Editing Perlin noise (section)

==Uses==
[[File:Fractal terrain texture.jpg|thumb|A virtual landscape generated using Perlin noise]]
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]].<ref name=Hart2001>{{Cite book |last=Hart |first=John C. |chapter=Perlin noise pixel shaders |date=2001-08-01 |title=Proceedings of the ACM SIGGRAPH/EUROGRAPHICS workshop on Graphics hardware |chapter-url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/383507.383531 |series=HWWS '01 |location=New York, NY, USA |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery |pages=87–94 |doi=10.1145/383507.383531 |isbn=978-1-58113-407-0}}</ref> The function has a [[pseudo-random]] appearance, yet all of its visual details are the same size.{{cn|date=March 2025}} 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{{snd}}such as object surfaces, fire, smoke, or clouds{{snd}}appear more natural, by imitating the controlled random appearance of textures in nature.<ref name=Hart2001/>

[[File:Pink red liquid using perlin noise + bump + coloring (2415197699).png|thumb|A virtual organic surface generated with Perlin noise]]
It is also frequently used to generate textures when memory is extremely limited, such as in [[Demo (computer programming)|demos]].<ref name=LagaeEtAl2010>{{Cite journal |last1=Lagae |first1=A. |last2=Lefebvre |first2=S. |last3=Cook |first3=R. |last4=DeRose |first4=T. |last5=Drettakis |first5=G. |last6=Ebert |first6=D.s. |last7=Lewis |first7=J.p. |last8=Perlin |first8=K. |last9=Zwicker |first9=M. |date=2010 |title=A Survey of Procedural Noise Functions |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-8659.2010.01827.x |journal=Computer Graphics Forum |language=en |volume=29 |issue=8 |pages=2579–2600 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8659.2010.01827.x |issn=1467-8659}}</ref>  Its successors, such as [[fractal noise]] and [[simplex noise]], have become nearly ubiquitous in [[graphics processing unit]]s both for [[Real-time computer graphics|real-time graphics]] and for non-real-time procedural textures in all kinds of computer graphics.

It is frequently used in video games to make [[procedurally generated terrain]] that looks natural.  The success is in part due to the hierarchical structuring of Perlin noise that mimics naturally occurring hierarchical structures, and therefore also has found to be useful in environmental science applications.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Etherington |first=Thomas R. |date=2022 |title=Perlin noise as a hierarchical neutral landscape model |url=https://we.copernicus.org/articles/22/1/2022/ |journal=Web Ecology |language=en |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=1–6 |doi=10.5194/we-22-1-2022 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2022WEco...22....1E }}</ref>