I'm a Machine Learning professional who was planning to do blob tracking in code, until I learned it is possible in TD. I did the usual beginner tutorials but this is my first end to end project. This video is fantastic and I could replicate your work. Having you explain clearly why you were doing each step was a big help for me too. It made sure that I wasn't just copying steps, but learned why I was doing each step. You are a real teacher. Keep up the amazing work.
@@sesh7606 It's nothing related to work. I have a side hustle as a music production duo and I do a lot of creative coding and art for that. TouchDesigner definitely saved me a lot of time which I would have spent coding.
Man you are just amazing at this!! Most of the touchdesigner tutorials just show us what nodes to connect and what values to tweak which is alright... But explaining WHY you are using what you are using and how they work and what role they play in the network is super essential and you are one of the very few people doing this!! Thanks a ton! Subscribed!
I love hearing this. I hope to do exactly that. I want to move fast to not let people get too bored with explaining but I don’t want to leave people wondering why I did what I did to get the result.
@@DeanCheesman I've been trying to figure out vector fields for awhile. I've seen some videos where people use a combination of a Feedback TOP + GLSL but they kind of just gloss over the code/network instead of showing how to build from scratch.
i'm sorry i'm a super newbie trying to create cool shnizzle (like most ..) and when i followed up until 3:35 you add render TOP. but soon as i add as well, there is yellow exclamation mark saying [Warning: A MAT is using texture coordinates, but the SOP being used with it does not have UV attributes. UV (uv) attributes can be created with the Texture SOP. (/project1/render1)] i wonder if there is something i missed on the step :( Thanks again for this valuable video tutorial nonetheless !! Thank you !
the settings work perfect when using a video with the same aspect ratio. I use references instead of typing the 9/16 values to ensure reproducibility. when i switch to a video with the aspect of 1280x720, the lines get all messed up and I end up using an ortho width of 1.
The trace lines are just using the uv space, so that would throw things off, you need to make sure the UV space is calculated based on the resolution of the image. I think I did a better job explaining it in my newer video
I appreciate you responding to my comment. Thank you so much for your videos. I just noticed you had a newer one so I will check that out. Instances like this remind me that I don’t need to be so stressed about doing everything exactly the same and to leave room for improvisation and experimentation.
Dean, thank you so much for your detailed breakdown on this. Can you help me, I have followed all your steps but now I am trying to export just an alpha layer of the effects without the background video file. I am not very familiar with the program and I'm sure there is a way to deactivate the original video file to leave only the effects applied. Thanks in advance!
hey! thank you for the video :) my text is on the right side overlapping itself, I took some steps back to see what I did wrong but it seems good so I don't know what happened..
I’m having a hard time getting my camera to show anything. It just shows the starter image after I try to connect it to geometry. How would I fix this?
hey dean! your videos are awesome and so helpful. I have a question about the text on the video. I followed the steps, but for some reason my text is isolated to one stationary spot in the bottom left corner of the screen. Do you know what i could've done wrong to keep the text in that area instead of scattering across the screen like the blob tracking is supposed to do?
It’s likely because of the conversion from UV (0-1) to pixel space. I made a newer video that might explain it better. Blob Tracking Effect with TouchDesigner ua-cam.com/video/qH94dipCJiw/v-deo.html
Hi there! great tutorial. I'm having a little problem when i connect the last null(4) with the text1 node. The numbers appears at the bottom left of the render. I suppose its not taking the information of the blob tracker. (im using the non-commercial version of TD). Do you have any tip? thanks! =)
Hey thanks for following along. Two potential reasons I can think of. Did you convert your blob's u and v to x and y positions by multiplying by your height? Also did you make sure that your column names in null4 are exactly "x", "y", and "text"?
@@DeanCheesman I think I found the error. I did the tutorial again from blobtracker and I think I had forgotten to multiply by the height of my video (1280). Thanks!
Awesome tutorial! I’m brand new to TouchDesigner and have a quick question-when I add the Joint to the Trace, nothing shows up in the viewfinder. Any idea what I might be doing wrong? Thanks in advance!
Of course! By default a geo doesn't have a SOP input on it, but if you take a sop and drag a wire from its output and hit tab to see the operators, then choose a geo it will add the input for you and connect it.
