dithering squares

2025

This piece uses Perlin noise to drive a multi-layered dithering system, where each layer reveals different levels of pattern complexity based on noise thresholds. Starting with a solid background color, the algorithm builds up progressive layers, each doubling in scale from the previous one until a specified number of layers has been reached.

At the heart of the piece is a threshold-based pattern generator. Perlin noise values are mapped to seven distinct dithering patterns, ranging from dense 4×4 grids of squares (16 squares total) down to sparse single squares. As the noise value decreases, fewer squares are drawn, creating organic transitions between areas of high and low density.

A vertical bias gradually reduces noise values from top to bottom, ensuring the composition naturally fades toward sparser patterns as it descends creating a sense of visual weight and gravity.

Each successive layer doubles in size while cycling through a curated color palette that is selected from a pool of defined palettes at runtime. This creates a multi-scale texture where fine details from early layers peek through broader strokes of later ones. The interplay between scales generates unexpected color combinations and visual rhythms that emerge from the algorithmic process.

The result is a digital textile that feels both systematic and organic where the rigid logic of the dithering patterns meets the fluid unpredictability of noise, creating layered compositions that reveal new details when viewed at different distances.