Metaball effect

Everything that matches a tone dissolves into organic blobs that fuse rather than overlap.

Made with the Acid filterWorks in

Metaball effect on a portrait of a man with spiky red hair on a blue background, made with the Acid filter in Filter Archive (Slime preset)

BeforeAfter

Acid picks a colour or tone in your photo and grows blobs wherever it appears. They are metaballs, so neighbours reach across and fuse into one liquid shape instead of stacking. Colour the fill and rim for slime, mercury or spores.

6presets
29settings
3apps

Same effect, different presets.

8 photos, each with its own preset. Try it on yours

Metaball effect on a portrait of a laughing woman with pink curly hair, made with the Acid filter in Filter Archive (Slime preset) — Slime

Metaball effect on a portrait of a woman in a red jacket on a blue background, made with the Acid filter in Filter Archive (Spores preset) — Spores

Metaball effect on a portrait of a woman in white sunglasses with a lollipop, made with the Acid filter in Filter Archive (Slime preset) — Slime

Metaball effect on a wide-angle portrait of a woman looking up at the camera, made with the Acid filter in Filter Archive (Slime preset) — Slime

Metaball effect on a portrait of a woman in headphones holding a CD, made with the Acid filter in Filter Archive (Slime preset) — Slime

Metaball effect on a portrait of a person with goggles looking up, made with the Acid filter in Filter Archive (Slime preset) — Slime

Metaball effect on a portrait of a woman in sunglasses against a blue sky, made with the Acid filter in Filter Archive (Slime preset) — Slime

Use the metaball effect in Photoshop, Affinity or Figma.

One licence covers all three: $9.99 a month or $59.99 once. See pricing

Photoshop

Open Filter Archive from the Plugins menu, pick Acid and press Apply. The result lands on a new layer above your original.

Mac & Windows · Photoshop 2024+

Affinity

Choose Filters, Plugins, Filter Archive on a pixel layer, pick Acid and apply it to that layer.

Mac & Windows · Affinity 3

Figma

Select an image, frame or shape, run Filter Archive and apply Acid as a new layer or in place.

Figma Community

Settings worth touching.

ToleranceMatch: How far from the target colour still counts, so how much of the photo grows blobs.
SizeBlobs: How big each blob is. Past a point, neighbours start reaching each other.
MergeBlobs: Lower it and blobs that were separate fuse into one shape.

Plus 26 more in the panel, all editable after you pick a preset.

Metaball Effect questions.

What is a metaball effect?

A metaball effect uses soft blobs that merge smoothly into each other when they get close, like drops of liquid. On a photo it turns chosen areas into flowing, bubbly shapes.

How do I make a metaball effect in Photoshop?

Open Filter Archive from the Plugins menu and choose Acid. Start from a preset such as Slime or Mercury, adjust the settings while the preview updates, then press Apply. The result goes on a new layer and your original stays untouched.

Can I use it in Affinity or Figma?

Yes. The same Acid filter runs in Affinity 3 on Mac and Windows, from Filters, then Plugins, then Filter Archive on a pixel layer, and in Figma on an image, frame or shape. One licence covers Photoshop, Affinity and Figma.

Which presets come with Acid?

6 presets: Slime, Mercury, Spores, Combed, Chrome Tiles and Knockout. Every setting stays editable after you pick one, and you can save a stack of filters to use again.