This paper presents the generalization of weighted distances to modules and their computation through the chamfer algorithm on general point lattices. The first part is dedicated to formalization of definitions and properties (distance, metric, norm) of weighted distances on modules. It resumes tools found in literature to express the weighted distance of any point of a module and to compute optimal weights in the general case to get rotation invariant distances. The second part of this paper proves that, for any point lattice, the sequential two-scan chamfer algorithm produces correct distance maps. Finally, the definitions and computation of weighted distances are applied to the face-centered cubic (FCC) and body-centered cubic (BCC) grids. 2007 Pattern Recognition Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.