After exploring Processing further, I realized that Processing had several shortcomings that made it difficult to comfortably work with:

  • Limited processing power (ironic), especially when dealing with graphics changing in realtime.
  • Inconvenient serial bus/Arduino integration.
  • The need to code everything from scratch and read it over later becomes tiring over time when iterating and experimenting.

As such, I decided it would be worth learning TouchDesigner, which solves each of these issues nicely. The software was rather easy to pick up, and within a few work sessions I was quite comfortable navigating in it. One of the benefits of using TouchDesigner is the ease of altering data and moving blocks around, which makes it unbelievably easy to iterate and modify existing visuals. TouchDesigner is also wonderfully performative in both 2D and 3D (generally running at 60fps without issue), making it viable for use with my capstone.

TD Fractal Noise Test

td fractal nodes

First visual experiment using Noise and Feedback TOPs to generate fractals - has a variety of potential inputs that can be piped from brain readings in the future.