How to understand the underlying logic of the blend algorithm of the Combiner device

[Perceptive_TT]

I would like to ask about the underlying logic of these two ‘differences’?

[Tomatiy]

for all those years i learned only:

Average
Add
Substruct
Multiply
Max
Min
Absolute Difference

all others still magic for me, EHEH

also i fugered out that those combining options is not something specific for WorldMachine

same i saw in Blender, and other 3d tools
so i think you able not just ask info on WM forum, but also on any procedural-generation communities

[HYLK]

World Machine Tutorials | Ep. 18 - The Combiner Devices

However, Detail w/ Differences is still unclear to me

[Perceptive_TT]

In terms of effect, it seems to only retain high-frequency details, but I’m not clear about the underlying algorithm.

[PoshIndie]

Removing this for now… there are some weird edge cases on it where the Input 2 Gradient is 0.0, so I would assume “no change” rather than “actually 0.0” in the result… hmm.

[Tomatiy]

Stephen power needed

[A_Lingll]

This is part of it, but it is basically based on experience and cannot be guaranteed to be completely correct.

[Tomatiy]

yooo
useful formula explanation