Halftone Effect

Halftone dots, the right way (private, in-browser)

Halftone is the classic printing trick that turns continuous tones into patterns of dots. This tool creates that look from a single photo—fast, high-quality, and fully client-side:

• Dot Spacing (density)
• Dot Size (maximum dot radius)
• Dot & Background colors
• 45° screen for a print-style grid
• Invert luminance (flip what becomes ink)
• Colored dots (sample your image for a comic/pop-art feel)
• Surprise me palettes for instant creative looks

No uploads. No accounts. Your image stays on your device.

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Workflow & usage

1. Add an image Drag & drop, click to select, or paste (Ctrl/⌘ + V). EXIF orientation is respected.

2. Choose your dot style

   • Start with 45° Professional ON (recommended).
   • Set Spacing first (density), then Size (boldness).

3. Pick colors

   • Choose Dot color (ink) and Background color (paper).
   • Toggle Colored Dots if you want dots to carry the image’s colors.

4. Optional tweaks

   • Invert Luminance to flip ink mapping.
   • Hit Surprise me for curated palettes + settings.

5. Download Export at full resolution in the same format as the original file.

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What is halftone?

Halftone is a technique used in print (newspapers, comics, screen printing) to represent shading using dots. Darker areas get larger/more dominant dots; lighter areas get smaller dots (or none).

Why dots?

Printing presses (especially historically) couldn’t reproduce smooth gradients easily. Halftone converts gradients into a dot pattern that your eye blends into “continuous tone” from a distance.

Halftone vs dithering

• Halftone: usually round dots on a regular grid; looks like print/comics.
• Dithering: spreads error across pixels; more “pixel art / retro computer” look.

If you want a classic magazine/comic texture, halftone is the one.

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Where halftone is used

Comic & illustration looks

• superhero-style portraits
• manga/comic shading texture
• posterized pop-art vibes

Print & merch design

• screen printing / risograph-inspired textures
• t-shirt graphics and sticker designs
• “ink on paper” aesthetics with custom paper colors

Branding & social content

• consistent halftone thumbnails
• album covers and event flyers
• bold monochrome themes

UI / product visuals

• background textures with controlled density
• subtle dot patterns for hero sections

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Controls explained (practical + deep)

Dot Spacing (density)

Spacing is how far apart the dot centers are.

• Lower spacing → more dots → denser, more detailed, more “ink”
• Higher spacing → fewer dots → chunkier, more stylized

Rule of thumb:

• portraits: 8–16
• pop-art posters: 14–24
• abstract / chunky: 20–40

Dot Size (maximum radius)

Dot Size controls how big dots are allowed to get at the darkest areas.

• Small size → delicate print texture
• Large size → bold, graphic look

Tip: keep Size roughly 0.6× to 1.2× Spacing for a balanced pattern.

Dot color (ink) and background color (paper)

These define your “ink on paper” look.

• classic newspaper: dark ink + off-white paper
• blueprint style: cyan paper + dark navy ink
• risograph vibe: warm paper + deep ink

45° Professional

Rotates the dot grid by 45° (classic halftone screening).

Why it looks better:

• reduces obvious “square grid” feel
• closer to traditional print screens
• often looks more natural on faces and gradients

Colored Dots

When ON, each dot color is sampled from your image (instead of a single ink color).

Use it for:

• pop-art
• vibrant comic looks
• halftone photos that keep color identity

Use single-color dots for:

• newspaper / classic print
• clean branding assets
• consistent monochrome designs

Invert Luminance

Flips the mapping of brightness to dot size.

• normal: dark areas → big dots
• inverted: light areas → big dots

This is great for:

• negative-style looks
• bright-on-dark designs
• mask-like compositions

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Quick presets (copy these settings)

Classic newspaper (mono)

• 45° Professional: ON
• Colored Dots: OFF
• Dot color: #111827 (dark ink)
• Background: #ffffff or #f7f3e8 (paper)
• Spacing: 10–16
• Dot size: 8–14

Comic pop-art (color)

• 45° Professional: ON
• Colored Dots: ON
• Background: bright pastel (try Surprise me)
• Spacing: 12–22
• Dot size: 10–18

Bold poster (chunky)

• 45° Professional: ON
• Colored Dots: OFF
• Spacing: 18–32
• Dot size: 16–28

Inverted neon on black

• Background: #000000
• Dot color: bright (e.g., #22c55e, #60a5fa, #f472b6)
• Invert Luminance: ON
• Spacing: 10–18
• Dot size: 8–16

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Tips for best results

• Change spacing first, size second. Spacing defines the pattern; size defines how bold it becomes.

• Use 45° for photos. It usually looks better on skin tones and gradients.

• If dots look noisy, increase spacing slightly. Very small spacing can exaggerate texture in already-noisy photos.

• Pick a “paper” color instead of pure white. Off-white backgrounds often feel more authentic.

• Try “Surprise me” then fine-tune. It’s a fast way to discover palettes you wouldn’t have chosen.

• Optimize after export Run results through Image Compressor or Progressive JPEG Converter for production-ready sizes.

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How it works (technical, but readable)

1. Decode locally (browser image decoders + EXIF orientation).
2. Draw the image to a working canvas and read pixels.
3. Build a dot grid across the image (optionally rotated 45°).
4. For each grid cell:
   • sample the underlying pixel color
   • compute luminance (perceived brightness)
   • map luminance to dot radius using a gentle curve (for smoother shading)
   • skip tiny dots for speed/cleanliness
5. Paint circles with anti-aliasing for a crisp look.
6. Export at full resolution in the original file format.

Why there’s a curve (and what it does)

Halftone can feel harsh if dot sizes change too linearly. A curve makes midtones smoother and keeps highlights cleaner.

Preview vs final quality

The preview is rendered at a capped resolution for speed, then scaled to fit the dropzone. Download uses the full original resolution.

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Quality, privacy, and limitations

Privacy-first

Your image never leaves your device.

Notes about transparency

• Transparent pixels don’t generate dots.
• The final image is rendered on your chosen background color (so the output is always visually consistent).

Limitations

This is a single-screen halftone look (one dot layer). Traditional CMYK printing uses multiple screens (different angles per channel). For most web/graphic use, a single high-quality screen is the desired look.

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Troubleshooting

• The pattern looks too busy / gritty Increase Spacing or decrease Dot Size.

• The image loses detail Reduce spacing (denser grid) and/or reduce dot size slightly.

• Dots look too faint Increase dot size, or choose a higher-contrast dot/background pair.

• I want the dots to match the original colors Toggle Colored Dots ON.

• The result looks like a square grid Turn 45° Professional ON.

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Glossary

• Halftone: shading using dot patterns.
• Screen angle: rotation of the dot grid (45° is classic).
• Luminance / luma: perceived brightness computed from RGB.
• Anti-aliasing: smoothing edges to avoid jagged circles.