Noise Lab

On this little excursion to my secret hideout, I'll be presenting - in brief - some of the results of my ongoing experiments with noises. This thread will be updated every now and then as new intersting results appear.

Hopefully, the following images will be proof enough that there is more to noises in FF than may be apparent at first glance. They key to simulating the complexity of real-world surfaces lies in combining the building blocks that FF provides into more complex noise-generators, yet - sadly - few filters on the library dare tread into this territory. This needs to change...

Alright then, let's get this rolling. Here are few key 'ingredients' to my noise experiments that any noise chef worth his perlin should ponder:

- Map Inputs are key to complex noises!
- Map the 'Roughness' parameter with another noise to locally introduce surface chaos.
- Handle Roughness with care!
- Don't be afraid to stretch and rotate your noises. Many surfaces do have 'direction' to their chaos.
- Use noise at different scales to layer in different levels of chaos.
- Use Noise Distortion on your noises to add in chaos. If you're especially daring, use a Worley Distortion even!
- Map your Noise Distortion's parameters with other noises.
- Blend your noises. Yes, it's as easy as that!
- Experiment with blend modes and see what a difference it makes!
- Use profile curves! And did I mention: Use profile curves?!
- Map curve components' parameters with another noise (which could in turn be mapped by a profile curve, which... you get the idea)!
- Make your own profile curves!
- Feed a noise and a Noise Gradient into an Elevation Gradient.
- Offset your noises. Use other noises to map the Offset's parameters!
- Got two complex noise generators? Put them together and see what transpires!
- Experiment! Many interesting complex noises are happy accidents!
- Save interesting results (even if intermediary) in their own filter file. You never know when you might need them.

That should do for now. Besides, I've used up all my exclamation marks for the day. Let's see some images...

Marbled Veins

Weathered Wood

Limestone Cave

Crack Melt

Variant A. I just exchanging a perlin with a worley noise here.

Just using a different blend mode again. Notice the drastic change in the look of the noise.

what do you mean by 'map inputs'?

I am not super familiar with the others, and lacking the coloration they are tough to comment on, but that *pumice* example looks great.

jffe

one thing I've noticed and was said in another thread is that most noises with a curve as a profile really slow things down. with perlin somewhat being the exception.

this one could be flames? its perlin with a wave curve as the profile.

same thing just a different scale.. I could see this easily being water..

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I think he is referring to any of a components inputs which can be mapped with an image or curve based component, as opposed to a numerical value.

hmmm, well, wouldnt just anything be a map input then? i mean, aside from controls, assemble and extract and those max and min components, just everything else would have map inputs, yes, no? basically, wouldnt it just be the green nodes then?

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jffe wrote: lacking the coloration they are tough to comment on

The examples are all surface-filters with just a height map plugged in and diffuse set to white. I'd like to keep it that way to focus on surface (i.e. height) detail in this excursion.

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onnetz wrote: perlin noise, cel noise and a wave curve.

Another tip:
- High 'Contrast' values lead to 'clipping' (i.e. flat plateaus or valleys on the heightmap), so it is best to keep this parameter as low as possible.

Btw, let's aim at keeping our noise examples as non-synthetic looking as possible. We're trying to imitate real-world surfaces here as best as we can. Many of the library filters just use one standard noise with a few parameters changed, and it kind of gets boring to look at after a while. In contrast, this excursion is about the 'noises seldom seen'.

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Kraellin wrote: hmmm, well, wouldnt just anything be a map input then? i mean, aside from controls, assemble and extract and those max and min components, just everything else would have map inputs, yes, no? basically, wouldnt it just be the green nodes then?

Correct. But the key is 'mapping' these 'green nodes' in a meaningful way. This is where the experimentation comes into play...

So, what if I just ripped the innards of that Crapdillo dude's 'Old Parchment' filter and turned them into a surface? Take a look.

Turbulent Sediments?

Now let's change the blend mode to... Darken!

Seaweed Reefs? (Height map also used as diffuse map)

Mossy Rock

this one is the same at the last but i kicked the surface height slider up to 83. this was in the 'day entrance' lighting environ.

ok, i went back into mine and re-arranged things to add the blend. i also mapped both noises (the first two) into each other's roughness per dilla's instructions on roughness. yes, you can do recursive mapping on a 'faked' basis. you just have to use a third and duplicate of one of the others.

granite walls, anyone?

Here there be spiders...

this one isnt quite as spectacular as some, but it reminded me of driftwood, so i'm throwing it in. i also added in two noise distortions, one after each perlin. what's nice about the noise distortions is that, naturally, you get all the distortion, but you can also zero it out and have just whatever effect the perlins produce without the distortion. and, they are fast, so you lose almost nothing by adding them.

Thick Plaster? Rough chiseled stone walls?

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Also, creating interesting and realistic looking noise-generators isn't hard, and doesn't take wiring hundreds of components. In fact, it takes just a handful of them, carefully selected and tweaked, and I've given all the hints as to which ones I am talking about.

yup. i made that granite one with just four components and the results component, 3 perlins and a blend.