Distance

Overview

Turns the distance in pixels from a silhouette's outline into a grayscale gradient. It is a versatile foundation for effects driven by distance from an outline, including glows, inner shading, and contour patterns.

Usage tips

• The golden pattern for a glow is: silhouette → Distance (Outside) → gradient_map (glow colors) → layer over the original with blend (Add).
• max_distance controls the reach of the effect. Use 4–8 for a glow, or 16 and above for a broad aura.
• Choose region by intent: Outside for outward light or shadow, Inside for inner edge shading, and Both for contours or effects centered on the outline.
• Shape membership uses a fixed threshold of 0.5 on the selected source. An empty shape produces an opaque black distance map in every region mode.
• For pixel-art-like steps, reduce the number of tones downstream (with a posterize-style node) to produce a contour-like glow.

Related nodes

• gradient_map — convert distance into color (commonly paired with this node)
• blend — layer the result over the original image
• region_distance — the RegionMap version of a distance map
• morphology — expand or shrink the shape itself instead of measuring distance

Reading the output

Technical details

• Uses an approximate Euclidean distance calculated with a two-pass chamfer method (1 / √2 weights).
• Boundary pixels in the measured region have distance 0. Consequently, the Inside boundary is exactly 0 and the Both boundary is exactly 0.5.
• Inside treats the canvas edges as outside, so it still produces distances for a fully opaque tile.

Examples

1. Glow: silhouette → Distance(Outside) → Gradient Map (glow color ramp) → layer over the original with Blend(Add)
2. Inner shading: Distance(Inside) → Gradient Map to create a fill that is dark at the edge and bright at the center
3. Contours: Distance(Both) → Posterize to create stripes that follow the shape