Filter node
Film Grain
Photochemical film grain: noise that lives in the darks and midtones and spares the highlights, the way film actually behaves. In Darks sets how strongly that curve applies; a Mask image gates the grain spatially — cable the 3D Scene's Shadow Mask in and the grain crawls only in the shadows, the classic cinema look. Grain Size in pixels; Monochrome for silver-halide grain, off for color-negative. Time animates the grain — leave it at -1 and it re-rolls every frame by itself.
Inputs
| Port | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
| EnableOff passes nothing: the texture is cleared. | bool | true |
| ImageThe picture to grain. | image | — |
| MaskOptional gate: grain appears where this image is DARK. Cable the 3D Scene's Shadow Mask in and the grain lives only in the shadows, like film. | image | — |
| WidthWidth of the output picture in Grafit units (default 2, the full height of the view). Cable the source's Width to keep its size. | float | 2 |
| HeightHeight of the output picture in Grafit units (default 2). | float | 2 |
| AmountHow strong the grain is. | float | 0.25 |
| Grain SizeGrain cell size in pixels — 1 is fine silver, 4+ is chunky pushed stock. | float | 1.5 |
| In DarksHow strongly the grain follows the film response curve: at 1, highlights stay clean and the grain lives in the darks and midtones; at 0 it is uniform noise. | float | 0.7 |
| MonochromeOne grain for all channels (silver-halide look). Off gives each channel its own — color negative. | bool | true |
| TimeDrives the grain roll. Leave at -1 and it re-rolls itself at 24 per second, like film through a gate. | float | -1 |
Outputs
| Port | Type |
|---|---|
| ImageThe picture to grain. | image |
| WidthWidth of the output picture in Grafit units (default 2, the full height of the view). Cable the source's Width to keep its size. | float |
| HeightHeight of the output picture in Grafit units (default 2). | float |
How It Works
Film Grain reproduces photochemical grain rather than generic noise. Real film is grainiest in the darks and midtones and almost clean in the highlights, and In Darks sets how strongly that curve is applied.
The Mask input gates the grain spatially. Cable a 3D Scene's Shadow Mask in and the grain crawls only in the shadows — the classic cinema look, where the blacks move and the lit areas sit still.
Grain Size is in pixels. Monochrome gives silver-halide grain; turn it off for colour-negative grain, where the three layers disagree. Time animates the pattern — leave it at −1 and the grain re-rolls itself every frame.
Use Cases
- Break up digital cleanliness — A little grain over a rendered 3D Scene makes it read as photographed.
- Grain only in the shadows — The Shadow Mask as the Mask input, which is how film actually behaves.
- Period look — Large, monochrome grain for archival footage; fine colour grain for modern stock.
- Hide banding — Grain dithers smooth gradients that would otherwise show steps.
- Texture on flat colour — Grain over a Gradient or a solid gives it a surface.
Tips
- Grain Size is in pixels, so it does not scale with the image — check it at your delivery resolution.
- Keep Amount low. Grain that you notice is usually too much; grain that you only miss when it is gone is right.
- Leave Time at −1 for live work; set it from a Timeline when you need a deterministic, repeatable render.
- Combine with Depth Adjust's Band mode to grain one slice of distance only.
- Apply grain last in the chain — after colour, after blur — the way it happens in a real pipeline.
Open Film Grain in the interactive catalog →
Film Grain is one of 381 nodes in Grafit Pro.
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