Ken Perlin

An Image Synthesizer

Computer Graphics, Vol. 19, No. 3. (also in Computer Graphics: Image Synthesis, IEEE, Salem, 1988)

Introduces the Pixel Stream Editor. Introduces "Solid Texturing." Combines five ideas for visual texture synthesis: (i) 3D space as the texture domain, (ii) an intermediate "point/normal pixel'' format, (iii) allow arbitrary procedural mappings from point/normal pixels to intensity, (iv) a powerful primitive for introducing controllable noise, (v) an interactive language and environment for texture design. Used to create realistic visual textures of: marble, water waves, fire, clouds, oil films.