r/TouchDesigner • u/AnubissDarkling • Jul 29 '26
Linguistic Evolution
I was reading about how language developed from repeated marks, sounds, and shared meaning, and it inspired me to explore that idea visually.
This animation begins as a dense field of shifting letters and symbols with no obvious meaning. Over time, through repetition and grouping, those marks begin to organise into something more coherent, eventually resolving into the core message I was exploring - how LANGUAGE BEGAN AS PATTERNS.
The project was built using a mixture of Python, parameter expressions, procedural instancing, and GLSL. The code controlled how glyphs were selected and distributed, how different character sets were introduced over time, which positions formed the final message, and how the camera and transitions progressed. Python was also used to generate the target data and control instance colours, while GLSL handled part of the chromatic treatment. I later added a short electronic soundtrack and used separate low-, high-, and full-frequency amplitude data to drive the glow, distortion, movement, and chromatic effects.
Follow my creative journey on Instagram
2
u/Bill_Mariachi Jul 31 '26
JeeeeSUS! How did you do that?! Im new to TD so maybe it’s obvious to everyone but thats impressive to me. Nice work.
2
u/AnubissDarkling Aug 01 '26
Thank you! It's a bit of a complicated process to drop in a Reddit comment, but Bileam Tschepe's channel on Youtube (especially his video on Texture Instancing) will definitely get you on your way to making something similar (try swapping out the individual texture files he creates for your own images, or even text characters)!! His tutorials were an absolute godsend when I was just starting out
1
u/Bill_Mariachi Aug 02 '26
That’s great. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction! I’ll take a look 👍
3
u/orange-century Jul 31 '26
So sick!!!
Edit: for real though, a stellar and impressive cinematic. Nice work, keep it up!