The “distance function” of a set of points \(A\) is the
  mathematical function \(f\) such that, for any 
  two-dimensional spatial location \((x,y)\),
  the function value f(x,y)
  is the shortest distance from \((x,y)\) to \(A\).
The command f <- distfun(X) returns a function
  in the R language, with arguments x,y, that represents the
  distance function of X. Evaluating the function f
  in the form v <- f(x,y), where x and y
  are any numeric vectors of equal length containing coordinates of
  spatial locations, yields the values of the distance function at these
  locations. Alternatively x can be a
  point pattern (object of class "ppp" or "lpp") of
  locations at which the distance function should be computed (and then
  y should be missing).
This should be contrasted with the related command distmap
  which computes the distance function of X
  on a grid of locations, and returns the distance
  values in the form of a pixel image.
The result of f <- distfun(X) also belongs to the class
  "funxy" and to the special class "distfun".
  It can be printed and plotted immediately as shown in the Examples.
  
A distfun object can be converted to a pixel image
  using as.im.