What it looks like
It looks like an old newspaper photo or a comic book seen up close: the image is made of cyan, magenta, yellow and navy dots on near-white paper, each dot larger where the ink is heavier. In Bayer mode it becomes a two-color dither that feels like an early computer screen; in line mode, a pattern of slanted strokes. A round loupe with a white rim and a soft shadow shows the original photo, slightly magnified, wherever the cursor is. Without a cursor, the loupe slowly wanders across the image on its own.
You may be looking for this if you asked for something like
- a photo with that old newspaper dot effect
- an image that looks like it came off a printing press
- a comic book effect on the photo for my website
- a magnifier that shows the original photo when I hover
- give my photography portfolio a printed, editorial look
- a pop art dotted photo for the brand page
Also known as
- halftone
- halftone effect
- CMYK halftone
- dithering
- Bayer dither
- line screen
- newsprint effect
- pop art dots
When to use
- Editorial pages, digital magazines and long-form stories
- Portfolios for photographers, print shops or design studios
- A brand page whose identity draws on print
- Graphic design case studies that reveal the photo under the pattern
When to avoid
- Product photos where people need to judge color and detail accurately
- Images from another domain without CORS enabled, which will not load as textures
How to ask your AI
Create a WebGL halftone effect on the main editorial photo: a CMYK dot screen with ink and paper in my brand colors, plus a loupe that reveals the original photo under the cursor. I want the loupe to stay still for reduced motion, proper alt text and rendering paused off screen.
With THM Componentes, you paste the full prompt from the catalog, which already includes this component's source code, and the AI reproduces this exact effect instead of improvising.
Questions about Halftone
Which screen styles does Halftone offer?
Halftone has three modes: CMYK dots at four angles, like color printing; two-color Bayer dithering with an early-computer feel; and slanted lines. Cell size, ink color and paper color are props, and you can turn the loupe off to show only the pattern.
Does Halftone work on phones?
It works in browsers with WebGL. Since phones have no cursor, the Halftone loupe wanders across the photo on its own, which keeps the effect alive without any gesture. As it is rated Medium in THM Componentes, follow the prompt: load it on demand, provide a static fallback in Nuxt and compare LCP and INP.
Does Halftone respect reduced motion settings?
Yes. With reduced motion turned on, the Halftone loupe stops wandering and stays in one spot, following the cursor without smoothing. The pattern itself is static, so the photo stays readable. The component also stops drawing when it leaves the screen.