What to search if I’m interested in different examples of this like visual mathematical geometric measurement tracing tacking overlay of videos of everyday stuff
hi, thank you for the tutorial, this is fun, I'm just starting to learn TD. Quick question, how do you just drag a line from an operator and release it, quickly to opens the operator tab? I have to either right-click or middle-click to connect new ones, or manually drag a line to connect after creating new operator.
@@DeanCheesman got it! thanks! There are a lot of code-heavy tutorials online that are scary to get into, yours are very beginner friendly, I appreciate that
This has been my first project in touchdesigner really helpful! I followed exactly as you said but the text is only 1 line appearing at the bottom left. I'm using the free version can this be the reason why?
Dean, how would you go about converting those numbers to random words? Is there a way to output the text TOP into a list where I can assign random words to it?
Hi there! amazing tutorial, I have a question. when I enter the data into the text block, I don't get random numbers, instead, only the number 0 appears in the bottom right corner, Do you know what might be happening? thanks
hey! quick question, when I connect text1 to final comp1 (last part to add the text coordinates to the video) text is only showing in the corner of the video; any suggestions what i can change ?
Maybe I missed it in the video. Is the Trace and Blob Tracking just this visual effect or does it serve some utility for other effects you are meant to build off it?
I followed the tutorial and I got very close to the desired result... however I am not getting AS MANY blobs and text... im opnly getting a few.... in the sense very few in number.... I think this is because I only have a maximum of 2 rows in my blobtrack1_blobs dat... idk how to incease it.. any help?
The built in blob tracker only does two blobs in the free version. I do have an advanced blob tracker that I built from scratch that can actually do unlimited blobs. Available to my Patrons.
I did a terrible job explaining this. Wireframes sort of suck on a Mac. Some sort of weird rendering limitation means that the line material is the only way to get control of line thickness.
I'm a Machine Learning professional who was planning to do blob tracking in code, until I learned it is possible in TD. I did the usual beginner tutorials but this is my first end to end project. This video is fantastic and I could replicate your work. Having you explain clearly why you were doing each step was a big help for me too. It made sure that I wasn't just copying steps, but learned why I was doing each step. You are a real teacher. Keep up the amazing work.
Thanks for sharing!
Oh, sounds very cool, I'm working with ML/AI too, interesting for what a kind project u neeed a blobtracking?
@@sesh7606 It's nothing related to work. I have a side hustle as a music production duo and I do a lot of creative coding and art for that. TouchDesigner definitely saved me a lot of time which I would have spent coding.
Man you are just amazing at this!! Most of the touchdesigner tutorials just show us what nodes to connect and what values to tweak which is alright... But explaining WHY you are using what you are using and how they work and what role they play in the network is super essential and you are one of the very few people doing this!! Thanks a ton! Subscribed!
I love hearing this. I hope to do exactly that. I want to move fast to not let people get too bored with explaining but I don’t want to leave people wondering why I did what I did to get the result.
Hey Dean, Great video man. Im just getting into TouchDesigner and IM LOVING your way of motion detection. Very easy to follow! Thank you!
Hey thanks!
Thanks Dean, very easy to follow, much appreciated!
You bet!
first time try touch designer and your tutorial helps achieve what I want thank youu
I love hearing that! Thanks for following along.
Dean you are an ANGEL in TouchDesigner space, just found out about your channel and I am amazed already, thank you so much!
That’s too kind! I’m just getting started. Thanks for following along.
It’s good to start the video with what goal you achieved, and then move on to the show
Amazing tutorial, I hope you continue to make more!
Thanks! Just getting started. What sort of things would you like to see more of?
@@DeanCheesman I've been trying to figure out vector fields for awhile. I've seen some videos where people use a combination of a Feedback TOP + GLSL but they kind of just gloss over the code/network instead of showing how to build from scratch.
Great tutorial. Really love what you make and how you explain it. Thank you.
i'm sorry i'm a super newbie trying to create cool shnizzle (like most ..) and when i followed up until 3:35 you add render TOP.
but soon as i add as well, there is yellow exclamation mark saying
[Warning: A MAT is using texture coordinates, but the SOP being used with it does not have UV attributes. UV (uv) attributes can be created with the Texture SOP. (/project1/render1)]
i wonder if there is something i missed on the step :(
Thanks again for this valuable video tutorial nonetheless !!
Thank you !
Hm. Is your trace SOP actually showing any geometry in it? If its empty this might be why this shows up at this point.
