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Size | The size of the blocks in the noise pattern. Range: 1 to 999; Default: 20 |
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Stretch | Stretches or compresses the blocks in the noise pattern along the X or Y axis independently. Use this to adjust the aspect ratio of the blocks. Default: 0, 0 |
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Strength | The overall strength of the effect. At 0, the effect does nothing, leaving the layer unchanged. Range: 0 to 1; Default: 0.25 |
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Monochrome | If this is turned on, the randomly generated blocks will be a uniform gray color and when multiplied with the colors in the layer will affect the layer brightness only. If turned off, the randomly generated blocks can be any color. Default: off |
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Freeze | Controls automatic variance over time. Turn this on to freeze the noise pattern, causing it to remain constant over time. If this this is off, the noise pattern will change randomly with every frame. Default: off |
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Extremes | Forces blocks in the noise pattern to appear either at full strength or not at all. In-between strengths are not generated. Default: off |
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Offset | Shifts the random block pattern horizontally or vertically by the given amount. Default: 0, 0 |
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Overshoot | The amount by which RGB noise components can overshoot the maximum possible values. If this is set to 1.0 the generated components will be at most one, so when multilied with colors in the layer can only make the existing colors darker. Setting this to a value greater than one yields random RGB values that can over over 1.0 and can thus make colors in the layer brighter. Note that when this is greater than 1.0, color clipping may occur. Range: 0.5 to 2; Default: 2 |
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Seed | A value used to generate the random patterns of noise. Change this for different noise patterns. For control over when the noise pattern changes, turn on Freeze and animate Seed instead. Range: 0 to 5; Default: 0 |
Usage
Add Block Noise to any layer to generate a noise pattern that automatically changes with each frame over time. If you don't want the pattern to change automatically with each frame, turn on Freeze.
Because Block Noise is a multiplicative effect, it will be hard to see on dark layers, and invisible on layers that are pure black. To see the random blocks generated by this effect in their original colors, use the effect on a pure white layer.
Use Cases
- Create striped noise patterns by setting Stretch to an extreme value.
- Simulate the "snow" pattern that appears when an analog TV doesn't have an input signal. To do this start with a white shape layer, add Block Noise, set Size to a small value (between 5 and 10 works best), and turn on Monochrome. Finish up by adding a weak Gaussian Blur to the layer.
- Create interesting maps for use with Displacement Map by turning on Freeze and adding multiple instances of Block Noise with different settings, then using keyframes to animate Offset.
- Slow down the shifting of the pattern by combining this with Time Quantization.
- Simulate digital glitching by adding a neutral gray shape layer in front of a photo or video, and applying Block Noise and then Displacement Map. In the Displacement Map effect, turn on From Center and use a small value for the Displacement Map's X and Y offset.