UnityNoise

Description

A Unity package that contains a collection of functions for generating various kinds of noise both on the CPU and GPU.

Available Noise Functions

Type	1D	2D	3D	4D
Perlin	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Simplex	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Voronoi	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Cellular	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️

All noise generators also include functions for generating a fractal version.

Installation

Option 1: Unity Package Manager

Open the Package Manager window, click on Add Package from Git URL ..., then enter the following:

https://github.com/u-plus-one/unitynoise.git

Option 2: Manually Editing packages.json

Add the following line to your project's Packages/manifest.json:

"com.github.u-plus-one.unitynoise": "https://github.com/u-plus-one/unitynoise.git"

Option 3: Manual Installation (not recommended)

You can also download this repository and extract the ZIP file anywhere inside your project's Assets folder.

Usage

In Scripts

All noise generators are found inside the UnityNoise namespace.

Example:

using UnityNoise;

-----

//Position to sample the noise at
Vector3 pos = new Vector3(0.5f, 1.0f, 2.0f);

//Simple 3D Perlin 
float noise = PerlinNoise.Instance.GetNoise3D(pos);

//Fractal 3D Perlin (parameters: octaves, lacunarity, persistence, scale)
FractalSettings fractal = new FractalSettings(4, 2f, 0.5f, 1);
float noise = PerlinNoise.Instance.GetNoise3D(pos, fractal);

In Shaders

Add a reference to the include file(s) you want to use:

//Perlin Noise
#include "Packages/com.github.u-plus-one.unitynoise/Shaders/PerlinNoise.cginc"

//Simplex Noise
#include "Packages/com.github.u-plus-one.unitynoise/Shaders/SimplexNoise.cginc"

//Voronoi Noise
#include "Packages/com.github.u-plus-one.unitynoise/Shaders/VoronoiNoise.cginc"

//Simple Cellular Noise
#include "Packages/com.github.u-plus-one.unitynoise/Shaders/CellularNoise.cginc"

Example:

//Simple 3D Perlin
float noise = GetPerlinNoise3D(position.xyz);

//Fractal 3D Perlin
FractalSettings settings;
settings.octaves = 4;
settings.persistence = 0.5;
settings.lacunarity = 2.0;
float noise = ComputePerlinNoise3D(position.xyz, settings);

Using Half Precision

When targeting older GPUs or mobile devices, you may want to use half precision noise by defining HALF_PRECISION in your shader before including the noise function files:

//Make sure this comes BEFORE including the actual shader functions
#define HALF_PRECISION
//Include the noise functions, using half precision
#include "Packages/com.github.u-plus-one.unitynoise/Shaders/[...].cginc"

Texture Assets

Noise Textures can be generated as procedural assets and can be used just like regular 2D textures.

To create a new noise texture, go to Assets/Create/Texture/Noise Texture

Noise Textures come with the following settings:

Parameter	Description
Resolution	Texture width / height.
Use 3D Noise	Whether to sample from 3D noise to generate the 2D texture.
Scale	Number of noise "cells" in both axes, higher numbers generate more noise.
Seed	Random seed to use for noise generation.
Depth	General contrast of the genreated noise.
Tiled	Generates a texture that can repeat seamlessly.
Fractal Settings	Various settings releated to fractal noise generation.
Mapping Settings	Various settings related to remapping input values or mapping to a color gradient.
Texture Settings	Common Texture Importer settings

A histogram view is also provided to see the distribution of noise values across the entire texture.

Fractal Parameters Terminology

Parameter	Description
Octaves	The number of fractal noise layers added together. Higher values create more detailed noise. High octave counts can have a significant performance hit.
Lacunarity	The factor by which the frequency increases for each subsequent octave. Usually set to 2.0, indicating that each octave doubles in frequency relative to the last.
Persistence	The factor by which the amplitude decreases per octave. Higher values generate rougher noise. Usually set to 0.5.