Dilate/Erode Node

Dilate/Erode Node.

Expands or shrinks a mask using a morphological operator.

Inputs

Mask

A grayscale image.

Properties

Mode
Steps

Sets each pixel to the maximum (for dilation) or minimum (for erosion) value that’s found within a square surrounding it. This approach keeps the original gray levels and is best suited for masks that contain sharp corners; rounded shapes such as circles will look more square-like in the output.

Despite the name, this is not an iterative process; the dilation/erosion is only performed once regardless of the chosen Distance.

Threshold

Makes all the pixels fully black or white depending on whether they’re darker or brighter than 50% gray. Then, sets each pixel to the maximum (for dilation) or minimum (for erosion) value that’s found within a circle surrounding it. This approach loses the original gray levels. Shape wise, it’s well-suited for masks that contain rounded corners; sharp ones will be rounded off.

Distance

Sets each pixel to the maximum (for dilation) or minimum (for erosion) value that’s found within a circle surrounding it. This approach preserves the original gray levels and is well-suited for masks that contain rounded corners.

Feather

Blurs the image.

Distance

The size of the surrounding area to look at for each pixel; or in other words, how much to dilate (for positive values) or erode (for negative values) the mask.

Edge

For the Threshold mode, determines how much to blur the edges after dilation/erosion.

Falloff

For the Feather mode, determines the brightness curve of the blurred edges.

Outputs

Mask

The resulting mask.

Example

In the image below, notice that:

  • The light gray disk has turned white and the dark gray rectangle has turned black because of the Threshold mode.

  • The shapes have become thicker – dilated because of the positive Distance.

  • The shapes appear blurred because of the positive Edge.

../../../_images/compositing_types_filter_dilate-erode_example.png