CRT
Turns any layer into a tube screen: curvature, RGB phosphors, scanlines and bloom.
Bricks for Affinity
Turns any layer into a mosaic of building bricks. Every cell holds a beveled piece with its stud, or a flat one like a tile, on a baseplate with its grid.
Filter Gallery
Get this one and 19 more effects in Filter Gallery
Bricks is part of Filter Gallery, a plugin with 20 effects in one window inside Affinity. It’s a free download with CRT, ASCII, Dithering and Beads, and a USD $9 license unlocks Bricks and the rest.
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 pieces across and sixteen colors, with some flat pieces mixed in.
Studs
Every piece with its stud, bigger and with more relief.
Tiles
Every piece flat, like a tile mosaic.
Baseplate
Removes the two most common edge colors and shows a green baseplate.
What each control does
They have the same names as in the Filter Gallery window.
- Bricks across
- How many pieces fit across the layer. The height adjusts on its own.
- Colors
- How many brick colors the mosaic uses, chosen from your image.
- Relief
- The depth of the bevel, the stud and its shadow.
- Flat tiles
- How many pieces are flat, without a stud. At zero every piece has one; at one, none does.
- Remove background
- Removes the pieces in the most common colors along the image edge, from 0 to 3 colors, and shows the baseplate.
- Baseplate
- The baseplate color. With “no color”, whatever is removed becomes transparent.
- 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
- No backgroundRaise “Remove background” to 1 or 2 and set the baseplate to “no color”: only the figure remains, cut out in bricks.
- Pixel artWith as many pieces across as your drawing has pixels, every pixel turns into one piece.
- Mixed piecesWith 0.2 to 0.4 flat tiles, the mosaic looks more natural, as if built by hand.
Filter Gallery
Take Bricks 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.
Beads
Build hama bead designs from your images: beads with volume, an adjustable hole and a colored pegboard.
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.
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.