Perlin

Sound FX, Textures and 3D

Let Perlin make sound effects, painted textures and 3D models for the piece it is building.

Three switches let Perlin make more than code for a piece: Sound FX for sound effects and music, Textures for painted images such as sprites, tiles and backdrops, and 3D for modelled characters and props. Perlin makes these first, then writes the code that uses them.

All three are on to start with, so a new piece gets the fullest treatment. Each thing Perlin makes costs Vybe Tokens of its own, on top of the request, so switch off what a piece doesn't need.

Where the switches are

The switches sit in a row at the top of Perlin's panel, beside Look it over and Auto-fix (Auto-fix and Look it over). Where the panel is narrow, Sound FX reads SFX and, on small phones, Textures reads Tex. Point at a switch to see what it does. The studio remembers how you left them in this browser.

Set the switches before you send
A switch counts for the requests you send while it's on: new pieces, and changes that call for something new.
Send your prompt
Mention what you want made, or leave it to Perlin. With a switch on, Perlin uses it when the piece suits it and skips it when it doesn't.
Watch the steps
Under Perlin's reply, a step for each kind of thing it makes, such as "Composing sound effects", then "Made 4 sound effects" with their names.

Sound FX

With Sound FX on, Perlin composes sound for the piece before it writes the code: one-shots for clicks, hits and pickups, seamless ambient beds, and music loops. The piece plays them in response to what happens in it, and can move to its own sound, following the bass, the highs and every beat.

Browsers only allow sound after the first click, tap or key press in a piece, so pieces are made to look complete in silence until then.
A piece with sound gets a volume control.
Shader pieces don't get sound effects. Choose 3D or 2D, or leave the engine on Auto, for a piece with sound.
When the piece already has the sounds it needs, a change reuses them rather than making new ones.

Describe sounds concretely in your prompt: "a soft wooden knock when tiles land", "a deep warm drone, slowly evolving, no melody", "a 120 bpm techno loop with a heavy kick". The Vybe Tokens page shows what a sound effect typically comes to. Switch Sound FX off and sound costs nothing.

Textures

With Textures on, Perlin paints images for the piece with the studio's image model, about ten seconds for a batch:

Sprites: one subject on a transparent background, such as a character, an enemy, an item, a plant or a button.
Tiles: a seamless surface that repeats, such as grass, bricks, water, fabric or a material for a 3D object.
Images: an opaque picture that fills the frame, such as a sky, distant scenery, a poster or a title screen.

Textures suit games and 3D scenes most. Perlin leaves them out of shaders and purely abstract pieces, and keeps effects such as glows, particles and trails drawn in code. It gives every texture in a piece the same style, so they belong together; name the style you want in your prompt, such as "crisp 16-bit pixel art" or "hand-painted fantasy with soft rim light". Each sprite is a single pose, and Perlin animates it in code by bobbing, tilting, squashing and flipping it.

3D

With 3D on, Perlin can model the objects a 3D piece is about: a hero character, a creature, a vehicle, a centrepiece prop. Everything else (ground, walls, simple shapes, particles) it still builds from geometry in code.

Models only go into a 3D piece. They can be made when the engine picker is on 3D, or on Auto with a 3D piece, or nothing yet, on the stage.
Up to four models a request, one for each kind of object; more copies are clones of the same model.
Models take a minute or two. The step reads "Sculpting 3D models", then "Sculpted 2 3D models", noting they're in your assets.
Each model is kept in your asset library, where you can use it in other pieces.
Models come painted, or as plain shapes for Perlin to give a material of its own; it picks whichever suits the object.
Models come without a skeleton or animations. Perlin moves them in code: bobbing, spinning, tilting, travelling along paths.

A model costs a good deal more than a sound or a texture, so Perlin only asks for the few the piece needs, and none for abstract or 2D pieces. It sets their tokens aside before it starts them. If your balance can't cover them, or your asset library is full, the step reads "Skipped the 3D models" with the reason, and Perlin builds the piece without them. If a model can't be made, Perlin builds that object from geometry instead.

When the switches don't apply

While Perlin is planning with you under Plan first, nothing is made: the plan says what the piece would get, and the making happens when you press Build it.
Fixes and look-overs work on the piece as it is and never make new sounds, textures or models.
On your own AI key, sounds, textures and models still cost Vybe Tokens (Perlin on your own AI key).

To make sound, music, images or models for your library rather than for one piece, use Generate assets in the Assets panel (Generating assets).

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