Overview
This article provides a brief overview of World Creator's extensive noise functionality. The system is available in several different parts of World Creator (Base Shapes, Filters, Distributions), so the overall structure and all the options related to noise are explained in detail in this article to avoid overlapping information in each of the respective areas.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Applications in World Creator
There are currently three areas of the World Creator where noise is used:
Biomes Base Shapes
In addition to the World Creator's base noise and the different biome types (such as Canyon, Cracks or Dunes), the Noise biome base shape gives you even more variety and customisation for your base terrain.
Filters
The filters in the Noise category offer you the typical blend modes such as addition and multiplication, as well as distortion and directional distortion while also giving you control over the level step at which they are applied.
Distributions
In addition to basic shapes and filters, you can also find the noises in distributions, which can be used for masking filters or other elements in the initial terrain creation step, as well as for materials during the texturing process.
Noise Types
World Creator offers a variety of different noises, each of which can add a great deal of detail to your terrains. The different types are all listed below
In the distributions you'll also find Worley noise, which is a legacy version of the new Voronoi noise. It's not listed below because it's not available in filters and base shapes.
Billow Noise | single billow noise | billow noise fbm |
Gabor Noise | single gabor noise | gabor noise fbm |
Perlin Noise | single perlin noise | perlin noise fbm |
Phasor Noise | single phasor noise | phasor noise fbm |
Ridged Noise | single ridged noise | ridged noise fbm |
Simplex Noise | single simplex noise | simplex noise fbm |
Value Noise | single value noise | value noise fbm |
Voronoi Noise | single voronoi noise distance voronoi noise cells | voronoi noise distance fbm voronoi noise distance to edge |
Wave Noise | single wave noise | wave noise fbm |
White Noise | single white noise |
Fractal Type
The fractal type combines multiple octaves of noise at different frequencies and amplitudes to create a more detailed and refined overall result.
fractal type - single | fractal type - fbm | fractal type - ridged |
Parameters
- Octaves
The number of octaves.
- Lacunarity
Increases/Decreases the frequency with each new octave.
- Gain
Reduces/increases the amplitude of each new octave.
- Fine Detail (Ridged only)
Adds in smaller scale detail.
Domain Warping
Domain Warping offsets the UVs used for noise generation with an additional noise, creating a warped pattern with stretching. The noise used for offsetting is a Perlin noise with multiple octaves depending on the warp mode, behaving similarly to fbm.
base single phasor noise | recursive domain warping | fixed domain warping |
Parameters
- Warp Mode
Allows you to switch between no warping, recursive or fixed domain warping. Recursive domain warping (as opposed to fixed) applies the domain warping offset to its own generation UVs, creating a more broken up offset with each octave.
- Octaves
The number of octaves.
- Amplitude
The strength of the warp.
- Frequency
The frequency of the warp.