Pattern

A procedural tiling pattern field, as a scalar value or its gradient vector: Voronoi, hex, brick, triangular, spiral, stripes, checker, concentric, dots, or wave.

What it does

Pattern generates a repeating scalar field over space: Voronoi cell art, honeycomb, brickwork, triangular mosaics, spirals, stripes, checkerboards, concentric rings, or a grid of dots. Pick the pattern type and the frame fills with a repeating structure sized by Cell Size.

The default output is a bounded raster, a greyscale image that plugs straight into a Layer. Turn Rasterize off for the raw, unbounded pattern as a scalar field: infinite in every direction, with no fixed resolution, ready to drive a displacement, a mask, or any other node that consumes a field (Gradient, Color Field, Scatter's density input).

When to use it

ParameterTypeDefault
patternString"Voronoi"
cell_sizeNumber20
seedNumber42
jitterNumber1
voronoi_modeString"Edge Distance"
armsNumber5
twistNumber0.500
angleNumber0
wave_directionString"Linear"
phaseNumber0
amplitudeNumber1
offset_xNumber0
offset_yNumber0
valenceString"Scalar"
output_rangeString"Unipolar"
rasterizeBooleantrue
resolutionVec2(512, 512)
positionVec3(0, 0, 0)
rotationVec3(0, 0, 0)
scaleVec3(1, 1, 1)
anchorVec3(0, 0, 0)
opacityNumber1

Gotchas

Seed, Jitter, and Voronoi Mode only apply to the Voronoi pattern. Hexagonal locks to a regular lattice and the other tiling patterns are closed-form, so those controls hide for everything except Voronoi.

For discrete, addressable cells instead of a continuous greyscale field, such as separable Voronoi or Penrose-style rhombus tiles, use Fracture. Pattern emits a continuous scalar look, not individually selectable cells.

Arms and Twist only appear for Spiral, Angle only for Stripes. Each pattern type shows the parameters it uses.

Resolution is a window into the field, not a zoom level, and it does not rescale the pattern. Raising width or height reveals more of the pattern at the same Cell Size rather than stretching existing cells. It only matters while Rasterize is on.

Offset X/Y shifts the pattern's origin in world units. In raster mode the origin starts at the image centre, so 0, 0 gives a centred pattern and Offset X/Y moves it from there.

Worked example

  1. Add a Pattern node. It defaults to Voronoi with a greyscale raster preview.

  2. Raise or lower Cell Size to control how large the cells read.

  3. Try other pattern types: Hexagonal for honeycomb, Brick for a running bond, Stripes with an Angle, or Spiral with Arms and Twist.

  4. For Voronoi, raise Jitter toward 1 for a fully organic scatter, or drop it toward 0 for a regular lattice; switch Voronoi Mode between Distance, Edge Distance, and Cell Random for different looks.

  5. Wire the output into a Gradient or Color Field to colourise it, or turn Rasterize off and feed the raw field into a displacement or mask input.

See also

Noise · Solid · Fracture · L-System