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Halftone

Halftone
Filter

Reproduces the dot-screen look of newspaper, manga, and offset printing, with Grayscale, RGB, and CMYK modes and eight one-click presets.

Halftone converts continuous tones into a pattern of dots, lines, or other spot shapes - the same technique used in newspaper, comic, manga, and offset printing. Eight presets cover the common looks (Manga Screentone, Newspaper B&W, CMYK Print, RGB Color Print, Comic Book, Risograph, Pop Art, Line Screen) and snap to Custom the moment you adjust a knob.

Three modes drive color decomposition: Grayscale runs a single screen with editable paper and ink colors; RGB screens three planes with independent angles; CMYK runs four plates with the US press convention (Cyan 15, Magenta 75, Yellow 0, Black 45) to avoid moire rosette collapse. Five spot shapes (Round, Square, Diamond, Line, Ellipse) and a supersample setting give you the full range from hard-edged retro to smooth modern print.

The screen scales with image height so cell counts stay consistent across resolutions, and a per-shape coverage table keeps midtones at ~50% coverage no matter which shape you pick.

Parameters

Section titled “Parameters”

Pins

ImageImage
InputRequired
MaskMask
InputOptional
ImageImage
Output

Preset

PresetChoice
Default: Manga Screentone Range: Custom / Manga Screentone / Newspaper B&W / CMYK Print / RGB Color Print / Comic Book / Risograph (Blue) / Pop Art (Yellow/Red) / Line Screen

Pre-tuned screen recipe. Manual edits switch back to Custom

Screen

ModeChoice
Default: Grayscale Range: Grayscale / RGB / CMYK

Color decomposition: Grayscale, RGB (3 passes), or CMYK (4 passes)

Cell SizeNumber
Default: 2.5 Range: 2.0–64.0

Screen cell period in pixels, measured relative to a 1080p reference canvas. Scales proportionally with image height so the visual cell count stays constant across resolutions: e.g. 5 px here = 10 px on a 4K image, 2.5 px on 540p.

Smaller = finer grain, larger = chunky dots.

ShapeChoice
Default: Round Range: Round / Square / Diamond / Line / Ellipse

Spot function for the screen cell

Ellipse RatioNumber
Default: 1.00 Range: 0.25–4.00
Ellipse shape only

Axis ratio for the Ellipse spot

Angles

Angle (deg)Number
Default: 22.5 Range: -180.0–180.0
Grayscale mode only

Screen rotation. 45 is the classic look

Red (deg)Number
Default: 15.0 Range: -180.0–180.0
RGB mode only

Red channel screen angle

Green (deg)Number
Default: 75.0 Range: -180.0–180.0
RGB mode only

Green channel screen angle

Blue (deg)Number
Default: 0.0 Range: -180.0–180.0
RGB mode only

Blue channel screen angle

Cyan (deg)Number
Default: 15.0 Range: -180.0–180.0
CMYK mode only

Cyan channel screen angle

Magenta (deg)Number
Default: 75.0 Range: -180.0–180.0
CMYK mode only

Magenta channel screen angle

Yellow (deg)Number
Default: 0.0 Range: -180.0–180.0
CMYK mode only

Yellow channel screen angle

Black (deg)Number
Default: 45.0 Range: -180.0–180.0
CMYK mode only

Black channel screen angle

Tone

ContrastNumber
Default: 1.10 Range: 0.00–2.00

Tone contrast multiplier before screening

GammaNumber
Default: 1.00 Range: 0.25–4.00

Gamma adjustment applied before screening

SupersampleInteger
Default: 2 Range: 1–4

Subpixel samples per cell: 1, 2, or 4 (UI exposes those values only)

InvertToggle
Default: false

Flip dot-growth direction

Color

PaperColor (RGBA)
Default: rgba(255, 255, 255, 255)
Grayscale mode only

Paper color

InkColor (RGBA)
Default: rgba(0, 0, 0, 255)
Grayscale mode only

Ink color

Mask

Mask FromChoice
Default: Luminance
Color image connected to the mask input

How the connected color image is read as a mask. Luminance: the image's brightness. Alpha: the image's transparency. Red / Green / Blue: a single channel

  • LuminanceRead the image's brightness as the mask. The default.
  • AlphaRead the image's transparency as the mask.
  • RedUse the red channel as the mask.
  • GreenUse the green channel as the mask.
  • BlueUse the blue channel as the mask.
Mask FitChoice
Default: Stretch
Mask connected

How the mask is mapped when it doesn't match the image

  • None (native size)Center the mask at its native size, with no resizing. Unmasked regions are unaffected.
  • StretchStretch the mask to exactly match the image dimensions. May distort the mask shape.
  • Fit (letterbox)Scale the mask to fit inside the image, preserving aspect ratio. Letterboxes where needed.
  • Fill (crop)Scale the mask to fill the image, preserving aspect ratio. Crops edges if aspect ratios differ.

Usage Tips

Section titled “Usage Tips”
  • Use Manga Screentone with Line shape for action panels and CMYK Print for a full color comic.
  • Drop the Cell Size to 2-3 px for a fine “magazine print” look; push to 12+ for a chunky pop-art feel.
  • Wire a Mask to apply halftone only to a subject and keep the background continuous-tone.
  • Set Ellipse Ratio above 1 for stretched dots that read as a directional texture.
Section titled “Related Nodes”