Drop the Cam box onto the Render box and choose Parm: Camera. This is my first time using TD so may be wrong but its working for me so far. Cheers!
the settings work perfect when using a video with the same aspect ratio. I use references instead of typing the 9/16 values to ensure reproducibility. when i switch to a video with the aspect of 1280x720, the lines get all messed up and I end up using an ortho width of 1.
The trace lines are just using the uv space, so that would throw things off, you need to make sure the UV space is calculated based on the resolution of the image.
I think I did a better job explaining it in my newer video
I appreciate you responding to my comment. Thank you so much for your videos. I just noticed you had a newer one so I will check that out. Instances like this remind me that I don’t need to be so stressed about doing everything exactly the same and to leave room for improvisation and experimentation.
@@DeanCheesman same here, can't really tell how to fix the uv space when my boxes will really follow the movement, now it's big and random
good stuff. thanks Dean. following! I'll have a think about suggesting another technique for your next tutorial
Thanks for the feedback!
Dean, thank you so much for your detailed breakdown on this. Can you help me, I have followed all your steps but now I am trying to export just an alpha layer of the effects without the background video file. I am not very familiar with the program and I'm sure there is a way to deactivate the original video file to leave only the effects applied. Thanks in advance!
Yep. Moviefileout top with formats that support alpha.
thank you so much for this TUT! just wanted to ask how i could make my lines thinner?
In the material parameters
hey! thank you for the video :) my text is on the right side overlapping itself, I took some steps back to see what I did wrong but it seems good
so I don't know what happened..
Maybe check out my newer tutorial. I feel like I explain it better there.
I’m having a hard time getting my camera to show anything. It just shows the starter image after I try to connect it to geometry. How would I fix this?
I’m sorry. Can you explain a little more? Maybe let me know the timestamp in the video where you’re having the problem.
Thank you
Glad you liked it!
hey dean! your videos are awesome and so helpful. I have a question about the text on the video. I followed the steps, but for some reason my text is isolated to one stationary spot in the bottom left corner of the screen. Do you know what i could've done wrong to keep the text in that area instead of scattering across the screen like the blob tracking is supposed to do?
It’s likely because of the conversion from UV (0-1) to pixel space. I made a newer video that might explain it better.
Blob Tracking Effect with TouchDesigner
ua-cam.com/video/qH94dipCJiw/v-deo.html
Hi there! great tutorial. I'm having a little problem when i connect the last null(4) with the text1 node. The numbers appears at the bottom left of the render. I suppose its not taking the information of the blob tracker. (im using the non-commercial version of TD). Do you have any tip? thanks! =)
Hey thanks for following along. Two potential reasons I can think of. Did you convert your blob's u and v to x and y positions by multiplying by your height? Also did you make sure that your column names in null4 are exactly "x", "y", and "text"?
having the same problem, even after the suggested solutions
I think I found a solution, change your position value to fraction aspect from pixels in the text sop
@@DeanCheesman I think I found the error. I did the tutorial again from blobtracker and I think I had forgotten to multiply by the height of my video (1280). Thanks!
i think i found the solution, 14:30 in this video, make sure you have dragged your null3 to chopto
why wont my res1 connect to my trace?
Since its TOP to SOP you don't use a regular connector. You need to put res1 in the TOP name parameter.
Awesome tutorial! I’m brand new to TouchDesigner and have a quick question-when I add the Joint to the Trace, nothing shows up in the viewfinder. Any idea what I might be doing wrong? Thanks in advance!
Thanks! You might want to check your threshold level. Your incoming video might not have enough contrast to “find” something to trace.
hi. Do I need the TouchDesigner commercial version to create this?
Pretty much. The free version limits the number of blobs you can track to only two.
@@DeanCheesman thanks !!
Thank you for your tutorial!!! I have trouble connecting null and geo, can u please explain
Of course! By default a geo doesn't have a SOP input on it, but if you take a sop and drag a wire from its output and hit tab to see the operators, then choose a geo it will add the input for you and connect it.
@@DeanCheesman thank u!
Hello! thnx for the tutorial, quick question : is there any way to customize the positons of the blobs ?
Do you mean after they are detected? You could convert the blob data to CHOP or TOP and manipulate positions using those if that’s what you mean.
