Photocopy Effect

Turns any picture into a rough office copy, with solid toner blacks, speckled grain and paper texture.

Try this effectGet the plugin

Made with Print Scan

Works in
The same photo as a rough photocopy: solid black toner with speckled grain, the eyes and spikes picked out in white, on gray-white paper.
Photo of a person with deep brown skin and black metal spikes covering one side of the face and shoulder, on a pale gray background.

The photocopy effect, also known as a xerox effect, pushes your picture to hard black toner on pale paper. Midtones fall away, edges spread a little and grain speckles the shadows. The look starts in black on off-⁠white. You can change the toner and paper colors, the threshold and how rough the print gets. The photocopy effect comes with Nexus, a plugin for Photoshop, After Effects, Illustrator, Affinity and Figma.

Same effect, different settings

12 photos, each with its own settings. Try it on yours

  • Photocopy Effect on a photo of a human skull
  • Photocopy Effect on a photo of a skater in midair
  • Photocopy Effect on a photo of a marble angel statue
  • Photocopy Effect on a photo of two robots face to face
  • Photocopy Effect on a photo of a camel on a white background
  • Photocopy Effect on a photo of a tiger looking up
  • Photocopy Effect on a photo of a woman with hair clips and silver rings
  • Photocopy Effect on a photo of a liquid chrome splash
  • Photocopy Effect on a photo of a figure standing on a mirrored floor
  • Photocopy Effect on a photo of a runner in a pale green tracksuit
  • Photocopy Effect on a photo of a sculpted helmet on black
  • Photocopy Effect on a photo of a figure in a long green coat

Use Photocopy Effect in your apps

It runs natively in Photoshop, After Effects, Illustrator, Affinity and Figma, with the same settings everywhere.

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

Settings worth touching

Threshold
Sets where the picture tips from paper to toner, so it decides how much of your picture turns solid.
Toner Grain
Sets how much speckle breaks up the solid areas, from clean fills to dusty, worn copies.
Toner
The ink color. It starts near black, and any color works, from blue copier toner to bright red.

Questions, answered

It copies the look of a picture run through an office copier: tones collapse into solid toner and bare paper, with speckle and rough edges. It is also called a xerox effect.

Install Nexus for Photoshop and apply the look as a Smart Filter on a Smart Object. Double-click it later to change Threshold, Toner or Paper without losing the original picture.

Yes. Nexus for Illustrator uses your selection as the source and places the result back as an embedded image. This look outputs pixels only, so you do not get vector paths.

Yes. Toner sets the ink and Paper sets the sheet, so you can print blue on white, black on yellow or anything else. Paper Texture sets how much grain the sheet shows.

Yes. Drop it on any layer as a native effect and keyframe any control on the timeline. Animate Threshold to make the picture break up and re-form across a shot.

Related effects