FAQ
From Derivative wiki
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What kind of graphics card do I need for TouchDesigner?
A: TouchDesigner runs on NVIDIA Geforce and Quadro graphics cards. It is recommended to use a Geforce 7800 or better card. ATI cards may function. See TouchDesigner System Requirements for details.
Q: Why do you suggest NVIDIA graphics cards over ATI graphics cards? I've heard that the newer ATI cards are just as good as NVIDIA cards.
A: While it is true that consumer level ATI video cards have caught up to NVIDIA video card in terms of performance, these cards are tuned primarily for performance in games. TouchDesigner uses video cards in a much different way than a game does so performance in a game doesn't dictate how well a video card will run TouchDesigner. Currently NVIDIA has a much more robust implementation of OpenGL which results in better performance when running TouchDesigner.
Q: Does TouchDesigner support vertex and pixel shaders?
A: Yes. Geometry shaders are also supported on NVIDIA 8-series and better cards.
Q: Which MIDI controllers can I use with TouchDesigner?
A: TouchDesigner can use any MIDI device as an input. TouchDesigner`s advanced MIDI mapper dialog allows TouchDesigner to "learn" many different MIDI devices. You can then save your MIDI preferences to file and reload the different devices at any time.
Q: What is the most ideal system I should buy for TouchDesigner?
A: TouchDesigner runs on laptops, desktops, and rackmounts. You don't need to buy the fastest CPU, but get the best NVIDIA graphics card with the most graphics RAM you can afford. TouchDesigner does not use a lot of CPU RAM in most cases, so 1 GB is fine to start. The input devices you choose, like Oxygen8, Behringer BCF2000, or MotorMix, depends on what you want to do with TouchDesigner. For more details on preparing a ToucHDesigner system, read this post.
Q: Can I use live audio to drive TouchDesigner visuals?
A: Yes.
Q: Can TouchDesigner output to multiple screens?
A: Running your computer with two monitors allows two images to go to two screens. Often the left monitor is a control panel and the right monitor is a full-screen video output, at any resolution your hardware allows. We recommend setting up the multiple displays in Horizontal Span mode for Windows XP, and Dual-View for Windows 7, set in the NVIDIA control panel.
The right monitor can be a wide view sent to 2 or more video scan converters, or Matrox Dualhead2Go/TripleHead2Go splitters, each going to a different display or projector. This can also be used for left/right eye displays. One TouchDesigner file can run on several computers at the same time, each with a different camera view, synced through TouchDesigner TCP/IP pipes, but exact frame syncronization is not possible.
Q: Where can I find documentation for TouchDesigner?
A: All documentation can be found in this wiki.
Q: Will TouchDesigner be available for Mac OSX?
A: We do not currently have a schedule for porting TouchDesigner to Mac OSX, but are interested in doing so. If you would like to see TouchDesigner released for OSX, please let us know in our forum.
