CRT
Turns any layer into a tube screen: curvature, RGB phosphors, scanlines and bloom.
Overprint for Affinity
Prints the image in up to three flat inks, one over the other on paper, in the style of a risograph. The effect works out how much of each ink every color needs so that the inks, overprinted like translucent ink, come as close as possible to the image. Each plate gets its own speckled grain, drifts a little out of register and inks unevenly, so the copy has the specks, overlapping colors and shifted edges of a real print.
Filter Gallery
Get this one and 29 more effects in Filter Gallery
Overprint 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 Overprint 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
Fluorescent pink, blue and yellow on natural paper, the typical inks of a stencil duplicator. Where they overlap, they make orange, green and almost black.
Teal Orange
Two inks, teal and orange, on cream paper, with “Ink 3” set to “no color”. Where they overlap, a very dark green appears.
Navy Red
Navy blue and coral red on warm white paper, with a little more density and contrast. Overprinted, they make a dark plum.
Mono
A single black ink on cream paper, with more contrast, coarser grain and no misregistration. The uneven inking leaves the shadows a mottled gray.
Sunset
Fluorescent pink, sunflower yellow and violet on cream, with the plates further out of register. They mix into oranges, warm browns and lavender.
What each control does
They have the same names as in the Filter Gallery window.
- Ink 1
- The first ink. It’s always printed, and its plate stays in place while the others drift around it.
- Ink 2
- The second ink. With “no color”, the print uses one ink fewer.
- Ink 3
- The third ink. With “no color”, it’s left out, as in the two-ink presets.
- Paper
- The paper color, with a subtle fiber texture. The inks are worked out over it, so the lightest parts of the image stay bare paper. With “no color”, only the ink remains, over transparency.
- Density
- How much ink each plate lays down: with less, more paper shows and the colors get paler; with more, the print gets heavier and darker.
- Contrast
- Separates light and dark before splitting the inks: more contrast, cleaner paper in the highlights and fuller ink in the shadows.
- Misregistration
- How far the other plates drift from the first, in thousandths of the longer side of the image. It shows as colored edges where the inks don’t line up. With a single ink it does nothing.
- Grain
- The speckle of the screen. At 0 the inks are smooth, like transparent layers of color; at 1 every tone is built from specks.
- Grain size
- The size of the specks, in thousandths of the longer side of the image.
- Uneven inking
- Large lighter patches and horizontal roller streaks in the ink, plus more visible paper fibers.
- Seed
- Shuffles the grain and the inking patches, and changes the direction and distance the plates drift.
Tips
- Two inksSet “Ink 3” to “no color” for a two-color print: the effect recalculates the mix with the two inks left. A warm ink with a cool one, as in Teal Orange, gives a dark color where they overlap, so the image keeps its shadows.
- Clean or wornFor a cleaner print, lower “Misregistration” and “Uneven inking”. For a worn copy, raise them and try other values of “Seed” until the drift lands where you like it.
Filter Gallery
Take Overprint 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.
Pixel Melt
The colors of your image run in streaks like melted paint.
Liquid Dots
Dots that grow in the tones you choose and merge like drops.
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.