Halftone Maker
Rebuild a photo as a screen of dots whose size carries the tone: one ink on paper, coloured dots, or four CMYK screens at the trade angles.
or browse filesdrop an image here or paste
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Rebuild a photo as a screen of dots whose size carries the tone: one ink on paper, coloured dots, or four CMYK screens at the trade angles.
or browse filesdrop an image here or paste
Halftone is how print reproduces a photograph with one ink: a screen of dots whose size carries the tone, big where the picture is dark and small where it is light. This halftone maker - call it a halftone editor, creator or filter - does it in the browser, in black and white or as a color halftone. Pick a photo and it is rendered at once as black dots on white paper at the classic 45 degree screen; Dot size sets the screen's pitch, Angle turns the lattice, and Ink scales the dots up or down for a heavier or lighter print. Dots can be circles, squares or lines - the line screen is the engraving look, squares the pop-art one. The dots are drawn analytically from a rotated lattice, so they keep their shape at any angle with smooth edges, and a mid grey prints as exactly half ink. The download is the full-size image with the same screen, and nothing is uploaded.
Ink is the single-colour screen: one ink colour on one paper colour, both free, so black on white is the newspaper and navy on cream is a duotone print. Colour keeps the photo's colours and prints each dot in its own cell's colour on the paper, the comic-book effect. CMYK simulates four-colour process printing: cyan, magenta, yellow and black screens at the trade angles of 15, 75, 0 and 45 degrees, multiplied like transparent inks, which produces the rosette pattern of a printed magazine seen up close. The stage info card lists the screen in use, the cell in pixels with how many dots run across the picture, and the angle of each screen.
Download as PNG to keep every dot edge exactly, or WebP for a smaller file that stays close to the PNG; JPG softens the dots and is offered for a quick share. The pencil next to the file name renames the download, the copy button puts the halftone on the clipboard, and on a phone the share button sends it to another app. A halftone made for screen printing or DTF transfer wants a large Dot size and the Ink mode, downloaded as PNG.
The photo is decoded in your browser, the screen is computed on your own processor pixel by pixel, and the PNG is assembled on the device. Nothing is uploaded, no account is needed and no server keeps a copy.
Dot size is given for a picture 1000 pixels wide and scales with the photo, so the same setting gives the same look on a small and a large image; 8 to 16 is a fine screen, 20 to 40 a bold poster dot. The 45 degree angle is the standard for a single black screen because the eye notices a diagonal pattern least; 0 or 90 degrees gives a deliberately mechanical grid.
Colour dots print each cell in the photo's own colour, one screen. CMYK splits every cell into cyan, magenta, yellow and black amounts and prints four screens at different angles, the way an offset press does; where they overlap the inks multiply, and the angles produce the rosette. Use CMYK for a print-shop look and Colour for a comic or pop-art one.
Yes. Use the Ink screen in black on white, pick a coarse Dot size that your mesh can hold, and download the PNG at full size. Ink lets you compensate for dot gain by printing the dots a little smaller than the tone asks for.
No. The photo stays in your browser from the moment you pick it to the moment you save the halftone. Nothing is transferred, stored or seen by anyone else.