Distance From Geometry

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Distance From Geometry

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This node can be used to measure the distance to a reference geometry, which is useful when masking operations based on distance.

The Distance From Geometry node is a useful tool for computing the distance between points on a source geometry (1st input) and a reference geometry(2nd input). From this distance we can then generate a mask with 0-1 values. This can be helpful for a variety of tasks, including creating effects based on proximity, or driving procedural changes in your geometry.
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General Parameters:

--  Group    
A subset of components in the input geometry whose attribute value will be set. Leave this blank to affect the attribute value for all components in the input. One reason to utilize the group parameter is to only calculate regions of the geometry that you need in order to keep your scene more efficient.

--  Group Type    
What the group is made of. Typically, the guess from group option will correctly select the proper node type, but in some cases you may have to explicitly define the group type here to get the proper geometry selected.

--  Reference Group    
A subset of the the geometry used to measure distances. Leave this blank to measure distances to all components in the reference geometry.

--  Reference Group Type    
Type of components in the reference object from which distances are measured.
        --  Primitives
                Measure distance to the closest primitive in the reference object.
        --  Points
                Measure distance to the closest point in the reference object.


--  Distance Metric    
Method for measuring each point’s distance to the reference geometry.
        --  Distance from Surface
                The 3D distance to the closest primitive in the reference geometry.
        --  Distance Inside Geometry
                The signed 3D distance to the closest primitive in the reference geometry with positive values for positions inside the geometry and negative values for positions outside the geometry.
        --  Distance Outside Geometry
                The signed 3D distance to the closest primitive in the reference geometry with positive values for positions outside the geometry and negative values for positions inside the geometry.


--  Output Attribute    
This is the name of the distance attribute to create.

--  Output Mask    
This is the name of the mask attribute to create. The output attribute is set to a value between 0 and 1. The Radius and Ramp parameters specify how to map from the measured distance to a value in the [0, 1] range.

--  Radius From    
Method used to specify the mask’s radius.
        --  Parameter
                The mask’s radius is explicitly specified with a parameter.
        --  Maximum Distance
                The mask’s radius is the maximum computed distance.

Radius    
--  Specifies the distance corresponding to the end of the ramp.

Ramp    
--  The ramp used to smooth the attribute. Using the ramp we can define the fall off of the mask attribute, or remap the values. (Example: Inverting the mask)

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