GLSL shaders can calculate and output 40k+ DMX channels in real time, enabling large-scale kinetic and LED installations from a single TD network

Ruokun Chen and Jimmz Zhang’s talk documents using GLSL within TouchDesigner to calculate 40,000 channels of DMX512 data in real time — bypassing the normal per-object CPU calculation and instead parallelising channel value computation on the GPU. The approach also integrates Art-NET protocol for network distribution. For kinetic installations (moving heads, LED matrices, motorised rigs) at event scale, this GPU-compute path is the only viable real-time option at high channel counts. Additional context: cornerpin correction for laser projection using tdu.Matrix, and EtherDream for direct laser hardware control from TD.

Examples

Audi launch in Guangzhou: 40k DMX channels for a kinetic installation controlled in real time from one TD patch using GLSL. Laser control for the Audi A6L launch synchronized to a holography show via EtherDream.

Assessment

Sketch the data flow from a GLSL TOP in TouchDesigner to physical DMX fixtures via Art-NET. Identify where GPU computation ends and CPU/network distribution begins, and explain why this split matters for latency at scale.