TouchDesigner .tox Files

TouchDesigner components

TouchDesigner is a node-based visual programming language for real-time interactive multimedia content, developed by Derivative: https://derivative.ca/.
A piece of content exported from TouchDesigner is called a TouchDesigner Component file and is stored with a '.tox' file extension. A .tox file contains one component which in turn can contain multiple components. For more details, please refer to TouchDesigner documentation: https://docs.derivative.ca/.tox.
Such files can then be imported into Smode as 2D Layer A single 2D Layer Read More or 2D Modifier Modify a 2D image Read More .
This topic describes the workflow for using TouchDesigner content inside Smode.

Expose TouchDesigner Parameters

If you want to control some parameters of your TouchDesigner component directly from Smode, you will need to expose these values.
Right-click on the component and choose 'Customize Component' .
This will open the 'Component Editor' (for more details, please refer to the TouchDesigner Component_Editor_Dialog documentation), where you can create new parameter pages by giving them a name (1) and clicking the 'Add Page' button (2). They will be added to the list of Pages (3).
In each of these pages, you can create different parameters by choosing their name (4) and type (5) and clicking the 'Add Par' button (6). They will be added to the list of Parameters (7).
The parameter types supported by Smode are:

• Toggle
• Int
• Float
• String
• Color (RGB or RGBA)
• Position (XY or XYZ)
• Size WH
• Menu
• StrMenu

Once you've created new parameters, when you click on your component, you'll see the new page with all your custom parameters.

Link TouchDesigner Parameters to Elements

You can then link existing parameters within the component to the newly exposed parameters, enabling you to dynamically edit them directly from Smode later.
For example, if I want to be able to change the background color directly from Smode, I can go to the parameters of the component determining the color, right-click on the 'Color' parameter and select 'Copy Parameter' .
Then, in the custom parameters page created earlier for the component you want to export, right-click on a parameter you've created of the same type (in this case, a parameter of type 'Color RGB'), and select 'Paste Bind' .
If you click on the + sign on the left of the parameter's name, you should see expressions. Check that these expressions are consistent and correspond to the parameters you wanted to expose.

Export .tox component

Once you have created and linked all the parameters you wanted, you can export the component by right-clicking on it and selecting 'Save Component .tox' .

Import in Smode

To import a .tox file, as with any other type of file you want to import into Smode, it must be saved in one of the Media Directories Where you can find all your content media Read More you've added beforehand. Then you can simply drag and drop it into your Element Tree The hierarchical structure of Smode elements Read More and choose whether it's a Layer or a Modifier . When you import a tox file, you'll see this Warning message warning you that loading is in progress. Please wait for the Warning to disappear before doing anything else.
Once the instance has finished loading and the warning has disappeared, in the parameters if it's a 2D Modifier Modify a 2D image Read More or in the 2D Generator The part of a 2D layer that generates the image Read More parameters if it's a 2D Layer A single 2D Layer Read More , you'll be able to see all the parameters you have previously exposed in your component.
If it's a 2D Layer A single 2D Layer Read More , you should be able to preview your visual content right away in the Viewport Preview and edit your content Read More .
If it's a 2D Modifier Modify a 2D image Read More , you'll have one or more Parent Input to set in order to apply the modifier to them. You can choose the type of Parent Input from the drop-down menu. It can be an Image Layer This generator loads a still image and displays it. Read More , a Video File Generate an animated image by playing a video file. Play it either with its Transport or from a Timeline (by drag n dropping the layer inside it) Read More , a Smode Compo Composite 2D Layer, Shape layer and 3D Layer together. [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [N] to create a new composition after opening Smode Read More etc...

If you have linked exposed parameters to some parameters within the component, as seen earlier, you can edit them directly from Smode and you should see the new value take effect in real time.