It has been a while since my last post. I have been hard at work on TerreSculptor and a lot more of the software is completed. In this post we will take a look at the Noise Generator object.
Multiple Noise Generators can be added to the stack to provide discrete heightmaps or morphing or detailing on other heightmaps using a Combiner.
One of the goals with the Noise Generator has been to provide a large variety of high quality and usable noise systems. I spent a lot of time reading about noise, checking out noise systems in other software, and reading posts and examples on many forums and blogs. The result has been many weeks of programming work, discarding the bad, and refining the good until it condensed into my own code set of algorithms.
The first release version of TerreSculptor will include 5 different types of noise generators:
- Gaussian Random Noise
- Gradient Noise in Perlin noise and Value noise types
- Billow Noise
- Ridged Noise in 6 types
- Cell Noise in 13 types * 6 shapes
A future version of the software will include additional generators using other algorithms I have been studying, possibly as many as another five generator types.
The design of the Noise Generator dialog has been focused on usability, convenience, and an extensive variety of visual results. To this end, it includes a large preview window with high-resolution mesh, and detailed in-depth noise generator control with easy to understand parameter naming. You may notice that the layout is similar to the Mask Generator and Weightmap Generator dialogs.
Here are a few quick examples of noise output. Each of these 2048x2048 heightmaps took less than 5 seconds to create and are using the default single noise output setup with no modification or editing.
Top-left: Ridged Hybrid 2; Top-right: Ridged Hybrid 1
Bottom-left: Gradient Perlin; Bottom-right: Cell Type 1 * Shape Sphere.
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