Grid

The Grid Image Generator draws a pattern of evenly spaced horizontal and vertical lines, procedurally and at any resolution. You can set the cells by size or by count, change the line thickness on each axis, fill the cells with a color, and animate the grid by moving its lines.

Use it for:

• Backgrounds, blueprints and graph paper looks
• Tables and layout guides
• Scrolling or moving patterns
• Grid-shaped masks, for example to reveal an image cell by cell

Quick Navigation

• Creating and Connecting a Grid
• Grid Area: the Output Format
• Cell Size or Cell Count
• Lines, Cells and Invert
• Moving and Animating the Grid
• Distance Field
• Motion Blur
• Controls

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Creating and Connecting a Grid

Like any Image Generator, the Grid can be connected to any image parameter, for example:

• The Source of a layer, to display the grid itself
• The Mask of a layer, to show that layer only through the lines, or only through the cells with Invert
• The image input of a Modifier, for example to use the grid as a matte

The quickest way to create a layer with a Grid as its source is described in Adding Layers:

• Click the + button at the top of the layer stack and choose Grid from the list of Generators
• Place the mouse cursor over the Viewer and open the Quick Access Menu, then pick Grid:
  • Press Q when no layer is selected
  • Press Shift+Q when a layer is selected (in this case, Q opens the menu dedicated to Modifiers)

To use it with any other image parameter, such as a Mask, click the parameter's slot and choose Grid from the list of Generators on the right.

Grid Area: the Output Format

The Output Format defines the area covered by the grid:

• Unbounded (the default): the grid covers the whole, infinite canvas. Use it for backgrounds.
• Composition Format: the grid fills the composition.
• Format Preset: the grid fills a rectangle with the size of the selected preset, centered in the composition.
• Custom Format: the grid fills the rectangle you define with the Format parameter, as its left, bottom, right and top edges, in pixels from the center of the composition.

Cell Size or Cell Count

The Cell Mode menu decides how the size of the cells is defined:

• Cell Size (the default): the cells have a fixed size in pixels, set by Cell Size. The grid does not adapt to its area, so the cells at the edges are usually cut.
• Cell Count: the cells are sized so that the output format contains the number of cells set by Num Cells. Use it to divide an area into equal parts, such as a table.

Lines, Cells and Invert

• Thickness sets the width of the lines, in pixels. It has two values: X for the vertical lines and Y for the horizontal lines.
• Grid Color sets the color of the lines, and Background Color the color of the cells. The background is transparent by default.
• Invert swaps lines and cells: the cells are filled with the Grid Color, and the lines become empty.

Moving and Animating the Grid

Offset moves the lines inside the grid area, in pixels. By default, a vertical and a horizontal line cross at the center of the composition.

Because the grid repeats every cell, moving it by exactly one cell gives the same image as not moving it at all. This makes seamless loops easy: animate Offset from 0 to the Cell Size over the length of the loop.

Distance Field

When Mode is set to Distance Field, the Grid no longer draws solid lines: each pixel stores a value based on its distance to the nearest line, which produces a gradient inside each cell. Use it as a matte, or to drive other effects.

These values go above 1.0, so the Viewer shows most of the grid as solid white. To read them, activate the Color Picker with the dropper icon at the bottom right of the Viewer, then hover over the grid (see Overbright and negative values). To keep these values when rendering, use a floating-point format such as OpenEXR.

Motion Blur

When the grid moves quickly, for example because its Offset is animated, the Grid can render its own motion blur. Increase Divisions to enable it: this is the number of samples taken during the shutter interval, and higher values give a smoother blur at the cost of render time. Shutter Angle sets the length of the blur, and Shutter Phase sets when the shutter opens relative to the current frame. See Motion Blur for more details.

