From Derivative wiki

Contents 1 FTE - Free Thinking Environment 2 Features 2.1 2D/3D Compositing 2.2 Workflow and Productivity 2.3 Networking and Inputs/Outputs 2.4 Interface and UI 2.5 CHOPs and Animation 2.6 SOPs and Geometry

FTE - Free Thinking Environment

FTE is Free Thinking Environment, an edition of TouchDesigner available at no charge (free) for personal and non-commercial use.

• FTE is free for non-commercial use ONLY. ("You are not receiving money or compensation for your work with FTE")
• FTE is resolution-limited to 1280x1280.
• FTE will not include a small subset of Pro OPs (such as the Clip Blender CHOP, a motion blender)
• FTE does not include any support.
• FTE has less frequent releases than Pro.
• A FTE Commercial license is available for $599 if you use FTE for commercial purposes.
  • Commercial license is good for one commercial key for one computer.
  • Commercial keys can be moved from computer to computer.
  • Version upgrades will be available. (ie.upgrade from Touch 077 to Touch 088) ~1 year between major upgrades

See also: TouchDesigner Pro

Features

2D/3D Compositing

• realtime GPU-based compositing with TOPs - replaces CPU-based compositing – GPU 10x faster

• GLSL pixel/vertex shaders - new materials and shaders system (MATs) integrated with TOPs (bump, multi-layer, displacement, reflections, etc)

• TOP compositing system multi-purpose - build control panels, composite output movies, prepare textures

• Floating Point pixel formats (16fpp and 32fpp)

• truly mixed 2D and 3D - apply 2D FX to a 3D render and composite with other 2D and 3D layers

• streaming and compositing high definition multi-layer movies from disk in realtime

• smooth video input from multiple cameras – USB and FireWire cameras, webcams, TV tuner cards, etc

• machine-to-machine movie streams - from one TouchDesigner process to another TouchDesigner process on another computer at realtime speeds in high resolution using gigabit Ethernet(1000T)

• over 70 image operators - TrueType fonts, render movies to QuickTime / tif / jpg, multi-frame image blending, color correction, feedback, blurs, full RGBA

• all renders and composites off-screen at any resolution and multiple realtime 3D renders in one session

Workflow and Productivity

• mixed nodes - any OP type can be in a network with any other OP type - mix CHOPs with TOPs and SOPs - tighter “in-the-zone” workflow

• Components hold a network of OPs, so you can encapsulate objects, scenes, effects, presets.

• Components allow any combination of TOPs, CHOPs, SOPs, objects, materials as inputs and outputs

• palettes of components, control panels can be added to any component

• easy to share, easy to experiment - save out a Component to a .tox file for easy sharing with other users/projects

• DATs – Data Operators can be used to hold any text data – raw ascii, scripts, etc or table data such as spreadsheets, csv files, etc.

• performance analysis tools - give highly tuned realtime performance (moviedump, Info CHOP, Perform CHOP, and detailed Performance Monitor)

Networking and Inputs/Outputs

• OSC in/out (TouchDesigner-to-Audio apps), Touch In/Out (for TouchDesigner-to-TouchDesigner), Pipe In/Out (TouchDesigner-to-Custom applications)

• Video streaming over FireWire and Ethernet – re-route video in/out of TouchDesigner over gigabit and FireWire networks – can grab multiple video inputs from networked computers running TouchMixer017 or TouchDesigner0xx

• Full MIDI support

• Improved Live Video In – support for multiple cameras – FireWire DV cams and USB cameras and webcams

Interface and UI

• powerful viewers on all node types - visualize your data going through TouchDesigner better

• network nodes can be sized – customize node size to view any type/size of data

• interactive viewers for each node - edit your data inside a network viewer

• edit multiple OP’s parameters - affect many operators simultaneously

• control panels - buttons can be programmable, rollover movies, flexible panel layouts

• 3D gadgets and interface elements – use movies and motion graphics for UI gadgets

CHOPs and Animation

• streams let you customize input and output devices for your computer - midi, audio, cameras, etc

• channel operators (CHOPs) can handle thousands of channels at a time

• timeslicing technology keep data and video smooth even when the system is heavily taxed or intermittently loaded.

SOPs and Geometry

• 3D - polys, meshes, NURBS, beziers, (anti-aliasing soon)

• Geometry model imports from FBX

• Geometry deformation - using Vertex shaders in MAT operators (on the GPU)