Topic
Effects
Every effect and every setting, and the quick tools. 23 guides.
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Use Effects to restyle a photo in one clickLoad a photo, pick one of 58 effects, tune its sliders, compare with the original, then download at full size or send it to the Editor as a live layer.Beginner5 min readHow to make a halftone portraitA halftone turns a photo into dots on a grid: dark areas get large dots that merge, light areas get small ones or none. To make a good halftone portrait, start with a high-contrast black and white photo on a plain background, choose a dot size that suits where it will be seen (fine for screens, coarse for print and posters), set the contrast so the shadows fill in without swallowing the face, then recolour the dots with a blend mode. Below is a working halftone; move the sliders and watch what each one does.Beginner7 min readHow to make a risograph effectA risograph look is five things stacked: two or three flat ink colours instead of full colour, tone made of visible dots (a halftone), inks that darken where they overlap because they are translucent, layers slightly out of register, and grain with the paper showing through. To fake it from a photo: convert the photo to a halftone, map it to one ink on a paper colour with a duotone, set type and shapes in a second ink on Multiply, nudge one ink a few pixels off, and lay a light grain over everything. Start with the duotone below; the full recipe follows.Intermediate5 min read
Everything else in this topic
- Artistic effects and their settingsAll 12 effects in the Artistic tab, from Halftone and Dither to Oil Paint and Woodcut, with what every slider does to the picture.Beginner6 min
- Stylize effects and their settingsAll 11 effects in the Stylize tab: Pixelate, Posterize, Edge Detect, Emboss, Threshold, Solarize, Kaleidoscope, Mirror, Tilt Shift, Crystallize and Low Poly.Beginner5 min
- Color effects and their settingsAll 12 effects in the Color tab, from Duotone and Gradient Map to Thermal and Night Vision, and how to set their colours so they do what you expect.Beginner5 min
- Distort effects and their settingsAll 12 effects in the Distort tab, from Glitch and RGB Shift to Swirl, Fisheye and Pixel Sort, with what every slider does.Intermediate5 min
- Enhance and texture effects and their settingsAll 11 effects in the Enhance tab: Blur, Sharpen, Vignette, Noise, Film Grain, Scanlines, Bloom, Freeze, Dot Matrix, Lens Flare and Film Burn.Beginner4 min
- Use the Halftone, Dither and Glitch quick toolsThree single-purpose pages that load with a sample image, give you just the sliders that matter, and download a full-size PNG or send the result to the Editor.Beginner2 min
- How to make a duotone imageA duotone maps a photo's brightness onto two colours. How to choose a pair that keeps the photo readable, how it is made in any editor, and the one-click route with a live example.Beginner3 min
- Dithering explained: threshold, patterns and when to use itWhat dithering does to a photo, why the threshold matters more than it looks, why the effect must be made at final size, how to colour it afterwards, and the one-click tool with a live example.Beginner3 min
- The glitch effect: slices, offset and RGB shift explainedWhat a glitch effect actually does to an image, what the three controls change, the companion effects that complete the look, where it works and where it ruins the picture, and the one-click tool with a live example.Beginner3 min
- How to make a comic book effect from a photoA comic book look is three things stacked: flat colour, halftone dots in the shadows, and black ink lines. How each is made, why the order matters, and the recipe in the Editor with a live Pop Art example.Beginner4 min
- Halftone for screen printing and DTF: the numbersThe dot size that survives a screen, the relation between lines per inch and mesh count, why DTF is different, and how to get a Voidcanvas halftone to those numbers and into the right file.Intermediate5 min
- The newspaper photo effect: halftone, grain and a warm paper tintA newspaper photo is a fine halftone in dark grey ink on off-white paper, a little soft, with flat contrast. Four layers make it, in the Editor or in Effects, with a live halftone to set the dots.Beginner2 min
- The vintage photo effect: fade, grain, warmth, vignetteOld photos look old for four reasons: lifted blacks, a warm or shifted colour cast, grain, and darker corners. The one-click Vintage effect does the first, second and fourth; the Editor recipe adds grain, light leaks and a print border.Beginner2 min
- Turn a photo into a pencil sketchPencil Sketch draws the edges of a photo as grey lines on white. What kind of photo works, how to get clean lines rather than noise, the pen-and-ink alternatives, and how to keep the colour underneath.Beginner2 min
- What pixel sorting is and how to use itPixel sorting rearranges runs of bright pixels by brightness, turning highlights into streaks. What the threshold does, which photos work, how to sort vertically, and how to limit it to one part of the image.Intermediate2 min
- Add film grain that looks like filmGrain makes digital images feel printed and hides banding and mild softness. How much to use, why grain size matters more than amount, where to put it in the layer stack, and why it must be judged at the output size.Beginner2 min
- The CRT and scanline lookAn old tube screen bulges, has dark scanlines, shows red, green and blue stripes and fades at the edges. The CRT effect does all four; add colour fringing, glow and a vignette for the full broadcast look.Beginner2 min
- Make a halftone gradient backgroundDots that grow from one side of the page to the other, or from the corners inward. A gradient under a halftone filter does it; a gradient map recolours it. Four layers, all editable.Beginner2 min
- You do not need halftone brushes: a filter and a mask do itHalftone brush packs stamp fixed dot shapes. A halftone filter over a layer you paint in greys turns any stroke into dots of the right size, and you can repaint it, resize the dots or recolour it at any time.Beginner2 min
- Posterize an image (any tool, one click here)Posterize cuts smooth tones into a few flat bands for a screen-print or poster look. The two ways to do it in the Editor, how to avoid speckled edges, and how to swap the bands for your own palette.Beginner2 min