Emboss
Creates a raised relief effect by highlighting edges based on a simulated light direction.
Emboss simulates light hitting a raised surface: highlights on one side of each edge, shadows on the other. Angle sets the light direction (135° is the classic top-left) and Size how far the relief extends. The Size slider reaches 48 px; type a value to go up to 200 px.
The light faces the same way in both Sources: a raised shape is lit on the side facing Angle and shaded on the far side, with the rim facing the light staying bright and nothing clipping to flat white or black, at any Profile, Angle, or Elevation. A document saved in an earlier version opens with the corrected relief, so a steep profile, a raised light, or hard edges in Color mode can look different; a Color mode Emboss from an earlier version keeps the light on the side it had, and Reset to Defaults gives it the new light.
While the node is selected, a sun on a disk centered on the picture sets the light by dragging: its direction from the center is Angle, and its distance is Elevation (the rim is a grazing light, the center lights straight down). The disk’s rings show while you hover or drag the sun. Hold Shift to snap Angle to steps of 15 degrees, and double-click the sun to reset both rows; see Canvas handles.
Elevation lifts the light above the surface, in both Sources. At 0 it grazes the surface, the classic emboss, and higher values move the highlight from the edge toward the top of a rounded shape, the way a lit Rounded profile catches the light farther in as the sun climbs. Flat areas stay unchanged at any Elevation. A new Emboss node starts at 30; a document saved before Elevation existed opens at 0, so it looks as it did.
With Source set to Alpha, the emboss uses the silhouette instead of the color detail, which turns flat icons into beveled buttons or badges. It reads the shape’s antialiased edge coverage, so curves and diagonals come out smooth instead of stepped, and the edge of the image counts as an edge of the shape, so a fully opaque image gets a relief along its border.
In Color mode only visible color shapes the relief: a shape cut out on transparency comes out unchanged up to its edge, with no dark rim from the hidden color behind it. Use Alpha mode for a bevel along the silhouette.
Profile
Section titled “Profile”In Alpha mode, Profile shapes the relief across Size, which is the profile’s width:
- Linear (default): an even band of light that ends in a crisp line at Size.
- Smooth: dark at the outline, brightest halfway in.
- Rounded: steepest at the rim, so the outline catches the most light and the deepest shadow, fading inward.
- Ridge and Groove: light and shadow swap halfway in.
- Custom: your own Profile Curve, drawn left to right from the outline inward, with Curve Interp choosing a smooth curve or straight segments. A Smooth curve bends gradually through every point, with no facets in the relief; between two points placed close together it can swing a little past them, and it always stays inside the box. The curve editor draws exactly the curve the node uses. It starts from whichever preset you had picked, and from Smooth the seeded curve matches it exactly.
Each pixel is lit by the slope of the profile at its distance from the edge, times how much the edge faces the light, with no extra softening, so the look is exactly what Profile says. The light’s direction is smoothed along the outline, so a smooth curve shows no radial streaks while corners and tips keep their own direction. For a softer fall-off than Linear, pick Smooth or Rounded.
Parameters
Section titled “Parameters”Pins
Filter
Where edges are detected
Direction of the light source. 135 = top-left (classic emboss). 315 = bottom-right
Height of the light above the surface. 0 = grazing, the classic emboss. Higher moves the highlight from the edges toward the top of rounded shapes
Width of the highlight and shadow spread. In Alpha mode, the width the Profile runs across.
- Small: sharp, tight edges.
- Large: a wide, soft bevel.
The shape of the raised edge across Size.
- Linear: a straight slope, lit evenly.
- Smooth: an S-curve, soft at both ends.
- Rounded: a pillowed edge, steepest at the rim.
- Ridge: rises to a crest halfway, then falls.
- Groove: high at the rim, dips to a channel halfway, then rises again.
- Custom: your own Profile Curve.
Your own edge shape. Left to right runs from the rim inward across Size, bottom to top is height
How Profile Curve runs between its points.
- Smooth: a smooth curve, so the light changes gradually.
- Linear: straight segments, so each point is a crisp line. Good for chamfers.
Intensity of the highlight and shadow edges. 0 = no effect. 1.0 = subtle emboss. Higher = more pronounced relief
Mask
How the connected color image is read as a mask
How the mask is sized when it doesn't match the image
Usage Tips
Section titled “Usage Tips”- Composite the result over the original in Overlay mode to emboss on top of the image.
- Use a small Size (1 to 3) for subtle texture enhancement.
- Connect a mask to emboss only part of the image.
- For a real height ramp and normal map from a shape, use Bevel. Emboss shares its profiles, but not its Offset, Side, Threshold or Tiling.