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Black and White

Black and White
Color

Converts color images to grayscale with per-hue channel sliders and film-style presets, mapping each color range to a custom gray intensity.

The Black and White node applied to a source image: original (left) and result (right).
Side-by-side comparison: the original image on the left and the same image after the Black and White node on the right.

Instead of a single grayscale formula, Black and White gives you a gray weight for each of six hue ranges: Reds, Yellows, Greens, Cyans, Blues, and Magentas. Pushing Reds up makes red skin tones bright; pulling Blues down to -100 makes a blue sky nearly black.

Thirteen presets, most named after classic photographic filters, cover the usual looks, from Red Filter (bright skin, darker skies) to Infrared (bright foliage). Editing any slider switches the preset to Custom. The Auto button analyzes the connected image and sets the sliders so the six hue ranges come out evenly balanced.

Texture sets

Section titled “Texture sets”

On a texture set or a library, a Map row at the top of the panel picks the one map Black and White edits, such as the Roughness, and every other map passes through untouched. On a one-channel map it works on the map’s gray value. See Changing one map.

Parameters

Section titled “Parameters”

Pins

ImagePixels or Texture
InputRequired
MaskMask
InputOptional
ImagePixels or Texture
Output

Preset

MapChoice
Default: Base Color
Texture set or library wired

Which map of the texture set this node edits. Every other map passes through unchanged. Shown while a texture set or a library is wired

  • Base ColorWork on the set's Base Color. The first map for the color and tone nodes.
  • NormalWork on the set's Normal. Offered on Normal Map (rescale its intensity) and the nodes that read a map into a selection; a color node never edits a direction.
  • RoughnessWork on the set's Roughness, a linear 0 to 1 map with one channel.
  • MetallicWork on the set's Metallic, a linear 0 to 1 map with one channel.
  • Ambient OcclusionWork on the set's Ambient Occlusion, a linear 0 to 1 map with one channel.
  • HeightWork on the set's Height, a linear map that can pass 0 and 1.
  • OpacityNever offered: the Opacity is the set's cutout, which Mask Apply edits.
  • EmissiveWork on the set's Emissive color.
PresetChoice
Default: Default Range: Custom / Default / Blue Filter / Darker / Green Filter / High Contrast Blue Filter / High Contrast Red Filter / Infrared / Lighter / Maximum Black / Maximum White / Neutral Density / Red Filter / Yellow Filter

Preset channel-mixer weights, named after classic photographic filters.

Selecting a preset updates the channel sliders. Any manual edit switches back to Custom.

Channel Mixer

RedsNumber
Default: 40 Range: -200–300

Gray weight for red hues

YellowsNumber
Default: 60 Range: -200–300

Gray weight for yellow hues

GreensNumber
Default: 40 Range: -200–300

Gray weight for green hues

CyansNumber
Default: 60 Range: -200–300

Gray weight for cyan hues

BluesNumber
Default: 20 Range: -200–300

Gray weight for blue hues

MagentasNumber
Default: 80 Range: -200–300

Gray weight for magenta hues

Mask

Mask FromChoice
Default: Luminance
Color image connected to the mask input

How the connected color image is read as a mask

  • LuminanceRead the image's brightness as the mask. The default.
  • AlphaRead the image's transparency as the mask.
  • RedUse the red channel as the mask.
  • GreenUse the green channel as the mask.
  • BlueUse the blue channel as the mask.
Mask FitChoice
Default: None (native size)
Mask connected

How the mask is sized when it doesn't match the image

  • None (native size)Center the mask at its native size, with no resizing. Unmasked regions are unaffected.
  • StretchStretch the mask to exactly match the image dimensions. May distort the mask shape.
  • Fit (letterbox)Scale the mask to fit inside the image, preserving aspect ratio. Letterboxes where needed.
  • Fill (crop)Scale the mask to fill the image, preserving aspect ratio. Crops edges if aspect ratios differ.

Usage Tips

Section titled “Usage Tips”
  • Start from Auto or the closest preset, then fine-tune individual ranges.
  • Pull Blues and Cyans down hard on landscapes with sky for punchy, dramatic monochrome.
  • Connect a mask to convert only part of the image.
Section titled “Related Nodes”