February 2025
Pixel Repeat – After Effects Tool
Pixel Repeat is an After Effects plugin that creates looping patterns.
Perfect for glitch art, stylized repetitions, streaks and other cool visuals.
See it in action:
Download
An example project file is included with the plugin.
How To Use
Pixel Repeat is a directional distortion effect, similar to Pixel Sorting. Pixels are looped to create repetitions, and it can output dynamic 2D shadows.
(If you’re using Nuke, see my PixelRepeat and PixelSort gizmos here.)
Tutorial:
The effect travels directionally through the image.
- A new streak starts when Channel exceeds Threshold
- Repeat Length sets the width of one loop
- Mirror makes it ping-pong back and forth
- Transparent renders only pixels exceeding Threshold
- Override When Brighter re-starts streaks when a greater Channel value is found (for an extra glitchy look)
- Show can be set to Final Result, Effect Only, or Visualization
Use Show>Effect Only to customize the effect – like adding glows and using blending mode Add.
Channel can be set to RGB, Luminance, or Luminance*Saturation.
To use a custom channel, change the Matte Layer input.
Apply masks and effects to your custom Matte Layer input!
For example, a Gaussian Blur will smooth the streaks.
Use Show>Visualization to get these dynamic gradients (enable Mirror for the zebra effect).
Set Repeat Length to 1 to create solid lines.
Pro tip: combine with a Bevel Alpha effect on the matte layer to pick the shape’s outer color!
A note on Motion Graphics: Pixel Repeating is inherently a pixel operation. While the effect works just as well on Texts and Shapes (and can look really cool there), it may not always be ideal for vector layers as it intrinsically creates jagged edges. Make sure this fits your project’s needs!
Questions, Feedback, Ideas
If you have any questions or feedback, let me know!