CRT
Turns any layer into a tube screen: curvature, RGB phosphors, scanlines and bloom.
Pixel Melt for Affinity
Sorts the pixels of the image along parallel lines, so the colors run in streaks like melted paint. You choose which parts melt (by brightness, between edges or the whole line), what the colors are sorted by and which way they run, and the drip stretches each streak past its end. The thresholds adapt to each image, dark or light.
Filter Gallery
Get this one and 29 more effects in Filter Gallery
Pixel Melt is part of Filter Gallery, a plugin with 30 effects in one window inside Affinity. It’s a free download with CRT, ASCII, Dithering, Beads, Knit and Bricks, and a USD $12 license unlocks Pixel Melt and the rest.
Also for Windows · 2.4 MBAlso for Mac · 2.6 MB
See all 30 effects
BeforeAfter
5 presets to start with
Pick one in the Filter Gallery window and adjust it from there. Every control can still be changed.
Default
The lighter half of the image melts downward in thin streaks and drips over the darker parts.
Horizontal glitch
Thick streaks of the midtones dragged to the left, like a digital glitch. The highlights and the darkest shadows keep their place.
Diagonal
The light parts run diagonally up and to the right, with longer drips.
Edges
Both light and dark parts rise between the edges of the image, like flames. The strongest contours cut the streaks, so the shapes stay recognizable.
Long drips
The lighter half falls in long drips, sorted by hue: the streaks split into bands of color.
What each control does
They have the same names as in the Filter Gallery window.
- Spans
- Which parts of each line get sorted: those within a brightness range, the stretches between edges, or the whole line.
- Brightness from
- The darkest tone that melts, relative to the image: 0 is its darkest tone and 1 its lightest. Only with “By brightness”.
- Brightness to
- The lightest tone that melts. If “Brightness from” is higher, the extremes melt and the midtones stay put.
- Edge threshold
- With “Between edges”, which contours cut the streaks. Higher values leave only the strongest ones, so the streaks get longer.
- Sort by
- What the colors are sorted by. Brightness gives a gradient from dark to light, hue groups them into bands of color, each with its own gradient, and saturation goes from gray to the most intense colors.
- Reverse order
- Flips the order inside each streak: with “Brightness”, the colors go from light to dark.
- Angle
- Where the colors run: 0° to the right, 90° down, 180° to the left and 270° up. Values in between give diagonal streaks.
- Length
- The maximum length of each streak, in thousandths of the longer side of the image.
- Variation
- How much the length changes from one streak to the next. At 0 the cuts are evenly spaced.
- Thickness
- How wide the streaks are, in thousandths of the longer side of the image. Thick streaks form wide bands, as in a digital glitch.
- Drip
- Stretches each streak past its end, fading at the tip, like dripping paint. Each streak drips a different length; at 0 the colors stay where they were sorted.
- Seed
- Another random layout of the cuts and drips, with the same settings.
Tips
- Only the skyTo melt only the lightest parts, like a sky, raise “Brightness from” to 0.8: only the lightest fifth of the image melts.
- CutoutsApply it to a cut-out subject with “Spans” set to “Whole line”: the colors melt inside the silhouette, and the transparent areas stay transparent.
Filter Gallery
Take Pixel Melt and 29 more effects to your Affinity
Filter Gallery is a plugin with the 30 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.
- 30 effects with their presets
- Zoomable preview and comparison slider
- 6 free effects to start with
- One payment of USD $12, 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.
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.
Shape Grid
Your image as a grid of dots, crosses, rings and squares picked by its tone.
Liquid Dots
Dots that grow in the tones you choose and merge like drops.
Overprint
Your image printed in up to three overprinted inks, with grain and misregistration, like a riso print.
Gold Foil
Your image embossed in gold, silver or copper, or stamped in foil on paper.
Sunprint
Your image as a cyanotype: Prussian blue on watercolor paper, with a brushed border.
Thermal
Your image as a thermal camera would see it, in six heat palettes.
Blob Tracking
Boxes, numbers, coordinates and lines over the spots in your image, like a tracking system.
Aberration
Your image stretched out from a sharp center, with rainbow fringes toward the edges.
Bloom
A deep glow around the highlights of your image, intense up close and soft in the distance.
Ink
Lines of ink that bleed into the paper, with 1 to 3 inks, overprint and misregistration.
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, a streak that drags the lights and fine stars on 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.