Home▸Generative Art & Algorithmic Patterns▸Three Dimensional Curl Noise Flow Field

🌪️ Three Dimensional Curl Noise Flow Field

An interactive 3D particle system flowing through a divergence-free curl-noise vector field — swirling, fluid-like paths traced live in WebGL.

Generative Art & Algorithmic Patterns3DModerate60 FPS

Thousands of particles ride a divergence-free curl-noise vector field, tracing swirling, smoke-like paths that never pool or vanish — the same trick behind fluid-style VFX in film and games.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

Velocity at every point is the curl of a Perlin-noise potential field, which is mathematically guaranteed to be divergence-free — so the flow swirls and loops instead of converging into sinks or spraying from sources.

🎮 How to Use

Adjust noise scale, flow speed, curl strength and particle density, then toggle the field-vector overlay to see the instantaneous curl direction that's steering every particle. Drag to orbit, scroll to zoom.

💡 Did You Know?

Curl noise was formalized by Bridson, Houriham & Nordenstam in 2007 specifically to give VFX artists incompressible-looking turbulence without solving the full Navier–Stokes equations.

⚙ Under the hood

Explore the mesmerizing behavior of fluid dynamics as you adjust parameters to control the swirling patterns of a 3D particle field, visualizing divergence-free flow and its effects on particle movement in this interactive simulation.

curl-noiseflow-fieldsparticle-systemsprocedural-animationdivergence-free-flowgenerative-art

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install