Fully procedural material gradient inset help

[GLASS-CANVAS]

I'm trying to make a procedural map to control the hue of a forest pack, usually in the past I've used a mix of Vray's distance map and offset splines to create same effect, this takes a long time and is inconvenient for complex shapes. Ideally I'd like a to procedurally do this with a single, or combination of procedural maps. Below is an example of how this would look and how I've done it in the past with splines and Vray's distance map.
Thanks!

[hermit.crab]

I'm not entirely certain what's the desired effect based on that particular image. Could you elaborate a bit further? Maybe provide a simple example scene with the mentioned method.

[GLASS-CANVAS]

Hi Hermit,
The goal of the map has a few uses for me, but the one I had in mind was a grayscale map that 'maps' itself from the outside in. if you've used the 'inside glow' in photoshop; essentially this. As an example for its use, this would allow me to create this effect, conforming to the shape of the geometry for something more complex then a simple rectangle:

If need be I can provide a scene file but I'm not sure how useful it would be.

[piotrus3333]

mapped gradient ramp (https://youtu.be/kWfvOiRUN6s but mapped with VRayDistTex):

[hermit.crab]

I see. I tried experimenting with some 3ds Max native procedural maps, however, the issue seems to be mapping the "gradient" to the specific shape. This indeed seems to work best with a Gradient Ramp mapped via a VRayDistanceTex. Another way perhaps is to vertex paint the surface itself, which would certainly provide more control, though it may be just as time-consuming.

[piotrus3333]

hermit.crab good point about Vertex Color. to make it easier you could drive it with soft selection of edge vertices through Data Channel:

[GLASS-CANVAS]

Thank you Piotrus and Hermit, this is exactly what I was looking for!
Pinotrus would It be possible to see your material editor node set up, for future refrance?

[piotrus3333]

sure thing: