Coordinates

Overview

Generates basic maps that encode the coordinates themselves: UV, horizontal and vertical gradients, or distance from a center. It looks simple on its own, but is widely useful as a foundation for procedural artwork, including a progress map for reveal or an input to gradient_map.

Usage tips

• X / Y directly produce progress maps for a left-to-right or top-to-bottom wipe (the simplest maps you can connect straight to reveal).
• Distance is a foundation for radial effects: circular reveals, vignettes, or color changes by distance from the center (through gradient_map).
• expression_pixel gives you more freedom for mathematical patterns, but this node is faster for simple gradients.

Related nodes

• reveal — use X, Y, or Distance directly as a progress map
• gradient_map — convert distance or coordinates into color
• expression_pixel — generate more flexible coordinate-based images
• noise_generate — generate random rather than regular maps

Modes

• UV
  • Outputs X in red and Y in green.
• X
  • A horizontal grayscale gradient that brightens from left to right.
• Y
  • A vertical grayscale gradient that brightens from top to bottom.
• Distance
  • Outputs the distance from the specified center in grayscale.

Notes

• UV is useful when you want to visualize coordinates as colors.
• Distance is normalized to 0–1 using the distances between the center and the four corners.
• A 1×1 image treats its only pixel as the center: X, Y, and UV output 0.5, while Distance outputs 0.
• For an even width or height, the 0.5 center lies between the two middle pixels. Keep this between-pixel center in mind when feeding the map into nodes such as displace.
• This node outputs an Image. Do not use it directly as a Mask or Blend input; process it downstream for the intended use first.

Examples

1. Create a UV image as the foundation for map-based processing
2. Build the base for a radial mask with Distance
3. Use X / Y as a base image for scrolling or reveals