TouchDesigner plugin to create, manipulate, save and export custom operator families, with automatic installation and uninstallation and a built-in compatibility system.
Developed and tested on TouchDesigner build 2025.32460 — compatible with this version.
Custom Families is a TouchDesigner plugin that lets you create, manipulate, save and export custom operator families, with a compatibility system across different versions.
Built-in families distributed through a continuously updated server are coming soon.
Click the Download button at the top of this page to get the
.tox file, then drag it into your TouchDesigner project. The
installation window will open and ask whether you want to install
the plugin.
Open the Preferences button and click Uninstall — the uninstallation window will remove every trace of the plugin and restore the UI to its original state.
This plugin is compatible with:
- 🪟 Windows — fully supported
- 🍎 macOS — fully supported
Once installed, a horizontal toolbar is added at the top of the TouchDesigner interface with everything you need to manage your families:
From left to right:
 |
Preferences — opens the preferences panel and contains the plugin uninstall button. |
 |
Local — your personal framework: contains all the families you create or import on the local machine. |
 |
Create new family — one click creates a new empty family inside Local, ready to configure. |
 |
Local families — each family inside Local gets its own button here (shown: a sample Custom family installed with the plugin, plus another family called other family). |
 |
Server — the section where built-in families distributed and updated by the plugin developers will appear. |
Custom_families — features
- Dedicated horizontal toolbar, integrated into the TD layout
- Installation window with loading bar
- Uninstallation window with loading bar
- Local framework to build your own families
- Smart state check: if components are missing, they are reinstalled
- Clean uninstall: every trace of the plugin is removed when it is uninstalled
- Backup of the original UI before installation
- Overcomes TouchDesigner's built-in 12-family limit in menu_op
- Page numbering system to navigate families beyond the first page
Custom_fam — family features
- Auto-install: drag-and-drop into
/project1→ the family entersCustom_families/Localon its own - Toolbar button generated automatically, with customisable colour
- Full context menu (see next section)
- In-place rename from the button label
- One-click duplication with separate identity
- Built-in set of custom operators
- Integrated release notes, with editor and viewer
Family function menu
| Item | Shortcut | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Go to family | Navigates to the family COMP in a network pane | |
| Rename | Ctrl+R |
Renames the family in-place |
| Change color | Opens the button colour picker | |
| Duplicate | Ctrl+D |
Duplicates the family with an independent identity |
| Edit operators | Ctrl+E |
Opens the custom operators in a new pane |
| Export family | Exports the family as a .tox |
|
| Release notes | Shows the release notes | |
| Edit release notes | Opens the release notes editor | |
| View release notes | Read-only viewer | |
| Update | Updates the family to the latest version | |
| Delete | Del |
Deletes the family and cleans up every UI trace |
Features currently in development:
- Preferences window — dedicated panel for plugin settings
- UI theme selector — dropdown inside Preferences to switch button and label aesthetics to a more TouchDesigner-native look
- Theme-aware context menus — context menus that automatically follow the chosen UI theme
- Built-in families server — families distributed and kept up to date by the developers
- More consistent permanent installation
- 📖 Developer documentation — public API of the two main components
- 🐞 Issues / known bugs — report a bug or browse what's pending
- 🚀 Releases — tagged versions and changelogs
- 📄 License (MIT)
MIT © 2026 Gianluca Colia