What to search if I’m interested in different examples of this like visual mathematical geometric measurement tracing tacking overlay of videos of everyday stuff
Good question. You could start with searching for plexus.
Thank you for the helpful tutorial, Really helpful stuff!
Glad it was helpful!
hi, thank you for the tutorial, this is fun, I'm just starting to learn TD. Quick question, how do you just drag a line from an operator and release it, quickly to opens the operator tab? I have to either right-click or middle-click to connect new ones, or manually drag a line to connect after creating new operator.
Thanks for watching! I drag out from the operator and while I’m still holding I hit the tab button.
@@DeanCheesman got it! thanks! There are a lot of code-heavy tutorials online that are scary to get into, yours are very beginner friendly, I appreciate that
This has been my first project in touchdesigner really helpful! I followed exactly as you said but the text is only 1 line appearing at the bottom left. I'm using the free version can this be the reason why?
That doesn't sound like its a free version problem. that sound more like an issue converting the text location from uv to pixel space.
I got same issue, any fix?
Dean, how would you go about converting those numbers to random words? Is there a way to output the text TOP into a list where I can assign random words to it?
In my newer blob tracking video i talk a little more about this, but its been a request a few people have asked about so maybe a tutorial is in order.
Hi there! amazing tutorial, I have a question. when I enter the data into the text block, I don't get random numbers, instead, only the number 0 appears in the bottom right corner, Do you know what might be happening? thanks
Tricky to debug without seeing your network but if I were to guess you’ve got a resolution size or a ratio multiplication that’s off.
Nice! Great Tutorial, easy to follow steps nice outcome! Ly
Thanks so much!
Where would I have to go (virtually or otherwise), or what courses would I have to take to learn how to do all this?
You’re already there! It’s all pretty much available to learn here on UA-cam!
hey! quick question, when I connect text1 to final comp1 (last part to add the text coordinates to the video) text is only showing in the corner of the video; any suggestions what i can change ?
I think I explain it in my newer tutorial a little better. Likely a problem converting from UV to pixels.
@@DeanCheesman which one exactly?
fantastic. thank you. subscribed!
Awesome, thank you!
the output of the video is not as smooth as the video is, how do I fix it?
Hm... a few options come to mind. Are you turning off the realtime box on the top menu bar before recording your video output?
@DeanCheesman yep that was the problem, thxxx
how can i connect anything to comp geo? i can't do itttt please answerrrrr
If you drag out from your SOP and while you’re still holding the wire you hit tab to add your geo it will add it with an input.
Also, is there any way to adjust the thickness of the squares or lines on the final comp?
Yes! You can adjust the line near/far with in the Line material operator.
Maybe I missed it in the video. Is the Trace and Blob Tracking just this visual effect or does it serve some utility for other effects you are meant to build off it?
Yeah. Just the end effect itself. Was seeing a lot of people using it but not a lot showing how.
I followed the tutorial and I got very close to the desired result... however I am not getting AS MANY blobs and text... im opnly getting a few.... in the sense very few in number.... I think this is because I only have a maximum of 2 rows in my blobtrack1_blobs dat... idk how to incease it.. any help?
The free version limits you. I’ve got a workaround to fake it. Tutorial is planned I just need to record it.
@@DeanCheesman hi, I couldnt really find the video talking about that. Have you already released the video?
i need the pro version to do this?
The built in blob tracker only does two blobs in the free version. I do have an advanced blob tracker that I built from scratch that can actually do unlimited blobs. Available to my Patrons.
Hwy when i put u and v nothing is changing in the blob part! What shall i do?
I’m not sure I understand where it’s not working. Maybe give me a time stamp on where you’re getting an issue?
great tutorial. thank you!
You're welcome!
Crazy good
Thanks o much 🎉🎉
You’re welcome 😊
thanx big man!
You bet!
Cool 😮so is it like CGI ?
Ha... I mean... it's computer generated imagery i guess :)
Amazing
Thank you!
man i gotta work on my misophonia cos that frog in the throat is KILLING me 😭
Ah man. You think it was bad for you! I couldn’t shake that throat tickle for like four weeks!
2:54 bro what
I did a terrible job explaining this. Wireframes sort of suck on a Mac. Some sort of weird rendering limitation means that the line material is the only way to get control of line thickness.
@@DeanCheesman Don't worry. ChatGPT helped me out on that one. Thanks for the tutorial.