Shard Noise*

Introduction
Key Features
Parameters
Quick Recipes

Shard Noise is a hybrid procedural pattern that sits between Worley-style feature-point noise and smoothed impulse scattering. Unlike lattice-based noises (like Perlin) that produce rolling hills, Shard Noise creates sharp, crystalline discontinuities. It uses a radially weighted, randomized impulse system with non-linear shaping (via a hyperbolic tangent function) to generate distinctive splinter-like structures and faceted geometry.

Performance Cost 🟢 Low

Space 2D/3D - UV/World/Object

Implementation Native Compiled C++

Devices (Cycles) CPU / GPU (1:1)

Usage & Behavior

Default values

Low sharpness high octaves

High anisotropy

Turn shard into chips.. with high X,Y anisotropy

The visual signature of Shard Noise is "broken glass" or "crystals." It lacks the smooth transitions of standard noise, opting instead for hard edges and linear gradients. This is generated by a randomized impulse system.. these impulses don't blend softly; they crash abruptly into one another, creating hard boundaries. It is a chaotic architecture of sharp, crystalline discontinuities. The entire composition looks like a massive, complex structure that has been shattered, resulting in distinctive, splinter-like formations and rigid, interlocking faceted geometry, frozen at the exact moment of impact. By manipulating the Anisotropy vector, you can stretch these shards into long needles, making it perfect for imitating brushed metals, ice cracks, or stylized speed lines.

Best Used For: Shattered glass, ice crystals, gemstones, brushed metal (high anisotropy), sci-fi hull plating, and abstract digital glitches.

Key Features

Impulse Scattering: Hybrid algorithm blending 3x3x3 neighbor search with radial weights.
Non-Linear Shaping: Uses tanh functions to sharpen soft impulses into hard edges.
Anisotropy: Native directional scaling for creating needle-like structures.

Parameters

Invert (bool, default: true)

Inverts the final noise output. Useful for turning "ridges" into "cracks".

Coords Vector

The input texture coordinates.

Scale Vector (default: 4.0, 4.0, 4.0)

Global scaling factor. Controls the density of the crystal lattice.

Anisotropy Vector (default: 1.0, 1.0, 1.0)

Controls the directional stretching of the shards.
- (1, 1, 1): Uniform, isotropic crystals.
- (10, 1, 1): Long, thin splinters stretched along the X-axis.

Sharpness (default: 50.0)

Controls the hardness of the shard edges.
- High values: Razor-sharp transitions, binary look.
- Low values: Soft, blurry lumps.

Spread (default: 1.0)

Controls the influence radius of each shard center.
- High values: Shards overlap and blend more.
- Low values: Shards become isolated points.

Phase (default: 0.0)

A shift parameter added to the randomization seed per octave. Changing this varies the pattern arrangement without changing the scale.

Octaves (default: 1)

The number of fractal layers. Adding octaves creates a "shattered" look, where large crystals contain smaller fractures inside them.

Quick Recipes

Use these settings for crystalline materials.

Broken Ice

Sharpness: 80.0
Anisotropy: (1.5, 1.0, 1.0)
Octaves: 3
Invert: True

High sharpness and multiple octaves create deep, jagged fracture lines.

Brushed Metal

Scale: 10.0
Anisotropy: (0.1, 20.0, 0.1)
Spread: 2.0
Octaves: 1

Extreme anisotropy stretches the noise into fine parallel scratch lines.

Sci-Fi Plating

Sharpness: 100.0
Spread: 0.8
Anisotropy: (1, 1, 1)
Octaves: 1

Maximum sharpness creates hard, geometric blocks resembling tech panels.

Technical Note: The algorithm iterates through a 3x3x3 cell neighborhood (similar to Voronoi). It shapes the result using a tanh-like approximation: x * inversesqrt(1.0 + x*x). This non-linear mapping is what gives the shards their characteristic sharp edges while remaining analytically smooth.

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