Smear effect

Morphology as an art tool: open, close and hat operations on a shaped, angled brush.

Made with the Smudge filterWorks in

Smear effect on a portrait of a man with spiky red hair on a blue background, made with the Smudge filter in Filter Archive (Combed Close preset)

BeforeAfter

Smudge uses a shaped brush to decide what in your picture survives. A line-shaped brush keeps strokes running its way and eats everything else, so photos turn combed, swollen or smeared, and it can turn to follow the picture's own direction.

4presets
12settings
3apps

Same effect, different presets.

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

Smear effect on a portrait of a man in black sunglasses, made with the Smudge filter in Filter Archive (Bottom Hat preset) — Bottom Hat

Smear effect on a portrait of a man in sunglasses on a red background, made with the Smudge filter in Filter Archive (Bottom Hat, Combed preset) — Bottom Hat, Combed

Smear effect on a portrait of a man with silver hair and red sunglasses, made with the Smudge filter in Filter Archive (Swell preset) — Swell

Smear effect on a portrait of a woman with red hair in chrome sunglasses, made with the Smudge filter in Filter Archive (Swell preset) — Swell

Smear effect on a portrait of a woman with silver chains on a grey background, made with the Smudge filter in Filter Archive (Bottom Hat preset) — Bottom Hat

Smear effect on a portrait of a woman in white sunglasses with a lollipop, made with the Smudge filter in Filter Archive (Combed Close preset) — Combed Close

Smear effect on a portrait of a woman in a red jacket on a blue background, made with the Smudge filter in Filter Archive (Bottom Hat, Combed preset) — Bottom Hat, Combed

Use the smear 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 Smudge 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 Smudge and apply it to that layer.

Mac & Windows · Affinity 3

Figma

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

Figma Community

Settings worth touching.

ShapeElement: The shape of the brush. It decides which strokes survive and which get wiped away.
FollowElement: Turns the brush to run with the picture's own direction instead of one angle across the frame.
SettleElement: Softens the picture before the smear, so it settles instead of crawling.

Plus 9 more in the panel, all editable after you pick a preset.

Smear Effect questions.

What is a smear effect?

A smear effect drags and spreads parts of an image like wet paint pushed with a brush or a comb, keeping some shapes and wiping others away.

How do I make a smear effect in Photoshop?

Open Filter Archive from the Plugins menu and choose Smudge. Start from a preset such as Bottom Hat or Bottom Hat, Combed, 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 Smudge 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 Smudge?

4 presets: Bottom Hat, Bottom Hat, Combed, Swell and Combed Close. Every setting stays editable after you pick one, and you can save a stack of filters to use again.

Can I change the colours?

Smudge keeps the colours of the picture you run it on. To recolour the result, stack it with a filter that has its own palette, such as Thermal or Bitmap, in the same panel.