Dine at El Tiempo at POST's East Wing and enjoy 2hrs free parking.
dadageek TouchDesigner Level-Up: Day 1 — Dive into POPs
Howdy, dadageeks 💙
We're glad you're here! dadageek is excited to team up with ÅRT ĈLUB to offer this in-person workshop to the Houston digital art community! You can learn more about the course below. Feel free to reach out with any questions to kyle@dadageek.com
dadageek is a non-profit community of immersive artists and electronic musicians based out of Austin, TX. Our mission is to offer education and community to those creating at the intersection of art, interactive media, and tech. Our community is filled with talented and creative technologists with a passion for sharing their expertise with others.
ÅRT ĈLUB is a transformer; in museum mode, viewers witness the rapid evolution of entertainment technology and its aesthetic possibilities. In club mode, invited talent operates our exhibits like an instrument of music. Both in museum and club mode, ÅRT ĈLUB pushes the envelope of the intersections between art and technology. Our goal is to propel the greater Houston area into the future by demystifying technology and inspiring creativity. We hope that this collaboration with Dadalab can help us with this goal. https://www.artclubhtx.com/
SATURDAY:
March 28th, 1pm-5pm
What is this course about?
Take your TouchDesigner networks to the next level! This intermediate-level course introduces you to TouchDesigner’s new POPs (Point Operators)—a GPU-accelerated operator family that transforms how point-based data and particle systems are created. You’ll explore the fundamentals of POP networks while building custom particle systems and interactive visuals that respond in real time.
Along the way, you’ll develop a strong understanding of how attributes drive POP networks and how to use them strategically to unlock the full power and flexibility of POP-based systems. With a strong focus on optimization, you’ll learn techniques to keep calculations on the GPU, ensuring fast performance even with complex, large-scale projects.
If you’re ready to move beyond the basics and unlock the next generation of interactive design in TouchDesigner, this course is your gateway!
What will I learn?
Students in this workshop will walk away knowing:
- The fundamentals of the new POPs operator family in TouchDesigner
- How to build custom particle systems and other POP-based interactive visuals
- How to use attributes to control behavior, appearance, and interaction within POP networks
- Optimization techniques for keeping calculations on the GPU to achieve maximum performance gain
New to TouchDesigner?
This workshop is designed for intermediate users, but anyone with a basic understanding of navigating the TouchDesigner interface can follow along. You can learn the basics by working through the free TouchDesigner 100 series course found here: https://learn.derivative.ca/
TouchDesigner is a visual programming environment designed for artists and technologists exploring generative and interactive visual content creation. Embraced globally by artists, programmers, creative coders, software designers, and performers, TouchDesigner is the go-to tool for crafting immersive performances, large-scale installations, and interactive artworks that captivate and inspire.
Who is this course for?
This course is tailored for TouchDesigner users with intermediate-level experience. A general understanding of the TouchDesigner environment and familiarity with existing operator families is required.
Students who enroll in this course are:
- TouchDesigner users looking to advance their capabilities,
- technologists and programmers looking to explore creative approaches to tech,
- musicians looking to add audio-reactive visuals to their music, and
- anyone interested in the intersection of art, tech, and design!
What is the class like?
This workshop will meet at POST in Houston from 1-5p on March. The class is capped at 22 students, so you will have plenty of opportunities to connect with your instructor and ask questions. Your fellow students in the class will be an eclectic mix of artists, musicians, programmers, and creative humans excited to learn, create, and connect!
Are there any requirements?
- An introductory understanding of TouchDesigner
- A Windows or Mac laptop
- 3-button mouse is recommended
- A recent version of TouchDesigner (free download)
TouchDesigner can be downloaded here: https://derivative.ca/download
Meet your instructor!
