Yolo TouchDesigner Plugin: Multi-Pose, Object, VisDrone, & Face Tracking + More

This plugin brings Ultralytics YOLO into TouchDesigner with no install required. Just drag and drop the yolo.tox into your project.

Features

• Object Tracking – unique IDs that persist across frames

• Multi-Person Pose Tracking – body keypoints, joints, & persistent IDs across frames

• VisDrone – trained for aerial and security footage (Great for floor tracking installations)

• Face-Tracking Nano – unique face IDs tracked across frames

• Drop-in Component – packaged as a .tox file you can load directly in TouchDesigner

• Custom Models – Bring your own custom Yolov11 Models in by exporting them with ONNX (export script on GitHub)

• Webcam + TOP Support – Use any webcam, or connect any TOP to start processing

Get Started

1. Download the .tox file linked at the bottom of this post.

2. Place the .tox file next you project .toe file so TouchDesigner can reference it locally. ⚠️NOTE if you don't do this, saving your project will take an eternity

3. Drop it into your TouchDesigner project.

Using this Plugin in Your Projects

TLDR: as long as you don’t modify the plugin’s internal source code, you’re free to use it in commercial projects without open-sourcing your codebase.

This plugin bundles an open-source YOLO model (licensed under AGPL-3.0) together with my own TouchDesigner work. To stay compliant, I’ve released the web app + networking code that powers the model under AGPL-3.0 — the source is freely available.

Source Code is Available Here:

What this means for you:

• ✅ You can use the plugin in your commercial or personal TouchDesigner projects without needing to open-source your whole project.

• ✅ You can forward or reuse the detection data (IDs, positions, etc.) however you like — it’s just data, not covered by the license.

• ⚠️ The only time you’d need to share code is if you modify the open-sourced parts inside the plugin (the web app or WebSocket server). In that case, AGPL requires you to publish those modifications.

The plugin communicates with TouchDesigner over WebSockets, which creates a clear boundary between the AGPL-licensed code (the web component) and your project code. This separation means your TouchDesigner networks remain your own and can stay closed-source.

That said, I’d highly encourage you to open-source your work to support the broader open-source community.