IslandChain Node
IslandChain scatters a series of islands along an input path, each an fbm-perturbed radial blob (the same construction as IslandLandMask), with a signed size falloff along the path. The output is a land mask suitable as input to the Island node.
Category
Primitive/Geological
Inputs
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| path | Path | Input path along which the islands are scattered (at least two points, in normalized domain coordinates). |
Outputs
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| output | VirtualArray | Generated island-chain land mask. |
Parameters
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Displacement | Float | Amplitude of the fbm perturbation applied to each island boundary. |
| Islands | Integer | Number of islands spawned along the path. |
| Radius | Float | Base island radius in normalized domain units. |
| kw | Float | Base spatial frequencies in the X and Y directions. The frequencies are defined with respect to the entire domain: for example, kw = 2 produces two full oscillations across the domain width (and similarly for the Y direction). |
| Lacunarity | Float | The frequency scaling factor for successive noise octaves. Higher values increase the frequency of each successive octave. |
| Type | Enumeration | Noise type used for the island boundary perturbation. |
| Octaves | Integer | The number of octaves for fractal noise generation. More octaves add finer details to the terrain. |
| Persistence | Float | The amplitude scaling factor for subsequent noise octaves. Lower values reduce the contribution of higher octaves. |
| Gain | Float | Mid-centered gain transformation applied to the elevation values. This is a non-linear recurve operator centered around the mid elevation (typically 0.5). Increasing the gain pushes values toward the minimum and maximum elevations, creating flatter low/high regions with a steeper transition around the midpoint. |
| Gamma | Float | Standard gamma correction applied to the elevation values. This is a monotonic power-law remapping that shifts emphasis toward low or high elevations, making the overall shape sharper or bulkier without changing its ordering. |
| Invert Output | Bool | Inverts the output values after processing, flipping low and high values across the midrange. |
| Mix Factor | Float | Mixing factor for blending input and output values. A value of 0 uses only the input, 1 uses only the output, and intermediate values perform a linear interpolation. |
| Mix Method | Enumeration | Method used to combine input and output values. Options include linear interpolation (default), min, max, smooth min, smooth max, add, and subtract. |
| Remap Range | Value range | Linearly remaps the output values to a specified target range (default is [0, 1]). |
| Saturation Range | Value range | Modifies the amplitude of elevations by first clamping them to a given interval and then scaling them so that the restricted interval matches the original input range. This enhances contrast in elevation variations while maintaining overall structure. |
| Smoothing Radius | Float | Defines the radius for post-processing smoothing, determining the size of the neighborhood used to average local values and reduce high-frequency detail. A radius of 0 disables smoothing. |
| Scatter | Float | Random island displacement along and across the path. |
| Seed | Random seed number | Random seed number. The random seed is an offset to the randomized process. A different seed will produce a new result. |
| Size Falloff | Float | Signed size falloff along the path, in [-1, 1]: 0 keeps island sizes uniform, +1 shrinks islands toward the path end (largest island at the head), -1 shrinks them toward the start. |
| Size Jitter | Float | Per-island random radius variation ratio. |
| Weight | Float | Controls how much higher FBM octaves contribute to the noise based on local elevation. A higher weight suppresses high-frequency octaves at low elevations and increases their influence at higher elevations, producing terrain where fine details appear mainly near peaks while lower areas remain smoother. |
Example
Corresponding Hesiod file: IslandChain.hsd. Use [Ctrl+I] in the node editor to import a hsd file within your current project.
Note
Example files are kept up-to-date with the latest version of Hesiod. If you find an error, please open an issue.