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Circuit Board Effect

Builds a network of glowing circuit traces, pads and components from the shapes and brightness in your picture.

The same aster under a dense web of glowing purple circuit traces running straight and diagonal, with small pads and dots, over the black background.
A lilac aster with a pink center, two closed buds and dark green leaves on a thin stem, lit against a plain black background.
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Made with Circuit

Works in

Also a standalone Photoshop plugin: Node + Circuit Machine

The circuit board effect reads your picture through a brightness threshold and grows a circuit from it: traces, solder pads and small components, output as vector shapes. The look starts with diagonal traces in rings, a purple gradient and a soft glow. You can change the routing, trace count, colors, glow and seed.

Made with this effect

The same look on 12 different photos. Try it on yours

  • Circuit Board Effect on a photo of a man in a suit under yellow light
  • Circuit Board Effect on a photo of a man with slicked blond hair and sunglasses
  • Circuit Board Effect on a photo of a man in a white shirt
  • Circuit Board Effect on a photo of a black horse
  • Circuit Board Effect on a photo of a man in white sunglasses
  • Circuit Board Effect on a photo of a woman in blue glasses
  • Circuit Board Effect on a photo of a young man in black
  • Circuit Board Effect on a photo of a man with a buzz cut
  • Circuit Board Effect on a photo of a man with pink hair and black sunglasses
  • Circuit Board Effect on a photo of a woman with a red bob
  • Circuit Board Effect on a photo of two pears on linen
  • Circuit Board Effect on a photo of a woman with a black bob and red earrings

Use Circuit Board Effect in Photoshop, After Effects, Illustrator, Affinity or Figma

The plugins are free with an account. Paid plans add bigger renders and your own filters. See pricing

Settings worth touching

Routing
Sets how traces travel: free, strict with no crossings, directional, following flow, or in rings. Traces (rings) gives nested looping paths.
Threshold
Decides which parts of your picture carry the circuit. Pair it with Mask Source and Invert to move traces into dark or bright areas.
Color Mode
Colors traces with one fixed color, colors sampled from your picture, or a gradient mapped to brightness, position, trace length or flow.

Frequently asked questions

How do I make a circuit board animation in After Effects?

Apply Nexus to a layer as a native effect, then keyframe controls such as Traces, Loops, Glow Strength or Seed on the timeline so the circuit changes over time.

How do I add the circuit board effect in Photoshop?

Nexus for Photoshop renders it as a new layer or a live Smart Filter, and is free with a Nexus account. If you only want this engine, Node + Circuit Machine from Synkit is a standalone Photoshop plugin.

Can I use it as a circuit board background?

Yes. The output is vector shapes, so the web editor exports it as SVG on the Creator plan, and Illustrator and Figma bring it in as native vector paths you can scale and edit.

Can I try the circuit board effect for free?

Yes. Open the look in the Nexus web editor and try it on your own image without an account. Exporting needs a free account, which exports images up to 720px and video up to 720px with the Nexus mark.

How do I get a different circuit layout?

Change the Seed. It gives a new arrangement of components and traces while your other settings stay the same, so you can try layouts until one sits well with your picture.

Related effects

Try Circuit Board Effect in your browser

Free to try. Exporting needs a free account.

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