visual.af
CRT for Affinity
Turns any layer into a tube screen: curvature, RGB phosphors, scanlines and bloom.
Dithering for Affinity
The dot patterns of old screens and printers, on any layer: Bayer matrices or random noise, 1 to 7 color steps, in the original colors or an ink, highlight and background palette.
Free, with your Visual.af account.Your Visual.af account takes two clicks with Google.
Already have the Visual.af category? Download the .afscript and import it from that category’s ≡ menu.
BeforeAfter
4 presets to start from
Pick one in the dialog and tweak from there. Every control can still be adjusted.
Default
Two-step Bayer 8×8: mint green on midnight blue, with a lime highlight.
Noise
Single-step random noise, like a grainy photocopy.
Retro
Bayer 2×2 in the original colors with 3 px pixels: old console vibes.
Natural
Five-step Bayer 8×8 in the original colors: a fine pattern you barely notice.
Detail zoomed to 200%: each preset applied to the same illustration.
Every control, explained
The same names you see in the script’s dialog.
- Algorithm
- The pattern: random noise or a 2×2, 4×4 or 8×8 Bayer matrix, which gives ordered patterns.
- Pixel size px
- The size of each dither pixel, in document pixels.
- Color steps
- How many light levels there are between background and ink: 1 to 7.
- Original colors
- Dithers each area in its own color instead of using the palette.
- Invert luminance
- Inverts the luminance: light areas are dithered as dark and vice versa.
- Ink
- The dither color when you’re not using the original colors.
- Highlight
- The color of the brightest areas.
- Background
- The background color. With “no color”, it stays transparent.
Tips
- Pixel sizeOn large photos, raise the pixel size so the pattern still shows when the image is scaled down or posted online.
- A single inkWith one color step and the background set to “no color”, the pattern becomes a single ink on transparency, great for screen printing or risograph.
- 8-bit colorTurn on “Original colors” and try 2 to 5 steps for a color dither straight out of old video games.
Install
Ready in a minute
Scripts are imported once into Affinity’s library and stay there for good, one click away.
Download the script
Pick the dialog language, sign in with your account and download the .afscripts file.
Import it into Affinity
Open Window › Scripting › Scripts Library. In the panel’s ▾ menu, choose Import Scripts… and select the file.
Select a layer and run it
Click the script inside the Visual.af category. The first time, Affinity asks you to confirm that you trust it.
Adding a second effect?
To keep it in the same category, download the .afscript and import it from the Visual.af category’s ≡ menu with Import Script…. If you import another .afscripts, Affinity creates “Visual.af 2”: drag the script into the first one and delete the second.
Requirements
Affinity 3.3 or later, on Windows or macOS. The scripts don’t use the internet or touch your files: everything happens inside Affinity.
Frequently asked questions
What is dithering?
A technique for showing many tones with few colors: instead of gradients, it uses dot patterns whose density mimics each tone. It’s the look of old screens and printers.
What’s the difference between Bayer and random?
Bayer arranges the dots with a fixed matrix and gives regular, grid-like patterns. Random scatters them with noise for a more organic grain.
Does it work with text, vectors or groups?
Yes. The script takes the selected layer exactly as it looks, whether it’s a photo, a pixel layer, a group, text or a whole artboard.
How fast is it?
On social media sized images each change takes about a tenth of a second. On 24 megapixel photos, one to two seconds depending on the algorithm.
More scripts
ASCII for Affinity
Turns your images into art made of characters, in their original colors or a single ink, with a transparent background.
Ink Bleed for Affinity
Lines of ink that bleed into the paper, with 1 to 3 inks, overprint and misregistration.