Unsharp mask
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Unsharp mask is a Blur & sharpen effect.


What it does
Section titled “What it does”The picture is compared against a blurred copy of itself and the difference is added back.
Parameters
Section titled “Parameters”| Parameter | Control | Range | Default | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amount | Slider | 0 to 300 | 60 | Per cent |
| Radius | Slider | 1 to 50; down to 0 and up to 100 | 8 | Pixels at composition size |
| Threshold | Slider | 0 to 1 | 0.05 | - |
| Luminance only | Checkbox | On or off | On | - |
| Mix | Slider | 0 to 100 | 100 | Per cent |
| Blend | Dropdown | Normal · Darken · Multiply · Colour burn · Linear burn · Darker colour · Add · Lighten · Screen · Colour dodge · Lighter colour · Overlay · Soft light · Hard light · Linear light · Vivid light · Pin light · Hard mix · Difference · Exclusion · Subtract · Divide · Hue · Saturation · Colour · Luminosity | Normal | - |
| Matte | Layer | Any layer in the composition | None | - |
| Invert | Checkbox | On or off | Off | - |
| Channel | Dropdown | Luminance · Alpha · Red · Green · Blue | Luminance | - |
In the Effect Controls panel:
- Matte scales Amount per pixel: white adds the full Amount of detail back, black none. Invert reads that matte inverted.
What each control does
Section titled “What each control does”- Amount sets how strongly recovered detail is added back.
- Radius is the size of detail that gets lifted.
- Threshold is how different a pixel must be to be lifted.
- Luminance only sharpens brightness while leaving colour alone.
- Mix: how much of the result replaces the original.