Computer Vision Workshop
Computer Vision Workshop
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TouchDesigner for Interactive Body Tracking
TouchDesigner for Interactive Body Tracking
Instructor & TA: Rose Ansari | Professor: Douglas Rosman
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Art & Technology / Sound Practices Department
This intensive 3-hour workshop introduced students to the fundamentals of computer vision through the creative lens of TouchDesigner, a real-time node-based visual programming tool. Participants learned to construct interactive systems by integrating MediaPipe, an open-source framework for body, face, and hand tracking, using Python scripting within TouchDesigner to process webcam data and develop responsive visual outputs.
TD Computer Vision workshop slides .pdfThe workshop covered:
Core operator types in TouchDesigner (TOPs, CHOPs, SOPs, DATs, MATs, COMPs)
Audiovisual interaction through real-time audio-reactive visuals
MediaPipe-based body and pose tracking via webcam
Visual mapping of tracked movements to interactive elements such as color, scale, and motion
Ethical discussions on computer vision, surveillance, and algorithmic bias
Informed by media theory and surveillance critique (including Shoshana Zuboff’s work and Safiya Noble’s Algorithms of Oppression), the final assignment invited students to creatively explore identity and perception in the age of AI. Outcomes included interactive artworks that critically reflect on facial recognition technologies—such as distorted facial visualizations or anonymization through pixelation.
The workshop also referenced historical and symbolic uses of the human hand in art (as explored in an accompanying resource, The Symbolic and Expressive Power of Hands in Art History) to underscore how gesture and embodiment continue to play key roles in the evolution of image-making—now through the lens of computer vision.
The Symbolic and Expressive Power of Hands in Art History.pdf
Workshop documents, Photo by Prof Douglas Rosman.
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