A-TIER technique
Equations as images — color vectors that store parametric art in TouchDesigner
100k ft — What is this?
Equations as images — color vectors that store parametric art in TouchDesigner
50k ft — Why care?
Because color is a vector, an image can encode an equation, so y=x² becomes a black-to-yellow gradient. Rows or columns of an image can hold whole sets of parametric equations. The artist uses textures as equation stores in TouchDesigner to build forms like jellyfish, and explains it in a DATLAB NYC talk.
10k ft — Key takeaways
• Each row or column of an image can be its own equation, so one texture holds many.
• Store equations or parameter sets in image pixels and treat textures as data.
• This is a practical GPU-friendly pattern for TouchDesigner and shaders.
5k ft — Tools & techniques
TouchDesigner
color as vector, data textures, parametric equations
1k ft — Deep-dive / try it
testing my new mic by talking about the presentation i had at @datlabnyc about the relationship i see between math equations and images :)))
if you want to listen leave a comment and i can send a link! ♡
2026 is a gonna be a big yap year i fear…
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slides & art made in @touchdesigner (ofc)
#touchdesigner #artxcode #mathart #parametricequations #creativecoding #touchdesignerlearning #newmediaart
Transcript excerpt
One of my favorite facts about mathematics is that color is technically a vector and what that means is that you can actually store equations as images. For example, the equation y equals x squared is just a gradient starting from black all the way to yellow and the in-between color is like kind of orangeish and something else that's really interesting is that because images are in two dimensions you can store like entire sets of equations either through using the rows or the columns of an image. And this is basically how I make a lot of my art. I treat images as a method of storing parametric equations and with those parametric equations they build really cool things like jellyfish. I have a talk about this on YouTube so if you want to watch it let me know. If you want to see visual examples the talk goes through a bunch of them so definitely check it out.