12: Enhancing Terrain Realism with Noise Textures

The mounds in my scene were looking a bit too smooth and perfect. To address this, I introduced some noise and variety to make the ground look more realistic.

Process

I incorporated a Noise Texture node into my setup. By placing a Multiply node before the Combine XYZ node, I blended the output of the Float Curve node with the noise from the Noise Texture. This added subtle variations to the mounds, making them appear more organic.

To further enhance the natural look, I added a Shade Smooth node after the geometry adjustments. This softened the edges and eliminated any sharp transitions. Adjusting the scale parameter of the Noise Texture allowed me to control the level of detail in the ground's texture.

I applied a similar technique to the entire ground grid. Starting from the Grid Mesh node, I added a new Set Position node after the Set Material node. Then, I connected a Math node set to "Add" to the position input, modifying the Z-axis values of the grid.

By connecting a Noise Texture node through a Combine XYZ node (affecting only the Z value), I introduced height variations across the grid, resulting in a more uneven and natural-looking terrain.

After making these changes, I updated the connections so that the Distribute Points on Faces nodes referenced the new geometry output from the Set Position node, ensuring that the rest of the scene used the updated ground geometry.

Nodes Used and Their Functions