Voxel Relief

Builds the picture out of small blocks in 3D: bright parts rise, dark parts stay low. You can look at the relief from any angle.

Group: 3D & Particles · How to add an effect

The dancer twice: on the left the photo; on the right the stage turned into a wall of small blocks seen from a slight angle, with the bright dancer standing out from it as a relief of taller blocks — Left: original. Right: Voxel Relief seen from the side (Tilt 70°, Yaw −18°, Distance 0.93, Columns 120, Height 0.35, Height Contrast 2). The defaults (Height 1.2, Height Contrast 3) look almost straight on and make bright parts rise much taller; from the side they become long pillars.

Use it for: a pin-art or city-model look · a slow camera move over a still picture · a graphic, 3D treatment of a portrait.

Columns – how many blocks across the picture.
Height – how far bright parts rise.
Tilt and Yaw (degrees) and Distance – where the camera looks from.
Light Angle – where the light comes from.

Tip: press Orbit on the effect card, then drag in the preview to look from another angle and scroll to move closer. Keyframe Tilt and Yaw for a camera move.

Controls

Control	Range	Default
General
History Loop	Reset, Continuous	Reset
Relief
Columns	12 to 180	107.4
Height	0 to 1.2	1.2
Base	0 to 0.2	0.015
Gap	0 to 0.36	0.06
Limit to Video	on or off	on
Height Contrast	0.2 to 3	3
Camera
Tilt	−180 to 180°	87°
Yaw	−180 to 180°	0°
FOV	0.15 to 1.6	0.22
Distance	0.2 to 6	0.8
Center X	0 to 1	0.5
Center Y	0 to 1	0.5
Roll	−180 to 180°	0°
Light
Ambient	0 to 1	0.58
Light	0 to 2	0.48
Light Angle	0 to 360°	310°
Light Elevation	5 to 85°	45°
Light Follows Camera	on or off	off
Look
Color	0 to 1	0.95
Smoothing	0 to 0.9	0.08
Gaps	0 to 1	0.1
Edges	0 to 1	0.68
Reset Smoothing	on or off	off
Quality
Ray Steps	24 to 144	72

Node setup

Voxel Relief opened in the Node Workspace: Input Frame and UV Transform feed Image Texture; the texture feeds the folded Height field and the Surface Material; inside Column geometry, Height field, Primitive and Grid Points feed Instance on Points; Instance on Points and Surface Material feed Mesh Object; Mesh Object, Orbit Camera and Relief Light feed Relief Render — Voxel Relief with Column geometry open; Height field stays folded.

Voxel Relief is a small 3D scene: blocks on a grid, a camera and a light. Column geometry builds the blocks: Grid Points places one point per column, Primitive is the block, Height field turns brightness into height (Height Contrast, Height and Base are its controls) and Instance on Points puts a block on every point. Mesh Object dresses the blocks in the picture’s colours (Surface Material), and Relief Render films them with the Orbit Camera and the Relief Light. Open Nodes in the effect card opens this graph directly.

Remix: select Primitive and switch its Shape from Box to Sphere or Cylinder: the relief turns into beads or round pillars. The effect card shows the same Shape under Primitive.

Technical details

Rendering. The 2D relief is raymarched (Ray Steps); as a 3D scene object it uses instancing: Voxel Relief as a true 3D scene object.
Look. Block sides keep at least 55 % of the column colour. The default Distance 0.8 fills the layer at the default Tilt.
Framing. Height does not move the camera: a low or keyframed relief keeps the framing of the default relief, and only a relief taller than the default makes the camera step back. Distance alone sets how close it is.
Warnings. Values its shader clamps are named in the effect card and the tool result.
Saved projects. A Voxel Relief saved earlier keeps its darker sides, Distance 1 if it was saved before Distance existed, and a camera that moves closer as Height drops if it was saved before 27 October 2026.
Nodes and camera: Editable Voxel Relief nodes, camera and orbit mode; blocks: Node Catalog.