Intro

This Article is split into two sections:

• TouchDesigner integration (Part 1) - TouchDesigner Setup
• TouchDesigner integration (Part 2) - PIXERA Setup

Requirements

In order to run TouchDesigner files within PIXERA the following items must be installed on each machine intended to either control or render the TouchDesigner output:

1. TouchDesigner 099 with a valid license key loaded onto the same machine that PIXERA runs on. For more information on licensing needs in conjunction with TouchEngine refer to Derivative's TouchEngine page.
2. PIXERA license version 25.2 or onward
3. A .tox file

Example .tox & .toe

Multi-Monitor Output

If your .tox file has multiple Out TOPs that need to be applied to multiple Displays, the mechanism to support this would be use of Screen Groups.

First add two Displays to your Workspace by navigating to the Screens tab > Library tab > twirl down the Displays group and select any two Displays you want.

Using HUD.tox from the example project folder drag and drop it from the Resource pane onto your Displays. Once out_HUD and out_banana and Control are placed on the Timeline you may notice that only one of the texture layers renders across all of the Displays. Select out_HUD and look at the Big Four, located in the right hand side of the PIXERA interface under the Setup tab > Presence parameters. Under Home Screen it should say “Compositing can server multiple screens”. You cannot specify which Display for the .tox outputs to display here. Instead we turn to Screen Groups.

Navigate to the Compositing tab > Screen Groups. If you're working in a new project file you will see only Screen Group 1 here. To add another Screen Group 2 select the + button at the bottom. It is recommended to rename your Screen Groups in a way that makes it easier to discern later.

Twirling down the original Screen Group 1 you'll notice that there are two Displays within it. We want to split these two Displays into different Screen Groups. To do this right click on the name of the new Screen Group 2 you made and then select Add or Remove Screens and then uncheck the name of the Display you want to move to the new Screen Group 2. Afterward select Apply Changes.

Next perform the same steps, but instead of adding a Display we'll remove a Display from the original Screen Group 1. Right click on the original Screen Group 1 > Add or Remove Screens. Then uncheck the Display you moved to the new Screen Group 2 and choose Apply Changes. Now both of your Screen Groups should look something like this:
 

Next look to the Layers on your Timeline. Select out_HUD and in the Inspector on the right hand side select the Setup tab and then navigate to the Presence parameter group. Under Screen Group Presence select the drop down menu. Within it is a list of available Screen Groups. For out_HUD we'll select Screen Group 1 and unselect Screen Group 2. Once that's set select the Layer out_banana and in it's Screen Group Presence select Screen Group 2 and unselect Screen Group 1.

Your preview will now show the Out TOPs separated by display.

Layer Reference Resource

Using Layer Reference Resources is an powerful optimization and compositing tool when working with TouchDesigner .tox files in PIXERA. A Layer Reference Resource is a PIXERA specific tool found at the bottom of the Resource pane. 

Once created, select the Layer Reference Resource and in the inspector on the right hand side you use the dropdown options for Timeline and Layer to select the specific .tox Extension Stream you want to use. Select out_HUD from the Timeline it's been placed on. 

After that drag the configured Layer Reference Resource onto a Timeline. Use the Big Four in the inspector to configure the Layer Reference Resource to your liking for your project

Using a Layer Reference Resource saves you on GPU processing power, as it acts as an instance of the original source file which can be copied many times and used in different Compositing methods.

Pixera 25.2 | 17. September 2025 | T.M.