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TouchDesigner User Guide

What's New

Current Official Build 2023.12230 Download - Mar 04 2025 - Release Notes

To find out what's new in the latest Official builds, read our 2023 Official Announcement. Previous years highlights are summarized here 2022 and 2021.

Release Notes

Official Builds are production-ready, tested, and stable builds meant for building and delivering projects.

We are continually updating and improving Official Builds of TouchDesigner since its release in December 2023. Head to the Release Notes for a full changelog and details on the currently-posted build. Check back often as we typically post a new build every other month and there are frequently new features added that don't make it into the original Official builds.

Experimental Builds are for beta testing new features and concepts in TouchDesigner. Bug and stability issues may be encountered. We do not recommend using these builds for production work. For the latest in the Experimental builds, see Experimental Release Notes.

Downloads

Download Official Builds - A complete list of current and past official builds.

Download Experimental Builds - An archive of all experimental builds.

Licensing

Non-Commercial licenses are available at no charge for personal, educational, or evaluation purposes. If you or your organization are compensated for your work with TouchDesigner, you must have a Commercial or Pro license. For a comparison of licenses see Licensing.

Updating to the most recent build requires a key whose 'Update Date' is after the build's compile date. Check your license's 'Update Date' in the MY LICENSES section of your MY ACCOUNT page at derivative.ca. If your license 'Update Date' expired before the compile date of the build you want to use, purchase '1 Year of Updates' from the store to get another year of the latest builds.

Forum and Support

Report your problems or ask questions in our Support Forum.

Getting Started

• The Getting Started Tips will help you install TouchDesigner and get it keyed and running.
• The TouchDesigner Curriculum course is where you should start to learn the fundamentals of TouchDesigner.
• Check out both the Beginner - Interactive and Immersive HQ playlist and Beginner - Bileam Tschepe playlist in the community playlists section.
• Introduction to TouchDesigner workshop highlights many concepts and specific operators through introductory examples in a single 4 hour workshop.
• Go through First Things to Know about TouchDesigner to get an introductory overview with pro tips and tricks throughout.

Tutorials and Workshop Videos

• Tutorials Page - A full list of tutorials available. Including user-contributed and older 088 legacy sections.

• TouchDesigner Curriculum learning portal, take the fundamentals course to get a solid foundation to work from.

• TouchDesigner Official Youtube - A growing collection of Derivative tutorials and workshop recordings, as well as videos from previous TouchDesigner Summits. Also check out the Community Playlists section for great tutorials shared by the community.

• TouchDesigner Community Tutorials - The tutorials section of our website's community feed, an amazing resource growing everyday. If you have a tutorial you'd like to share, please upload it here by logging into Derivative and creating a TUTORIAL under My Account.

• AllTD.org - An excellent resource that compiles learning materials in multi-languages from the broad TouchDesigner community, thanks to Jan Gryczan in Berlin.

• TouchDesigner How-To Tips - A collection of Beginner, Intermediate and Pro how-to techniques showing you how to accomplish numerous tasks.

Documentation

• Search documentation using the wiki advanced search page.
• The TouchDesigner Glossary is the gateway to the concepts and architecture of TouchDesigner.
• Browse the Categories found in the navigation bar on the left.
• On the splash page when starting TouchDesigner, press TOUCHTIPS to get various usage tips while-u-wait.
• Operator Help pages - All the node types of TouchDesigner. And check out OP Snippets below.
• Python page is the main jumping off point for all things Python in TouchDesigner. Python Reference is an alphabetical index of all Python pages in the wiki. Python Classes and Modules is grouped by subject. Also see the Introduction to Python Tutorial to learn the basics of Python scripting in TouchDesigner.
• Help -> Python Examples in the TouchDesigner UI takes you to a PythonExamples.toe file with 100+ examples.
• Offline Help - Access the wiki when you are not connected to the internet by pre-downloading the offline documentation package.

Sample Components, Tools and Examples

• OP Snippets - Over 1000 functioning examples found via (1) the Help -> Operator Snippets menu, or (2) right-click on any operator in any network, or (3) right-click on any operator in the OP Create menu. When you get there, browse the various OP types, or try pressing Rand or Newest.
• Palette Browser - In the menu Dialogs -> Palette Library, or the left-pane of the default TouchDesigner. For a list of all Palette component help pages, see Category:Palette.
• Community Assets - User-contributed components and assets for TouchDesigner in our website's community feed. If you'd like to share an asset, please upload it here by logging into Derivative and creating an ASSET under My Account..
• Olib from alphamoonbase - A highly-recommended growing and active resource of free TouchDesigner Components.
• ask google - just type “touchdesigner how …” and see what you get - example - touchdesigner how hand track to sound

Derivative Forum

• General forums - Ask any questions, share techniques, or leave comments and requests. TouchDesigner support for Non-Commercial, Educational, and Commercial should be posted here in the forum. Pro license holders can contact us directly through Pro Support.

White Papers and Topics

• Troubleshooting in TouchDesigner
• Optimize
• TouchDesigner Video Server Specification Guide
• NDI Performance Testing
• Projection Mapping
• Generative Design
• Video Streaming User Guide
• System Requirements
• Using Multiple Graphic Cards
• Perfect Playback
• Creating Audio with CHOPs
• Initialize Start
• numerous topics in TouchDesigner Glossary

Online Courses (paid)

• Interactive Immersive HQ - the extensive full professional training program for TouchDesigner.
• TouchDesigner Workshops by Lich Pfad Studio & Stanislav Glazov - Excellent resource for GLSL, Geometry Shaders in particular and general introduction as well as intermediate material.
• Learning TouchDesigner by Scott Pagano on Lynda.com - A 4h fundamentals course on TouchDesigner.

Other Resources

• Facebook - Join us on Facebook and keep up to date with the latest TouchDesigner projects.
• TouchDesigner Help on Facebook- Massively helpful Facebook Help Group for TouchDesigner run by users.

• GitHub projects - Browse GitHub for a wide range of user submitted projects.

• Twitter - Follow us on Twitter @1null1
• Books - Books to help you learn TouchDesigner. and write GLSL Shaders
• Frequently Asked Questions - Frequently asked questions about TouchDesigner.
• Vimeo - Videos posted by the TouchDesigner community on Vimeo.
• CHOPCHOPCHOP - some earlier TouchDesigner Components.

• Resources - Textures, devices, animations, movies, audio and more.

OP Snippets is a set of 700+ live examples of TouchDesigner operators. You can access snippets via the Help menu, or by right-clicking on network operators, or r-clicking on OP Create dialog items.

TOuch Environment file, the file type used by TouchDesigner to save your entire project.

A built-in panel in TouchDesigner that contains a library of components and media that can be dragged-dropped into a TouchDesigner network.