2D Powerfractal Output

[WAS]

I think it would be cool if power fractal noise method could have a checkbox for 2D output (or rasterize output; w/e). No 4d noise, or 3D noise. So what you see for example in the shader preview would be what you get from a range of 0-1 or what not. I think this would be handy for a few things, namely flat bottomed, round topped cumulus without extraneous work or luck of seed draws where floating noise higher on Y ruins the single-layer cloud effect.

Currently to do this I can clamp 3d perlin noise and hope the area has no noise meandering up to the next level. Or use 3d vector noise and use add scalar with it in both inputs for warpable circles but the noise is so basic and requires warping which never looks right compared to just a perlin PF or billows PF. Using a vector for scale with a very small Y scale helps it expand on Y but it more looks like just stretching the noise.

I really feel it would be much easier to construct nice clouds just needing to taper the bottom of the flat noise  (which a surface layer and breakup could do) rather than all the steps currently..

[Dune]

I don't quite understand how you can make clouds from totally flat 2D noise, there would be just black above this infinite layer of white patches. Unless I misunderstand your explanation.

If you stretch Y and restrict altitude and height, you'd have some sort of 2D cloud as well. But then you'd need to expand on that by warping and deducting/adding noise within a certain range. So you can't use world/final.

You could also use displacement and then displ to scalar, then 2 smooth steps subtracted for a certain range.

But I think I misunderstand your idea

[WAS]

Unfortunate as I mentioned, with Y, which I've done for years, is just a mess of tight walls, and you have to mix in colour adjust cascading surface layers at different alt restrictions if you want it to be domed correctly. It also doesn't rid the noise completely of artifacts floating alone above 0.

A 2D map would be ideal for flat bottoms clouds. In fact, clouds are so easy to construct in UE and stuff because they're just rasterized maps used as the scalar and location masking, and are easy to construct realistic clouds without all the spoofing you haven to do in TG.

0 is the bottom of the cloud range, 1 is the top of the cloud range. So all soft noise should cascade inwards to form domey-like tops to clouds, no extra noise floating above it continuing on Y forever, just what you see is what you get. You get perfect flat bottom clouds with cumulus tops. All you need to do is taper bottom of clouds, or use a surface layer, and pretty much they're based on just the density and that surface layer, no extra work. Thnk of a simple shape shader at 100%. It's 2D. It creates a flat bottomed dome.

And let's be frank. I still have yet to see realistic cumulus clouds without them being luck of seeds, or obscured in some way to hide all the bad bits, or constructed so elaborately no one dares share.

[RogueNZ]

Totally agree, I have been looking for a way to achieve this for the same reasons. E.g. feed the 2d noise into the depth modulator to create a 'guide' for shaping cloudscapes (with a 3d fractal for adding the underlying detail). Currently using a 3d/4d fractal in the depth modulator has a similar effect as if you were to feed it into density.

[WAS]

Yeah Ive been trying for years to figure out. Best luck I have had is masking Photoshop cloud noise and exporting thst VDB after beautified in TG.

It would be helpful for other stuff to. Like warping PFs and stuff and ensuring the shapes you created via 2d shader preview is applied. A lot of work is luck of the seed draw, and when working in 2d and estimates before rendering, there is a large margin of erroneous noise you wouldn't want outside your visible range in construction, which is hard to plan for obviously, simply not knowing of it's existence until in reality, and only being able to work with a limited range of noise in shader previews.

[WAS]

Almost shared something I wasn't allowed to yet but here is a quick example painted up in Photoshop real quick for a 2D map.

All I did is use it with the depth and final density inputs. With some vector warping on X/Z or a redirect, could fix up the bottoms (but wouldn't be needed with native 2D maps likely as it won't be just an eraser to soft noise). But in general, took me less then a minute to set this up with a 2D based map, vs all the struggle with 3D/4D.

PS added a shot of a similar method of sculpted clouds. Notice even with depth and such we still have 3D/3D blobs floating above the cloud base.