Recently, I have been wanting to engage myself with more visually technical software, creating work to accompany my sonic exploration of PureData. Therefore, I thought Touch Designer would be the perfect tool to grasp an understanding of. I first went to the Touch Designer workshop at LCC to get a simple insight of the software layout as it was initially quite intimidating to use, mainly due to the fact it doesn’t follow the format that any other type of software I have used before does.
Since completing the workshop I have been watching tutorials that explain effects I have seen people use, like blobbing. These are layered visual effects that interact directly with the moving image. Seeing people use these effects online is what inspired me to want to learn Touch Designer in the first place.
Whilst watching these tutorials is incredibly useful for achieving a desired effect, I do feel that I am lacking in the understanding as to how and why that certain effect is caused. Because I am new to the software I know that this is part of the learning process, and with time will come a deeper understanding of its function. However, it does feel difficult to work with a software whilst having a kind of unawareness to it’s abilities.
Despite this, I am avidly carrying on, excited to continue learning the programme. I have chosen to implement it into this project as I thought it would be a good way to experiment with the different uses of the programme, in a relevant way. I aim to use Touch Designer to manipulate and change the visuals my sister sends over to me, making for a final piece that includes both natural and technical elements of animation, therefore combining our two styles.
So far, I have been playing around with using different effects on videos from my camera roll, and I hope to continue experimenting with the effects on some of the draft animations my sister has completed. This process has been key in understanding how I want to use Touch Designer in the final video and which effects work with the context of our project.
Below are some of these examples:
My intentions behind wanting to use Touch Designer references both, the desire to explore my own personal visual practical using digital formats, as well as wanting to use this digital interest of mine to contrasting the natural, organic approach my sister takes to her art. I wanted to have this contrast to show both of our involvements of the project in a distinct but cohesive way, making for a visually stimulating work. I feel through using the blobbing effect on Touch Designer makes for a good example of this balance, as well the lines and connections relating well to theme of ancestry. It attracted me because I saw the relevance between this constantly moving, connecting line effect and the subject of our only family lineage.