Procedural Phasor Noise
Thibault Tricard, Semyon Efremov, Cédric Zanni, Fabrice Neyret, Jonàs Martínez, Sylvain Lefebvre
ACM Siggraph
HAL
DOI
Abstract
Procedural pattern synthesis is a fundamental tool of Computer Graphics,
ubiquitous in games and special effects. By calling a single procedure
in every pixel – or voxel – large quantities of details are generated at low cost,
enhancing textures, producing complex structures within and along surfaces.
Such procedures are typically implemented as pixel shaders.
We propose a novel procedural pattern synthesis technique that exhibits desirable
properties for modeling highly contrasted patterns, that are especially well
suited to produce surface and microstructure details. In particular, our
synthesizer affords for a precise control over the profile, orientation and
distribution of the produced stochastic patterns, while allowing to grade all
these parameters spatially. Our technique defines a stochastic smooth phase
field – a phasor noise –that is then fed into a periodic function (e.g. a sine wave),
producing an oscillating field with prescribed main frequencies and preserved contrast
oscillations. In addition, the profile of each oscillation is directly controllable
(e.g. sine wave, sawtooth, rectangular or any 1D profile). Our technique builds upon a
reformulation of Gabor noise in terms of a phasor field that affords for a clear
separation between local intensity and phase. Applications range from texturing to
modeling surface displacements, as well as multi-material microstructures in the
context of additive manufacturing.
