Hi,

I am trying to create a set of functions (similar to Libnoise, Fastnoise and the Accidental Noise Library) to manipulate noise with the goal of producing terrain.  As recommended by this article (http://accidentalnoise.sourceforge.net/minecraftworlds.html) I am starting out with a 'gradient' function.  The purpose of this function is to establish a ground level.  I've read the articles many times, along with the previous versions and I can't get my head around this function at a conceptual level.

I believe that the gradient function maps input coordinates (in my case x, y, z) to a range that I specify (0 to 1 in the linked article), on a per axis basis and assigns them a value based on where they fall within the range?  Assuming y is my gradient axis, the gradient is from 0 to 1 and the value range is -1 to 1 then any y value above 1 or below 0 is clamped to either 1 or -1.  For a y value between the 0 and 1 the result is lerp(-1, 1, y)?

I did find this question but it didn't clear things up for me (https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/57790/accidental-noise-gradient-function).

Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

It is not obvious what your question or problem with the gradient distribution is really? You shoudld state the issue more clear to get help. I myself cannot see any questioning. Do you want to get oponing to your distribution system explanation?

12 hours ago, JohnnyCode said:

It is not obvious what your question or problem with the gradient distribution is really? You shoudld state the issue more clear to get help. I myself cannot see any questioning. Do you want to get oponing to your distribution system explanation?

Thanks for your feedback, I was struggling to word the issue. 

My problem is that I can't write my own implementation of a gradient function because I don't understand what the function is trying to do.

My question would be: what is the gradient function trying to achieve?

I hope this clarifies things.