Freebie
NoiseNode Engine
Vertex-as-pixel procedural node engine
A standalone GPU-accelerated procedural generator built around a node graph where every "pixel" is an independent vertex. Designed for very high vertex counts so points can physically displace, clump and simulate behaviour rather than sitting in a static pixel grid.
Overview
NoiseNode Engine is a C++/OpenGL desktop application for generating procedural imagery through a node graph. The core idea is "vertex-as-pixel": instead of drawing into a static pixel buffer, the engine maintains millions of independent GPU vertices (each with position, colour and optional age, depth or size) that nodes displace, recolour and simulate. Overlapping Gaussian-splatted points then accumulate into the final image, giving caustic, smoke, cellular-growth and Physarum-network looks naturally.
The graph spans generators (Grid, Phyllotaxis, PoissonDisk, Shape, Plotter, ASCII, Text), position transforms (Noise, CurlNoise, DomainWarp, Quantize, SDF, Formula, symmetry and strange attractors), behavioural simulators (Wind, Gravity, Attractor, Magnetism, FlowField, Collision, Boids, Physarum, Verlet, Lifetime), per-vertex colour filters (Curves, HSVAdjust, Palette, Threshold, GradientMap, ColorField), routing utilities and sinks (Rasterize, Trails, Camera, FileExport). An optional Photoshop UXP plugin can pull the rasterised accumulation buffer into Photoshop as a layer; the engine works fully without it.
Features
- Node-graph editor with a multi-viewport docking UI
- Vertex-as-pixel model designed to scale to very high independent vertex counts on the GPU
- Kernel fusion for chains of fusable position transforms (a single compute dispatch per chain)
- Behavioural simulation nodes (Wind, Gravity, Attractor, Magnetism, FlowField, Collision, Boids, Physarum, Verlet) with a per-frame integrator
- Spatial-hash / sense-texture infrastructure for density and velocity feedback
- Trails and framebuffer-echo feedback for motion-trail aesthetics
- Optional per-vertex depth channel that drives depth-of-field, atmospheric haze and colour temperature in the splat pass
- .nne JSON save/load for graphs, plus a preset subgraph format
- File export to PNG, EXR, HDR and TIFF
- Optional Photoshop UXP plugin (WebSocket bridge) for pushing the accumulation buffer in as a layer
Specifications
| Platform | Windows 10 / 11 |
|---|---|
| Graphics | OpenGL 4.5 Core profile (driver-level GL 4.5 required; developed and tested on NVIDIA RTX-class GPUs) |
| GPU / VRAM | Designed to reach roughly 100M vertices on a 24 GB GPU; smaller cards run at proportionally lower vertex counts. Real ceilings depend on the node chain. |
| GPU compute | No CUDA; pure OpenGL compute shaders |
| Language | C++17 |
| Output | PNG / EXR / HDR / TIFF |
| Photoshop bridge | Optional UXP plugin over WebSocket. The engine runs fully standalone without it. |
FAQ
Is Photoshop required?
No. NoiseNode Engine is fully standalone, with its own window, node canvas, viewport and file export. The Photoshop UXP plugin is an optional sibling that, when running, lets you push the rasterised accumulation buffer into Photoshop as a layer.
What GPU do I need?
A GPU supporting OpenGL 4.5 Core. The engine is designed for around 100M vertices on a 24 GB card; smaller GPUs work at lower maximum vertex counts. There is no published minimum-VRAM number yet.
What does it produce?
A rasterised image (additive Gaussian-splatting of millions of vertices) that you can view in the viewport, save to disk (PNG / EXR / HDR / TIFF) or push into Photoshop through the optional bridge.
Is it ready to download?
Not yet. It's in active development; a public release date has not been announced.
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