Noise & texture guide

Overview

Noise & texture draws a picture from a formula instead of a camera.

A noise map coloured like land: brown earth, green patches and thin white ridges
The Lava preset in the Terrain colour mode: ridged noise coloured green, brown and white by height.

Perlin noise is smooth randomness. Neighbouring pixels stay close in value, so the result reads as cloud, stone or hills rather than static.

Each octave adds the same pattern again, smaller and weaker, and that puts fine detail on top of the large shapes.

There are 18 noise types, from Simplex and Worley to marble, wood, caustics and film grain. You can colour the result, lay it over a picture of your own, and make it a seamless tile.

Open Noise & texture Start here

In this guide

  1. StartWhat you need and your first texture in five steps.
  2. Every controlEvery noise type and control, one line each.
  3. Three looksThree pictures and the settings that made them.
  4. Keep your workThe PNG, its sizes, and textures that tile.
  5. HelpWhat to do when something goes wrong.

It runs in your browser. It needs no GPU and nothing is uploaded. A mouse, a trackpad and a finger all work.