> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ntop.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Distance Along Direction

## About this Block

**What it does:** The **Distance Along Direction** block computes the distance to the closest point to the given mesh along a specified direction.

**Common uses:**

* Determining the distance from a mesh feature to a build plate for support structures

## Example File

![Distance Along Direction](https://storage.googleapis.com/files-learn/static/ExtendedBlockDocs/distancealongdireciton.jpg)

***

Return a Scalar Field of the distance along the input direction to a target surface Mesh.

### Inputs

| Name      | Type                                                   | Description                            |
| --------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------- |
| Mesh      | [Mesh](../../../../block-documentation/types/mesh)     | Mesh to get directional distance from. |
| Direction | [Vector](../../../../block-documentation/types/vector) | Direction towards the target object.   |

### Outputs

| Type                                                               |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| [Scalar Field](../../../../block-documentation/types/scalar-field) |