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Controls

Parameter / Script Name	Type	Default	Function
Enabled / enabled	Boolean	On	Turns the Generator on or off. When off, the Generator produces an empty image.
Output Format / output_format_mode	Choice	Unbounded	Defines the area covered by the grid. See Grid Area. - Unbounded: The grid covers the whole, infinite canvas. - Format Preset: The grid fills the selected preset, centered. - Composition Format: The grid fills the composition. - Custom Format: The grid fills the Format rectangle.
Format / format_preset	Choice	HD (1920x1080)	The format used when Output Format is set to Format Preset. - PC VIDEO (640x480) - NTSC (720x486:0.91) - PAL (720x576:1.09) - NTSC 16:9 (720x486:1.21) - PAL 16:9 (720x576:1.46) - QHD (960x540) - LHD (1280x720) - HD (1920x1080) - VHD (1080x1920) - UHD 4K (3840x2160) - VUHD 4K (2160x3840) - UHD 8K (7680x4320) - Super35 1K FULL AP (1024x778) - Cinemascope 1K (914x778:2.00) - Super35 2K FULL AP (2048x1556) - Cinemascope 2K (1828x1556:2.00) - DCP 2K (2048x1080) - Super35 4K FULL AP (4096x3112) - DCP 4K (4096x2160) - Square 256 (256x256) - Square 512 (512x512) - Square 1K (1024x1024) - Square 2K (2048x2048)
Format / formatRect	Float 4D	-500, -500, 500, 500	The rectangle used when Output Format is set to Custom Format, as left, bottom, right and top edges in pixels from the center of the composition.
Pixel aspect / par	Float	1	The pixel aspect ratio of the generated image.
Grid Color / grid_color	Color	1, 1, 1, 1	Color and opacity of the lines.
Background Color / background_color	Color	0, 0, 0, 0	Color and opacity of the cells. Transparent by default.
Colorspace / input_colorspace	Choice	Project Display Space	Only available when the composition's Color Management is set to OpenColorIO. The colorspace in which the colors of this Generator are expressed. - Project Working Space: The color is assumed to be expressed in the project working space - Project Display Space: The color is assumed to be expressed in the project display space
Mode / mode	Choice	Normal	- Normal: Draw lines of the given Thickness. - Distance Field: Draw a gradient based on the distance to the nearest line. See Distance Field.
Cell Mode / grid_mode	Choice	Cell Size	Chooses how the size of the cells is defined. See Cell Size or Cell Count. - Cell Count: A number of cells that fills the output format. - Cell Size: A cell size in pixels.
Cell Size / cell_size	Float 2D	50, 50	Width and height of the cells, in pixels. Only used when Cell Mode is Cell Size.
Num Cells / num_cells	Float 2D	10, 10	Number of cells horizontally and vertically in the output format. Only used when Cell Mode is Cell Count.
Thickness / thickness	Float 2D	4, 4	Thickness of the lines, in pixels: X for the vertical lines, Y for the horizontal lines.
Offset / offset	Float 2D	0, 0	Moves the lines, in pixels. By default, a vertical and a horizontal line cross at the center of the composition. Animate it to scroll the grid.
Normalize Distance Field / normalize_df	Boolean	On	In Distance Field mode, divides the distance values by the cell size.
Invert / invert	Boolean	Off	Swaps lines and cells: the cells are filled with the Grid Color, and the lines become empty.
Divisions / divisions	Float	1	The number of samples to use for the motion-blur. The higher the number is, the more accurate is the motion-blur when large motion is involved, but the slower it is to render.
Shutter Angle / shutterAngle	Float	180	The shutter angle controls the time period over which light can pass. A wider angle increases motion-blur
Shutter Phase / shutterPhaseType	Choice	Centered	- Centered: The shutter opens half the shutter duration before the current time and closes half the shutter duration after - Start: The shutter opens at the current time and closes after the shutter duration is elapsed - End: The shutter opens at the current time minus the shutter duration and closes at the current time - Custom: The shutter opens at the time determined by a custom phase: the phase is an offset on the shutter angle, assuming the shutter opens at 0
Custom Phase / customPhase	Float	-90	An offset to the shutter angle, assuming the shutter opens at 0: A Shutter angle of 180 with a phase of -90 means that the shutter will be opened half a frame, centered around the current time