touchdesigner · 10 patches · 7,654 operators counted

the node graphs behind the work

After some time, I looked back and noticed a pattern in my previous projects, which led me to decide to create a sound visualizer for my capstone project. It was a project I planned to do in Blender, but on the advice of a teacher, I discovered TouchDesigner.

The process of assimilating the knowledge I acquired from TD often took a considerable amount of time. I had no experience with 3D, data processing, or sound design before. Although it was a challenging adaptation process, the possibilities offered by TD helped me decide on the medium for the project.

— from the ARG story

counted with
toeexpand
source
toeexpand · TD SON 9 archive
updated
2026-09-05
vr / screen
6 / 4
with glsl
4

Counts include the ready-made components a patch embeds (VR rigs, UI panels), because that is what the file actually contains. No .toe file is offered for download.

the patches

7 with video · 3 shown as op maps

10 / 10

open work · 5 verified · 3 with caveats

what the practice is built on

A reading list, not a file store — every entry links to its own page. Nothing is mirrored or offered for download here.

  • touchdesigner-mcp

    8beeeaaat · bridge · 514 ★ · 2026-08-08

    This is the bridge that lets a model drive the patch instead of describing it — the production route for everything in the grid above from here on.

    what it does· unverified

    An MCP server outside TouchDesigner talks to a WebServer DAT dropped inside the project, over localhost. Fourteen tools: create and delete nodes, read and write parameters, run Python, capture a TOP as an image.

    unverified · No minimum TouchDesigner version is documented, so compatibility with 2023.11600 has to be tested rather than assumed. The Python tool also runs unauthenticated code inside the patch — localhost only.

    github.comMIT

  • MediaPipe TouchDesigner Plugin

    Torin Blankensmith & Dom Scott · plugin · 2,713 ★ · 2026-08-19

    Hand tracking is the input ARG V2 is built around. This is its TouchDesigner half; the browser half already runs in /studio.

    what it does· unverified

    GPU-accelerated face, hand, body and object tracking inside TouchDesigner, with no install step, on both Mac and PC.

    unverified · Tested against TD 2023.11880 and 2023.12120. The machine here runs 2023.11600, which is slightly older — it needs a trial before it can be relied on.

    github.comopen (LICENSE in repo)

  • MediaPipe_TD_EN

    LucieMrc · project file · 26 ★ · 2025-11-18

    The plugin above is a library; this is a single network small enough to read end to end — the shortest way to see how tracking data reaches a parameter.

    what it does· unverified

    A small example patch that drives a scene from webcam MediaPipe data.

    unverified · No licence is stated. Reading it is fine; lifting anything out of it needs a word with the author first.

    github.comnot stated

  • WebRTC Remote Panel Web Demo

    Derivative (official) · project file

    The least risky way to put a running patch on a web page live — documented by Derivative themselves rather than reverse-engineered. It is the middle route in the bridge note below.

    what it does

    Derivative's own example wiring the WebRTC DAT and Video Stream Out TOP into a React page: the browser receives the video and sends mouse and keyboard back.

    github.comDerivative repository

  • Free Audio Visualizer + TOX

    corpsekaizen · project file

    The plainest possible version of what Noises and Feedback do here — useful precisely because it is short enough to read in one sitting.

    what it does

    A small .tox that turns CHOP audio into a TOP and runs it through a feedback loop for a soft, drifting reactive image.

    patreon.comfree Patreon post (terms in the post)

  • elekktronaut archive

    Bileam Tschepe · archive

    The closest teacher to this practice in visual language; where new scene ideas and motion behaviour tend to come from.

    what it does

    A long-running set of tutorials and project files on audio-reactive, generative and organic systems.

    patreon.comPatreon (some posts free)

  • paketa12 archive

    Aurelian Ionus · archive

    Reference for the particle engines Particle Surface and Decaying Sphere are built on.

    what it does

    Custom particle systems and generative design setups.

    patreon.comPatreon

  • Derivative community archive

    the TouchDesigner community · archive

    The centre everything outside this list comes from — the largest and most trustworthy source found in the survey.

    what it does

    TouchDesigner's official community library, searchable by tags such as audioreactive, mediapipe and hand-tracking.

    derivative.cavaries by post

bridges

how this leaves TouchDesigner

td → web

Three routes exist, in rising order of cost: export a rendered clip; stream the running patch over Derivative's own WebRTC DAT; or rewrite the GLSL by hand for WebGL. The clips on /lab are the first route. The scenes on /studio 24 of them — are the third.

the second route, live → webrtc, only while the machine is on

accretion, rendered in touchdesignertouchdesigner
accretion, rendered in webgl · /studiowebgl · /studio
accretion — the same scene in both engines. The WebGL version came first and was ported back into TouchDesigner 2023.11600; the left frame was captured from TD itself. play the web one →

claude ↔ td

TouchDesigner can be driven from outside: a WebServer DAT inside the project answers on localhost, and an MCP server outside it translates. With that in place a model can create and delete nodes, read and write parameters, run Python in the patch, and pull a frame straight off a TOP — which is how the two frames on the left were produced without anyone dragging a wire.

  • bridge8beeeaaat/touchdesigner-mcp · MIT · 514 ★
  • transportlocalhost:9981 · WebServer DAT (.tox) inside the patch
  • tools14 — nodes, parameters, python, get_top_image
  • tested againstTouchDesigner 2023.11600 (this machine)

caution · the bridge runs arbitrary Python inside TouchDesigner with no authentication. It stays on localhost; the port is never exposed to a network.