FragTool - animation and rendering

[tryptophan]

Hi everyone, I haven't been very active here for a while but recently I came back and noticed there was a bunch more work done with some Fragmentarium render engines and thought I should let everyone know about a tool I developed in TouchDesigner called FragTool - with the help of various people here over time and largely based Syntopia's Fragmentarium. A lot of the shaders have been customized quite a bit now since the first iterations but there is still quite a bit of the original Fragmentarium functionality.


The platform/program I built FragTool in is called TouchDesigner which is a realtime node (graphic) based programming environment for production and control of realtime graphics/audio/lighting/laser/robotics etc... It has support for GLSL, Python, C++ and CUDA.

FragTool is available for download on the TouchDesigner forum if anyone would like to try it out. (Windows only...)

Some of the features are:

- write custom formulas and render engines
- modulate any parameter with LFOs, Audio, MIDI, OSC, DMX etc....
- animate any parameter using visual keyframing
- load audio file for reference
- load and process multiple audio files for modulation sources (ie stems of tracks)
- progressive rendering
- render layers (32 bit tiff or openEXR if desired)
- render depth
- render alpha
- animate and depth blend a standard OpenGL scene with typical geometry, shaders and lighting (ie create a scene with particles and solid geometry where the both the DE function and OpenGL surfaces occlude each other based on their depth and who is front of who)
- preset storage and recall that recalls all parameters including animation
- preset morphing, create an animation (editable keyframes) from a series of presets
- camera and parameter live input recording with the ability to do takes and then convert the takes to keyframes and sequence the takes
- support for joystick and 3dConnexion camera controllers
- composite and playback video files
- realtime output for live events

I've uploaded the FragTool file to the Derivative forum for anyone use. You will need to install TouchDesigner to run the file which is located on their website as well.

Recently I saw some new developments here on the forum and thought if any of those individuals would be interested in working with me on FragTool we could really take it to the next level. Developing in the TouchDesigner environment makes creating complex tools unbelievably fast. Creating a shader and animating it with keyframes or audio can be done in a matter of minutes - form scratch, without FragTool. Some of the new volumetric lighting and the new DOF and would be incredible additions. I've been also wanting to rewrite 64bit GLSL versions of the formulas and renderers and/or start writing them in CUDA/OpenCL (but still use the FragTool environment)

Here is the link to the FragTool project file:
http://derivative.ca/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=6909

If you can take the time please download Touch and give it a try.

And thank you to all the incredible programmers and mathematicians here at Fractal Forums for all the help to create FragTool.

thanks
Keith

[cKleinhuis]

wow, fantastic and thanks for sharing, this is very helpful

[3dickulus]

  sounds like Fragmentarium on steroids can't wait to test it out
Q: is TouchDesigner required to run FragTool?

[tryptophan]

Thanks guys.

Q: is TouchDesigner required to run FragTool?

It is required. The upside is that tools and interfaces can be built very quickly the downside is that you need to install app to run you projects. Technically FragTool is a TouchDesigner project file...

[Patryk Kizny]

Wow! This looks like a dreamtool! I was thinking about moving to Touch for real-time applications and merging live inputs!

Hey Mods!
Perhaps you can create a separate subforum for FragTool here?

[Patryk Kizny]

Gave it a try and it looks like everything is there! So powerful!

[tryptophan]

Hi Patryk, that's great that you've found it!

Actually I recently saw some of your posts here and they inspired me to make start this thread and share Fragtool here. I realized a lot of people here might not be interested in using Touch Designer but as you know the possibilities when using it are endless and not impossible to achieve.

If you have questions please feel free to ask, some aspects are pretty dialed some are a bit chaotic...

I'm actually looking for some potential collaborators. There are so many things still left to do and a number of improvements to be made but it's been difficult making the time to do it all by myself. If your interested in helping develop it further please feel free to contact via email. Keith@the-summit.ca

cheers
Keith

[Patryk Kizny]

I'll need to take time to get into touch to get basic proficiency.
Now it's a totally new tool for me and never used Python.
I'm quite ok with glsl coding after my adventures with frag, so it's the matter of time.
I checked the structure of your synth and its complex but still digestible. It'll only take some good aperitifs

[ForestCat]

Keith, are you still seeking feedback on this?  I am deep into it and can provide you w/ a ton of beta feedback since it is a top priority for me to get this working & utilize it. Tried to email you a couple of days ago at the email address you listed.  Also posted this over at the Derivative forum:

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If anyone besides myself is playing with Fragtool, or would be willing to spend 10 minutes verifying something for me, please try this:

Load the .toe from the first post in this thread.  Note that on the left, the Formula tab is selected by default. The current formula is 'TryptaIFSMulti'. There are about 33 formula paramters listed in my install.  

Go to the formula dropdown at the top of that list.
 
Select any other formula, but for example, I used the one at the top of the list 'CornerMenger'.

Now there are only 15 formula parameters.

Go back and select 'TryptaIFSMulti' again from the dropdown list.  Now there are only 17 paramaters displayed.  The only way I can get the entire 33 params back on my install is a reload of TD.

I can't imagine this is the designed behavior, since those parameters are critical to do anything original w/ this.

Thanks for any help.
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