This is the licensing information for TouchDesigner: https://docs.derivative.ca/Licensing There is an educational license, and there is also a non-commercial option. I personally think that the priced options are fair. Suppose you bought it today. The current version of TouchDesigner would run on your computer forever, and you are able to upgrade to any new version for the next 365 days. After 365 days, you can’t upgrade, but whatever version you have before then will continue to work. This has many advantages over a monthly subscription service (prices can increase, hidden fees), or revenue sharing (App Store, Unity, Unreal), but also some disadvantages (no mass marketplace “App Store” equivalent).

Your concern about relying on closed source software is valid, but it’s always a tradeoff. Sometimes closed software is actually well supported and worth the price. TouchDesigner has already been around 20+ years too. If you have more questions about things more related to TouchDesigner than ChucKDesigner or ChucK I would be happy to answer them privately.

Best,

David

On Thursday, December 23, 2021, M. Edward (Ed) Borasky <znmeb@algocompsynth.com> wrote:

Is TouchDesigner open source? Last I looked it was a free download for personal use but had a rather expensive licence for other uses.

How many people can stand on the shoulders of a giant before the giant collapses?

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‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
On Thursday, December 23rd, 2021 at 2:26 PM, David Braun <braun@ccrma.Stanford.EDU> wrote:

Hello ChucK users,

A new project, ChucKDesigner combines ChucK and TouchDesigner to facilitate audiovisual interactions. Check it out on GitHub: https://github.com/DBraun/ChucKDesigner and watch the walkthrough video: https://youtu.be/TmJQh1lWXso

TouchDesigner is a great way to make generative graphics, build user interfaces, and process data from many real-time inputs such as depth cameras, skeleton tracking and more. I hope ChucK users find ChucKDesigner as a useful bridge to it and that more TouchDesigner users find their way to ChucK. Cross-pollination!

Best,

David