Getting Started With RayTK

Download the Library

The first step to using RayTK is to download the latest tox file, from the repository.

Note that there are many source files in the repository itself, but these are only needed for development purposes. Feel free to take a look through them if you want, but if you only want to use the library rather than modify it, use the release tox file.

Load the Library

Drag the tox file into the project.

Creating a Network

To create your first ROP, use the keyboard shortcut alt + r to open up the RayTK Palette. It will show a list of available ROPs, organized into categories. You can search by typing a name. This popup is like the main TouchDesigner “OP Create Dialog” (using tab), but it shows the available ROPs rather than the standard TouchDesigner OPs.

Create OP Menu

  1. Choose a boxFrameSdf, and a new COMP will be created in the network editor.
  2. Create a raymarchRender3d and connect the output of your boxFrameSdf to the input of the raymarchRender3d.
  3. Connect a Null TOP to the first output of raymarchRender3d.
  4. Play around with the parameters of the boxFrameSdf.

You’ve just created your first RayTK network!

Basic RayTK Network

The boxFrameSdf is an SDF (signed distance function) operator, which is how you define geometry. It’s equivalent to SOPs like Sphere, Box, etc.

The raymarchRender3d is an “Output OP” or renderer. It’s equivalent to a Render TOP. It generates and runs a shader that renders the scene.

Camera and Light

By default, the renderer uses a built-in camera and light. To override those, attach camera and light operators.

  1. Create a lookAtCamera and connect it to the second (“Camera”) input of the raymarchRender3d.
  2. Create a pointLight and connect it to the third (“Light”) input of the raymarchRender3d.
  3. Try changing the settings of the lookAtCamera and pointLight.

Basic RayTK Network

Filters

Now that you have a complete render setup, you can use filters to modify the SDF.

  1. Add a twist between the boxFrameSdf and the raymarchRender3d.
  2. Adjust the “Amount” parameter and watch the box twist in the output.
  3. Try changing the “Axis” parameter to twist around another axis.

Basic RayTK Network

You’ve just created your first “filter” ROP! It modifies the behavior of another ROP.

Materials

By default, the renderer uses a built-in material. To override it, insert a material operator.

  1. Add a basicMat between the twist and the raymarchRender3d.
  2. Try out different color settings.

Basic RayTK Network

You’ve just created your first “material” ROP. It assigns a material to an SDF, which is used to determine what colors it should use.

Cleanup

Now that you’ve set up your scene, you don’t need to keep the main toolkit tox loaded in the project if you don’t want to.

All the ROPs are totally self-contained! That means that if you save out scenes as tox files, you can drop those into any project and they’ll work, without having to load the toolkit itself.

However some editing tools such as the Palette and the Inspector are only available if the toolkit itself is loaded