Sharpen
Sharpen images and volumes with a variable-radius unsharp mask.
What it does
Sharpen compares an image, or a volume, against a softened copy of itself and pushes the difference back in to boost local contrast. Amount sets how strong the push is, Radius sets how fine or broad the detail it reacts to, and Threshold protects flat, noisy areas from being sharpened along with real detail.
Fed a 3D object with Rasterize off, it stays live: sharpening is applied in screen space as you orbit rather than baked into a flat card. Rasterize on collapses it to a flat, camera-facing card.
When to use it
Recovering crispness lost to a blur, a resize, or a soft source image.
Punchier edges on a render, a texture, or a composited photo before delivery.
Fine-grain sharpening with a small Radius, or broad edge contrast with a large one.
Sharpening without amplifying sensor noise or grain: raise Threshold to protect low-contrast areas.
| 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 — sharpen 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. |
amount | Number | 100 | Sharpening strength as percentage (100% = normal, 200% = strong) |
radius | Number | 1 | Radius in pixels - smaller values sharpen fine detail, larger values sharpen edges |
threshold | Number | 0 | Minimum brightness difference to sharpen (0-255). Higher values prevent noise amplification |
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
Sharpen enhances contrast inside an object's silhouette. It does not spread the effect outward past the edges the way a Blur's halo can.
Radius is more than a look. It is the same detail-detection window a Blur uses internally. Small values chase fine texture, large values react to big soft edges. Pushed too high on a small image, Radius can flatten detail instead of enhancing it.
If sharpening appears to do nothing, check Threshold first. A high value can gate out subtle detail entirely, since only differences above the threshold are pushed.
Worked example
Wire an image, or a live 3D object, into Sharpen.
Raise Amount for a stronger push, starting around 100–150%.
Adjust Radius: smaller for fine texture, larger for broad edges.
If noise or grain is amplified, raise Threshold until it settles while real edges stay crisp.
For a 3D object, leave Rasterize off to keep it live and orbit-able, or turn it on to bake a flat, camera-facing card.
See also
Blur · Denoise · Convolve · Rasters (images)