CRT
Turns any layer into a tube screen: curvature, RGB phosphors, scanlines and bloom.
Beads for Affinity
Turns any layer into a fuse bead design, like hama or perler beads. Every cell holds a bead with a hole, a shadow and a highlight, on a pegboard in the color you choose.
Filter Gallery
Beads is free in Filter Gallery
Beads comes with Filter Gallery, a plugin with 20 effects in one window inside Affinity. The download is free, needs no account and includes CRT, ASCII, Dithering and Beads. A USD $9 license unlocks the other 16.
Also for Windows · 2.1 MBAlso for Mac · 2.4 MB
See all 20 effects
BeforeAfter
4 presets to start with
Pick one in the Filter Gallery window and adjust it from there. Every control can still be changed.
Default
Sixty beads across and sixteen colors on a black pegboard.
Pegboard
Bigger beads with a wide hole on a white pegboard, like the real thing.
Pearls
Solid beads with strong relief that look like pearls.
Mini
A hundred and ten small beads and twenty-four colors for more detail.
What each control does
They have the same names as in the Filter Gallery window.
- Beads across
- How many beads fit across the layer. The height adjusts on its own.
- Colors
- How many bead colors the design uses, chosen from your image.
- Relief
- The volume of each bead: shadow, shading and highlight.
- Hole
- The size of the center hole. At zero, the beads are solid.
- Pegboard
- The pegboard color. With “no color”, the beads sit on transparency.
- Brightness, contrast and saturation
- They adjust the image before the palette colors are chosen.
- Bloom
- A soft glow in the brightest areas. The radius sets how far it spreads and the threshold, the brightness where it starts.
Tips
- A template to buildWith 29 beads across, the design fits a large square hama pegboard (29 × 29), so it works as a guide to build it for real.
- Just the beadsWith the pegboard set to “no color”, the beads sit on transparency and go over any background.
- CutoutsTransparent areas of the layer get no beads, so the design takes the shape of your cutout.
Filter Gallery
Take Beads and 19 more effects to your Affinity
Filter Gallery is a plugin with the 20 Visual.af effects in a single window. You choose by looking at thumbnails of your layer, adjust with a live preview and compare before and after, then apply.
- 20 effects with their presets
- Zoomable preview and comparison slider
- 4 free effects to start with
- One payment of USD $9, up to 3 computers
Installation
It installs in a minute
The installer copies the plugin into the Affinity plugins folder and turns on the setting Affinity needs to load it.
Download the installer
Download FilterGallery-Setup.exe. It doesn’t need administrator permissions.
Open it
Click “OK”: it copies Filter Gallery into Affinity and turns on “Allow "Unknown" plugins to be used”, which Affinity needs. If Windows shows “Windows protected your PC”, click “More info” and then “Run anyway”.
Restart Affinity
Choose Filters › Plugins › Visual.af › Filter Gallery with a pixel layer selected. The effect is applied to that layer, so duplicate it first with Ctrl+J if you want to keep it.
Download the installer
Download FilterGallery-Setup.pkg. It doesn’t need administrator permissions.
Open it
Click “Continue” and then “Install”. It copies Filter Gallery into Affinity and turns on “Allow "Unknown" plugins to be used”, which Affinity on Mac needs.
Restart Affinity
Select a pixel layer and choose Pixel › Filters › Plugins › Visual.af › Filter Gallery. The effect is applied to that layer, so duplicate it first with ⌘J if you want to keep it.
Frequently asked questions
Does it work on a Mac?
Yes. Download the Mac installer (FilterGallery-Setup.pkg): it works with Affinity 3 on Macs with Apple Silicon or Intel. The installer is signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens without warnings.
Does Windows warn that it isn’t safe?
It can happen. Because Filter Gallery is new, Windows SmartScreen doesn’t know the installer yet and may show “Windows protected your PC”. It is 100% safe: click “More info” and then “Run anyway”.
What if Filter Gallery doesn’t show up in Affinity?
Go to Settings › Photoshop Plugins, turn on “Allow "Unknown" plugins to be used” and restart Affinity. Also select a pixel layer before you open the Plugins menu: the filter only works on a selected pixel layer.
Which version of Affinity do I need?
Affinity 3, on Windows 10 or 11 or on a Mac.
Does it work with text, vectors or groups?
Like every filter in Affinity, it works on pixel layers. To apply an effect to text, vectors or a group, duplicate it and turn the copy into pixels first (rasterize it).
Does it create a new layer?
No. Like every filter in Affinity, the effect is applied to the selected layer. Duplicate it first with Ctrl+J (⌘J on a Mac) if you want to keep the original, or undo with Ctrl+Z (⌘Z).
On how many computers can I use the license?
On three. If you change computers, you can free one up from the window itself with your purchase email.
Does it need the internet?
Only to activate the license and check for updates. The effects are calculated on your computer and your images never leave it. Offline, the license keeps working for 14 days.
How do updates work?
When there’s a new version, the window shows a notice with an “Update” button. Affinity uses the new version the next time it starts.
More effects in Filter Gallery
ASCII
Turns your images into art made of characters, in their original colors or a single ink, with a transparent background.
Dithering
Dithers your images with Bayer matrices or random noise, in the original colors or your own palette.
Ink
Lines of ink that bleed into the paper, with 1 to 3 inks, overprint and misregistration.
Knit
Turns your images into knitted fabric, with V-shaped stitches, relief and a palette of a few colors.
Bricks
Turns your images into a mosaic of building bricks, with flat or studded pieces.
Hologram
Turns your images into a hologram of lines that rise with brightness, with glow and interference.
Topographic
Contour lines over your image, like a topographic map of its brightness.
Flare
Glow, horizontal light streaks and dragged bands over the brightest parts of your image.
Digitalism
A phosphor screen of vertical lines that thicken with brightness, with glow.
Stipple
Your image drawn with loose ink dots, closer together in the shadows.
Woodcut
Your image carved in wood: solid ink, parallel strokes and cross-hatching.
Wireframe
A glowing wire mesh that bends with the brightness of your image.
Paper Texture
Fibers, crumples and folds of paper over your image.
Fluted Glass
Your image seen through ribbed glass.
Halftone Dots
A grid of dots that grow with the shadows, like a printed photo.
Halftone CMYK
Your image printed in four inks, with dots of cyan, magenta, yellow and black.
Lens Distortion
Your image through a lens that bends it, with the colors split at the edges.
Water
Your image under water, with waves and caustic light.