Vec FBM by Jens Kafitz


  • Where to find it:


    • Add Procedural Layer / Procedural / Extension Pack / FBM /


    • NodeGraph / Right Mouse Click / Add Nodes / Procedural / Extension Pack / FBM /






Vec FBM ('Vector Fractal Brownian Motion') is similar to FBM+ but with an additional directional component, giving more organic results.


Samples



Node Overview



Node Properties


MAIN TAB

Color


  • Color A/B

The two colors that make up the final look of the procedural

Size


  • Size

Size of fractal features on your model





Understanding Noise terminology


For some background information on the terms below please refer to

Understanding some basic noise terms



  • Scale

The Amplitude of the Vector FBM Noise is modulated by a secondary Perlin Noise.

Scale affects the scale of this secondary Perlin Noise adding for organic features to the noise the larger the value.


Changing Scale on Vec FBM


  • Octaves

Describes the level of detail of the noise. Detail is created by encapsulating the modifiers below into a loop and

running it multiple times incrementing the values from loop to loop.


  • Lacunarity

Controls the size of the secondary fine details.


  • Offset

Offsets Size and Lacunarity against each other. High offset Values will result in a very detailed but spotted result,

with very few large features.


Raising Offset on Vec FBM


  • Seed

A random start value for your fractal.

Changing the seed changes the overall look of your fractal while the general feature look stays the same,  allowing for quick variation with a general look theme.


Modifiers


  • Amplitude

Amplitude affects the length and amount of fine detail the Lacunarity is contributing to the base pattern.

In the case of the Vec FBM is determines the mix between the two different 'corn sizes' as seen below.


Raising Amplitude on Vec FBM


  • Gain

The amount to multiply the noise's amplitude by, contrasting the noise..

A Gain of 0.0 will result in the value defined under Baseline.


  • Baseline

Baseline is used to bias your Noise result towards color a or color b.

It will multiply a value with the generated noise (before thresholding) then add the same value:

(Noise * Baseline) + Baseline.


When Baseline is set to 0.0 no multiplication or addition is done effectively disabling the behavior.


Different Baseline Values on a FBM Noise.


  • Absolute Values

When generating a Noise, values are often generated from -1.0 to 1.0.

Absolute Values will convert any negative Value to a positive one giving more 'solid' noise results.


Different Baseline Values on a simple FBM Noise.



  • Clamp Output

Clamps the noise calculation to a 0-1 range.

Color A/B are applied after the Clamping, so you can still set values above 1 if you choose to

however by clamping the Noise calculation the color mixing between the two colors works more

reliably. In general this should be left on.


  • Invert

Inverts the result of the noise. Inversion is done before color A and B are applied.


Threshold


  • Threshold

Defines the Value at which point incoming colors/values go to black (incoming values to the left of the set slider value)

or white (incoming values to the right of the set slider value).


  • Soft Clip Result

Used to visually soften the thresholding, it defines the Upper+Lower Bound of the Threshold

For example with a Threshold Value set to 0.5 and a Edge Value of 0.1, incoming values lower than 0.4

will be black and incoming values higher than 0.6 will be white. Between 0.4 and 0.6 will be a soft gradient.





TRANSFORM TAB


Projection Space


  • UV Space

By default this procedural is generated in 3D World Space. This results in a seamless noise across UV seams.

By turning on UV Space the procedural is generated based on your UVs, resulting in seams between UV tiles/UDIM & uv shells.


Utilizing Transform Controls such as Scale (see below) you can apply a non-uniform transform to the procedural

to make use of specific UV layouts


  • Per UDIM Pivot

Affects the transformation pivot for UV Transforms when in UV Space


With PerUDIMPivot on all transformation will be performed with a pivot at the centre of each UDIM.


With PerUDIMPivot off, transformations for all UDIMs share one common pivot at the base of UDIM 1001.

This will ensure seamless textures across UDIMs when your UV Shell is scaled up and covering multiple UDIMs.

without a cut inbetween.



UV Transformations applied to multiple UDIMs with perUDIM Pivot On (left) and off (right).

                                                          

Transform Scale


  • Scale X / Y / Z

Will apply a scale along X,Y or Z to your noise. This is useful for creating patterns like woodgrain, drips etc.

When UV Space is turned on Scale Z is ignored.

Transform Rotate


  • Rotate X / Y / Z

Will apply a rotation in X,Y or Z to your noise. When UV Space is turned on Rotate X & Rotate Y are ignored

and rotation is done around the center of each UV Tile/UDIM using Rotate Z.

Transform Translate


  • Translate X / Y / Z

Will apply an offset in X,Y or Z to your noise. When UV Space is turned on Translate Z is ignored.