back to it’s starting point which makes the geo flicker all over the place and it is not smooth. Once you let it go at the new speed, it’s fine.
My question is, what is a way to vary the speed of my waves without causing the new wave speed to reset back to it’s staring point? Or perhaps there is a way to speed up and slow down my animation without doing it through the wave CHOP values. Could I somehow do it after that process? It would be handy if there was an OP that just speeds up my frame rate. Whatever way… I want to accelrate the rate of spin with time.
Here’s a few ideas on how to fix your issues . . .
The flicker issue caused by changing the wave period can be solved using a Filter CHOP. I left it at defaults, which seems to work fine in this case. The Lag CHOP can also be used to smooth out motion.
One way to handle increasing the speed is to use the Trigger CHOP with some math adjustments as a varying value into the Speed CHOP. Adjust the attack length in the Trigger to change the duration of the motion, adjust the math values to change the acceleration of the rectangle. Scene 1 - Image Collage with rotation.16.toe (18.3 KB)
Instead of making up a Wave CHOP with a lot of waves repeated and re-cooked based on the speed (exporting to the Period of the Wave CHOP), I would do this:
Make the Wave CHOP be one period long (set Period to 10). Send your Spiral Speed to a Speed CHOP (like you do elsewhere). Then send that and the Wave CHOP to a Lookup CHOP and from there you can adjust the speed and get smooth results. Make your amplitude be exported to the Math CHOP after the Lookup, not the Wave.
Two Waves CHOPs, one Phase-shifted from teh other, can be Merged into one CHOP that feeds the Lookup.
Your Movie In that is inside the blur component I would put outside the component and plug the Movie In to its input, just to make it more apparent where your texture is coming from.
It comes up with the right-half of the screen covered by your right-monitor image. This can be avoided using the new way in TouchDesigner to display on several monitors… the Window Component, so I would turn off the Monitor 2 flag in Window Placement and use a Window compoentn and set it to displayon Monitor 1 or wherever. At Derivative we’re still retrofitting all our .toe files to use this method with Windoew components, so we apologize for .toe files with the former technique.
What you do is correct already - there are so many ways to do things in TouchDesigner that the best ones come through experience and seeing other people’s work.
Thanks for the pointers. It looks a lot cleaner now and seems more intuitive. I know some of my stuff must seem a little sloppy to some of you seasoned Touch users!
I am now able to control the size of the spiral with a slider varying the multiplier on a math CHOP (Instead of an XCHOP tied into the wave amplitude). However I am now unsure as to how I can control the speed of the rectangle after the lookup CHOP. I do indeed have an extrmely fast rotation that I somehow need to slow down with varying values from my slider. Which operator gives me this function?