John Whitney-style Oscillating Animation in TouchDesigner

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John Whitney is one of the pioneers of computer animation, well known for his work both in the commercial and artistic fields. In the 1950s and 60s, he developed many innovative visual effects with his home-built computer, which he crafted from a modified antiaircraft director from World War II. After finding success using his computer for commercial work, Whitney started exploring the use of digital computers to make art, starting with an artist residency at IBM in the mid 60s. His animation works from this period are some of his most well known.
In this video, Jack DiLaura walks you through creating an art piece inspired by John Whitney’s Matrix series of films, strategically using the cache TOP to achieve similar layering effects to those found in Whitney’s films. You’ll also work on adding post effects to add to the vintage aesthetic, as well as building a user controlled freeze frame effect.

[@AB.BABY.]

Thank you so much for this great tutorial. This was my first TouchDesigner project, and I learned a great deal about the programme AND John Whitney (whose work I love).

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

So glad to hear it! John Whitney's work is great, well worth digging in to his catalog (even here on TH-cam) for inspiration. Cheers :)

[@seejj]

LOVE the history lesson in this one.

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

So glad to hear that! Cheers 🙂

[@BrunoDeAngelis]

That looks quite a lot like Quadrates, from Herbert W. Franke, another pioneer of digital art which recently passed away. Thank you for this tut!

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

Great point! Hadn't made the connection -- reminds me of Vera Molnar's plotter artworks as well. Thanks for watching!

[@Alexjameswaite]

Love it

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

Thank you! ❤️

[@GO-tq6hs]

This is an amazing tutorial just because of the history. Would love to see one done in the style of Larry Cuba's Calculated Movements in touch designer. Something I've tried to replicate but could never get quite right.

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

Hey thanks so much! That's a great suggestion, will add it to the list of future artist series topics 🙂

[@INCUBUS_AZAZEL]

Hey~! I know it has been some time but I have a question! I am into trippy ass animations and music visualizers (as you can see for example on my latest video) And I am using simple software at the moment - I was thinking about moving to something a bit more complicated but also a bit more powerful, do you think my work could benefit by transitioning myself to touch designer? or maybe you could recommend me different software that would fit my needs more! Thanks!

[@TheInteractiveImmersiveHQ]

I think TouchDesigner sounds like a great tool to try out for this kind of work!
Besides having a wide variety of tools to generate cool visuals with (along with adding all kinds of connectivity to either trigger changes with the audio itself or with some kind of VJ controller) the node-based interface makes it really fast to experiment with different effects and make changes to your settings.
Plus the free non-commercial license is great to see how you like working with the software (no major limitations other than output resolution size). Hope that helps!