Maya Procedural Noise // Documentation

NOISE.SYS  //  JITTER MATRIX

Version 2.5  |  Multi-Channel Procedural Attribute Jitter

01  —  Annotated UI Overview Hover a callout number to highlight it. Image size: 359x999
NOISE.SYS UI 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
  • 1
    PRESET SELECTOR

    Dropdown menu containing all your saved noise configurations. The tool also automatically remembers and loads your last_state on startup.

  • 2
    SAVE PRESET

    Saves the current state of all layers, global mods, mutes, and solos into a JSON preferences file (noise_sys_prefs.json) in your Maya prefs directory.

  • 3
    DEL PRESET

    Permanently deletes the currently selected preset from your JSON preferences file.

  • 4
    LOAD TARGET ( <<< )

    Locks the tool onto the currently selected Maya object in the viewport. This tells NOISE.SYS which object's Translate and Rotate attributes to attach the procedural expression network to.

  • 5
    GLOBAL AMP SLIDER

    Master Amplitude multiplier (0 to 4.0). Scales the intensity of every single noise layer across all channels simultaneously. Extremely useful for fading the entire effect in or out.

  • 6
    GLOBAL FRQ SLIDER

    Master Frequency multiplier (0 to 4.0). Speeds up or slows down the global time evaluation, affecting the rate of all noise layers universally.

  • 7
    CHANNEL MUTE

    Completely disables the mathematical evaluation for a specific axis (e.g., Translate Y). When muted, the UI for that channel collapses and its procedural nodes are disconnected from Maya to save performance.

  • 8
    CHANNEL SOLO (S)

    Isolates playback to only this specific channel. All other channels are temporarily bypassed in the live preview and the internal CRT Oscilloscope.

  • 9
    LAYER NOISE TYPE

    Switches the mathematical waveform for this specific layer. Options: SINE, SQUARE, TRIANGLE, SAW, PERLIN, RANDOM. You can stack different types on top of each other.

  • 10
    LAYER SOLO (S)

    Isolates playback to only this specific layer within the channel. Useful for fine-tuning the frequency or offset of a micro-jitter without the macro-movement distracting you.

  • 11
    LAYER DELETE (DEL)

    Removes the noise layer entirely. The procedural network instantly recalculates the new sum.

  • 12
    LAYER AMP SLIDER

    Controls the intensity/height of this specific layer's waveform.

  • 13
    LAYER FRQ SLIDER

    Controls the speed/frequency of this specific layer's waveform.

  • 14
    LAYER OFS SLIDER

    Controls the time offset (phase shift) of this layer. Crucial for offsetting identical noise types so they don't perfectly overlap and cancel each other out.

  • 15
    + ADD LAYER

    Creates a brand new additive noise layer inside the channel. There is no limit to how many layers you can stack per axis.

  • 16
    AUTO-LIVE TOGGLE

    When enabled, every slider drag instantly rewrites the Maya expression node in the background. If disabled, you must click FORCE APPLY to see your changes in the viewport.

  • 17
    FORCE APPLY

    Manually pushes the current UI configuration to Maya's Directed Acyclic Graph. Only needed if AUTO-LIVE is turned off.

  • 18
    BAKE_TO_BASE

    Converts the procedural, live math expression into physical Maya animation keyframes directly on the object's base attributes, evaluating every frame of the timeline.

  • 19
    BAKE_TO_LAYER

    Bakes the generated noise directly into a non-destructive Maya Animation Layer. This allows you to easily blend the noise over hand-keyed animation using layer weights.

  • 20
    REVERT_TARGET_SYSTEM

    An emergency clean-up button. It completely purges all noise expressions, custom attributes, and helper nodes (PlusMinusAverage nodes) from the target object, cleanly restoring it.

02  —  Multi-Channel Layering & Modifiers Procedural non-destructive workflow

Non-Destructive Live Network

When AUTO-LIVE is enabled, NOISE.SYS procedurally links its logic directly into Maya’s Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) using PlusMinusAverage (PMA) nodes and expression networks. This allows you to preview complex jitter, camera shake, or light flickering in real-time while playing the timeline—without writing a single permanent keyframe.

Unlimited Layer Blending

Each axis (Tx, Ty, Tz, Rx, Ry, Rz) supports an unlimited number of additive noise layers. You can mix a slow, high-amplitude SINE wave for macro-movement with a fast, low-amplitude PERLIN wave for micro-jitters. The internal CRT Oscilloscope draws these mathematical blends live.

03  —  Noise Algorithms & Waveforms Mathematical evaluation

The system supports 6 distinct waveforms, evaluated on-the-fly at 60fps for the UI, and accurately mapped to Maya's internal time node.

SINE / SQUARE / TRIANGLE

Standard periodic waveforms ideal for mechanical sweeping, siren lights, or rhythmic oscillation. Evaluated using pure math.sin() and clamping logic.

Pseudo-PERLIN

A custom procedural algorithm combining multiple offset sine waves at varying frequencies: (sin(x) + sin(x*2.2+1.5) + sin(x*4.3+0.3)) / 3.0. Creates organic, unpredictable drift perfect for handheld camera shake.

RANDOM (White Noise)

Pure chaotic jitter evaluating a uniform random float between -1.0 and 1.0. Ideal for extreme turbulence or corrupted mechanical stutters.

SAW

A linear ascent followed by an immediate drop. Great for simulating ratcheting mechanics or heartbeat spikes.

04  —  Baking & Integration Finalizing the data
Viewport HUD

Bake to Base / Animation Layer

Once you are happy with the procedural preview, click BAKE_TO_BASE. NOISE.SYS automatically scrubs the timeline, evaluates the complex math expression at every single frame, and drops physical, baked keyframes onto your object. Alternatively, BAKE_TO_LAYER will drop the keyframes into a non-destructive Maya Animation Layer so you can blend the noise over existing animation.