Dec/080
Perlin noise waves in AS3
Waves have always been really hard to code. But one day a smart guy called Ken Perlin figured out a kind of noise called ‘Perlin’ noise that could be mapped in a picture with smooth transitions. These pictures can easily serve as heightmaps. Using the brightness of a certain place on the image to determine the height of the surface on top of it. Check out the example behind the read more link:
Waves from a Perlin Noise wavemap
The inspiration came from Flash 3D’s article on perlin noise and it took me quite some time to figure out that flash had a proprietary perlin noise method (BitmapData.perlinNoise()). Below is the example, it includes a floating box which is hacked to be drawn on top of everything because the carving is not working yet. But the effect is very convincing.
The engine is coming closer and closer to it’s first release, more practical examples will follow soon. And for more information on perlin noise you can look here.