Brandon LeJeune (aka Stargrave) is a creative technologist focused on generative, interactive, and immersive audiovisual experiences. He builds deeply interconnected systems that meld hardware, software, and protocols into tangible expressions of art and technology. Brandon has extensive experience with laser technology, including serving as the lead laser technician for the national Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular tour. He is the Lab Manager for the Lab for Immersive Media (LIM) and an instructor in the Department of Arts and Entertainment Technologies at UT Austin. He also designs, develops, and engineers interactive installations with dadaLab.
University of Texas at Austin - Lab Manager, Lab for Immersive Media,
Department of Arts and Entertainment Technologies
https://designcreativetech.utexas.edu/lejeune-brandon
SUNDAY:
March 29th, 1pm-5pm
What is this course about?
RayTK brings the power of GPU-based raymarching to the node-based workflow of TouchDesigner. In this hands-on workshop, we will demystify the RayTK toolkit by connecting it to the fundamentals of GLSL and raymarching. You will learn how rays traverse a scene, how Signed Distance Functions (SDFs) define shapes, and how shaders calculate color and light in real-time. Within TouchDesigner, you will learn how RayTK translates complex Signed Distance Functions (SDFs) into visual geometry, moving from mesh-based rendering to the fluid, infinite world of raymarching.
What is RayTK?
RayTK is a library of components for TouchDesigner that empowers creators to use raymarching and shaders without having to write any code. Shaders are powerful, but writing them is complicated and requires programming knowledge that many artists do not have. Even for artists that do have that knowledge, it can be a tedious and error-prone process.
New to TouchDesigner?
This workshop is designed for intermediate users, but anyone with a basic understanding of navigating the TouchDesigner interface can follow along. You can learn the basics by working through the free TouchDesigner 100 series course found here: https://learn.derivative.ca/
TouchDesigner is a visual programming environment designed for artists and technologists exploring generative and interactive visual content creation. Embraced globally by artists, programmers, creative coders, software designers, and performers, TouchDesigner is the go-to tool for crafting immersive performances, large-scale installations, and interactive artworks that captivate and inspire.
Who is this course for?
This course is tailored for TouchDesigner users with intermediate-level experience. A general understanding of the TouchDesigner environment and familiarity with existing operator families is required.
Students who enroll in this course are:
- TouchDesigner users looking to advance their capabilities,
- technologists and programmers looking to explore creative approaches to tech,
- musicians looking to add audio-reactive visuals to their music, and
- anyone interested in the intersection of art, tech, and design!
What is the class like?
This workshop will meet at POST in Houston from 1-5p on March 29th. The class is capped at 22 students, so you will have plenty of opportunities to connect with your instructor and ask questions. Your fellow students in the class will be an eclectic mix of artists, musicians, programmers, and creative humans excited to learn, create, and connect!
Are there any requirements?
- An introductory understanding of TouchDesigner
- A Windows or Mac laptop
- 3-button mouse is recommended
- A recent version of TouchDesigner (free download)
TouchDesigner can be downloaded here: https://derivative.ca/download
Meet your instructor!
Devin Ryan, known by his artistic alias Devras Plexi, is a new media artist, producer, and educator from Austin, TX. His art is influenced by music and seeks to enrich auditory perception through abstract patterns, geometry, and color.
Devin has worked heavily in TouchDesigner since 2021 and his growth has been closely intertwined with the dadageek community.
He's collaborated with acclaimed artists LSDream and CloZee for their collaborative project, LSZEE, contributing many of the visuals for performances at Electric Forest, Bass Canyon, Red Rocks, Mirage, and more.
Devin has also lent his visual designs to artists such as Josh Teed, Ghostland Observatory, Detroit icon Juan Atkins, and many artists in Austin, including Beecave Buzzfest in 2022 and 2023.
https://www.instagram.com/devrasplexi
FYI
Class Minimums: If the class minimum has not been met, the class will be canceled or rescheduled. Those who have pre-paid will be notified in advance and will have the option to receive a class credit or a full refund.
Media Release: Please note that some events may be photographed or video recorded. Registering for this event hereby authorizes dadageek and Art Club to use said photos or videos on social media or in future promotional materials.
