Pixelate filters and effects


    The commands in the Pixelate submenu in the Filter and Effect menus sharply define a selection by clumping pixels of similar color values.

    Note: The Pixelate effects are raster-based and use the document's raster effects settings whenever you apply the effect to a vector object. (See Specifying raster effects settings.)

    Tip iconIf you apply these commands from the Effect menu, you can use the Appearance palette to modify or remove the effects from your object. (See Modifying and removing appearance attributes.)

    Color Halftone

    Simulates the effect of using an enlarged halftone screen on each channel of the image. For each channel, the filter divides the image into rectangles and replaces each rectangle with a circle. The circle size is proportional to the brightness of the rectangle.

To use the Color Halftone filter:

  1. Do one of the following:
    • To apply the command as a filter, choose Filter > Pixelate > Color Halftone.
    • To apply the command as an effect, choose Effect > Pixelate > Color Halftone.
  2. Enter a value in pixels for the maximum radius of a halftone dot (from 4 to 127).
  3. Enter a screen-angle value (the angle of the dot relative to the true horizontal) for one or more channels:
    • For Grayscale images, use only channel 1.
    • For RGB images, use channels 1, 2, and 3, which correspond to the red, green, and blue channels.
    • For CMYK images, use all four channels, which correspond to the cyan, magenta, yellow, and black channels.
    • Click Defaults to return all the screen angles to their default values.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Crystallize

    Clumps colors into polygon shapes.

    Mezzotint

    Converts an image to a random pattern of black-and-white areas, or of fully saturated colors in a color image. To use the filter, choose a dot pattern from the Type pop-up menu in the Mezzotint dialog box.

    Pointillize

    Breaks up the color in an image into randomly placed dots, as in a pointillist painting, and uses the background color as a canvas area between the dots.