Emboss
Apply emboss and relief shading to images.
What it does
Emboss turns an image's brightness into simulated relief, lit from one side. Each pixel is compared with its neighbours: flat areas go to mid-grey, slopes facing the light go brighter, slopes falling away go darker, so flat colour neutralises and edges read as raised or sunken.
Two methods are available: Gradient, a smooth read of the local slope, and Convolution, the classic directional emboss kernel. Angle sets where the simulated light comes from, Depth sets how strongly the relief reads, and Blend mixes back toward the original image. Fed a Volume, the same idea extends into 3D, reading the volume's density gradient with an Elevation angle as well as Angle.
When to use it
Hand-drawn, engraved or metallic relief from a flat image.
Faked surface detail or bump-like shading without a displacement or normal map.
Previewing a Volume's internal structure as lit relief instead of solid shading.
Relief tinted by the original colours, or stripped to pure greyscale.
| Parameter | Type | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
content_in | Collection or GPU Geometry or GPU Splats or Field or MorphField or Collection Sequence or Frame Sequence or Volume Sequence or Field Sequence | — | — |
rasterize | Boolean | false | Off: stay a live 3D object — emboss applied in screen space, orbit-able. On: collapse to a flat raster card. |
billboard | Boolean | true | When rasterized (ON), keep the card facing the camera. Off: a fixed-orientation world plane whose live contents still update as you orbit. |
camera | Camera3D | — | Camera to capture the card through. Empty = active viewport camera; connected = locked to that camera even as you orbit. |
method | String | "Gradient" | Gradient: high-quality Sobel-based, Convolution: classic directional kernel. One of: Gradient, Convolution. |
angle | Number | 135 | Direction of simulated light source in degrees (135 = top-left). Azimuth on volume inputs. |
elevation | Number | 45 | Light elevation in degrees for 3D (volume) inputs. 0 = in-plane, 90 = along +Z. Ignored for 2D rasters. |
depth | Number | 1 | Intensity of the emboss effect (1.0 = normal) |
blend | Number | 0 | Mix between emboss (0) and original image (1) |
grayscale | Boolean | false | Output pure grayscale emboss (ignores original colors) |
position | Vec3 | (0, 0, 0) | Translation (X, Y, Z) |
rotation | Vec3 | (0, 0, 0) | Rotation in degrees (X, Y, Z) |
scale | Vec3 | (1, 1, 1) | Scale (X, Y, Z) |
anchor | Vec3 | (0, 0, 0) | Pivot offset (X, Y, Z) — rotation/scale orbit this point |
spatial_strength | Field | — | Spatial field controlling where the effect applies (0=bypass, 1=full) |
strength | Number | 1 | Effect strength / wet-dry (0 = no effect, 1 = full). Editable, wirable, keyframable. |
Gotchas
Elevation affects Volume inputs only. On a flat image the light direction comes from Angle alone and Elevation is ignored.
Blend of 0 is full emboss and 1 is the untouched original. It is a mix toward the source image, not an opacity fade.
Turn on Grayscale to strip the tint and read the raised and sunken structure on its own before committing to a tinted look.
Worked example
Add an Image node and wire it into Emboss's content input.
Set Method to Gradient for smooth relief, or Convolution for a harder, directional carved look.
Rotate Angle to change where the simulated light falls from, and raise Depth until the relief reads clearly.
Pull Blend up from 0 to soften the effect back toward the original image.