SoftMerge provides a fade function for those operations that typically output a hard (cut-out) edge (for example: max, min, etc.) and it can be used in all operations. Another use is to ease the merging of soft and out-of-focus objects, for example, during Keying or compositing elements.

It offers four controls:

1) The size of the fade (inwards) in pixels. It fully respects the original rgb values.
2) Smooth the alpha that drives the fade (by default a linear progression), while still preserving the original rgb intact.
3) Smooth the RGB values within the fade area. There is a checkbox to gang the RGB and the Alpha Blur.
4) Replace the output alpha channel with the SoftMerge operation.

As usual, please feel free to share any feedback and feature requests.

Changelog:

• v1.1: Re-organization of functions.
• v1.2: Fixes to 'Replace Alpha' for certain operations.
• v1.3: Sorted a couple Expressions that misbehaved when duplicating this node and softer cull for the 'blur rgb' function.
• v1.4: Main bug in the 'Filler' operation (caused by illegal values).
• v1.5, 1.6: Small adjustments and refinements to the bounding box system.
• v1.7: Reworked UI, removed all callbacks and exported as an .nk file instead of a Gizmo.
• v1.8: Compiled it to work with Nuke v15+ onwards. Re-worked some of the knob titles and instructions to ease the use.
• v.1.9: Small performance optimization.
• v.2.0: Trimmed obsolete processes inside the group, related to outwards radius function.