Perlin Noise - Uses

Uses

Perlin noise is a procedural texture primitive, a type of gradient noise used by visual effects artists to increase the appearance of realism in computer graphics. The function has a pseudo-random appearance, yet all of its visual details are the same size (see image). This property allows it to be readily controllable; multiple scaled copies of Perlin noise can be inserted into mathematical expressions to create a great variety of procedural textures. Synthetic textures using Perlin noise are often used in CGI to make computer-generated visual elements - such as fire, smoke, or clouds - appear more natural, by imitating the controlled random appearance of textures of nature.

It is also frequently used to generate textures when memory is extremely limited, such as in demos, and is increasingly finding use in graphics processing units for real-time graphics in computer games.