# Distance of a point to a surface

**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/distance-of-a-point-to-a-surface/14777
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [June 5, 2024, 12:04pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/distance-of-a-point-to-a-surface/14777 "2024-06-05T12:04:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Ali1990dashti](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/ali1990dashti/32/12099_2.png) [@Ali1990dashti](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Ali1990dashti)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2024, 12:04pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/distance-of-a-point-to-a-surface/14777/1 "2024-06-05T12:04:27Z")

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Dear cummunity,

I am using Paraview `5.12.0` and want to calculate the orthogonal distance of a point to a surface. At the moment I am using a Ruler and visually check whether the seond point of the Ruler makes a perpendicular line to the surface or not. The following fig shows what I mean:

 ![distance](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/2X/c/c5032bfd017c560667e70e98555670b310cf4205.jpeg)

However, it is not accurate. Is there a way to find the distance between point and closet node of the surface? I guess it will be the orthogonal distance between the point and the surface. The surface is named as fault and is one of the blocks of my mesh.  
In advance I appreciate any help.

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### Author: ![mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/mwestphal/32/17_2.png) [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2024, 2:38pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/distance-of-a-point-to-a-surface/14777/2 "2024-06-05T14:38:23Z")

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I don’t think such a widget exist, however it would be a nice addition!