PaperNoise

Overview

PaperNoise renders tactile, print-like cards entirely client-side. The challenge was making screen pixels feel like physical paper, and exporting them at high quality without any server.

Why this exists

Existing tools lean on templates or generic filters. I wanted real texture compositing and ink-palette control, with an export that survives the browser's canvas quirks.

Constraints

• 100% client-side, no server rendering or storage
• Exports must be deterministic and high-resolution
• Runs smoothly on mid-range laptops

How it's built

• Layered texture + tint compositing pipeline
• Export-safe rendering via dom-to-image-more
• Deterministic high-res PNG output

Tradeoffs

Chose dom-to-image-more over canvas-native export for fidelity, accepting a larger dependency to avoid cross-browser canvas tainting issues.

Lessons learned

Texture realism is mostly about blend modes and grain, not resolution. Constraining scope to one beautiful thing shipped faster than a flexible editor would have.

Impact