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Wave Lines Effect

Turns any picture into horizontal lines that ripple with brightness, thinning to dots in shadow and merging into solid light.

The same portrait redrawn as glowing green horizontal lines that bend into wavy contours, forming the head, sunglasses and collar in relief.
Studio portrait of a man in profile with bleached curly hair, white wraparound sunglasses with green lenses and a black leather high-neck jacket.
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Made with Line Scan

Works in

The wave lines effect redraws your image as horizontal scanlines displaced by brightness, so shapes rise out of the lines as wavy contours. Shadows break into sparse dots and highlights fuse into solid bands, with a soft bloom on top. You can change line color, spacing, width, displacement, glow and add glitch modes.

Same effect, different settings

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

  • Wave Lines Effect on a photo of a man in a white shirt
  • Wave Lines Effect on a photo of a woman with a black bob and red earrings
  • Wave Lines Effect on a photo of a woman in white cat-eye sunglasses
  • Wave Lines Effect on a photo of a man with a buzz cut
  • Wave Lines Effect on a photo of a young man in black
  • Wave Lines Effect on a photo of a purple aster
  • Wave Lines Effect on a photo of a woman with a red bob
  • Wave Lines Effect on a photo of a man in a suit under yellow light
  • Wave Lines Effect on a photo of a woman in an orange turtleneck
  • Wave Lines Effect on a photo of a man with pink hair and black sunglasses
  • Wave Lines Effect on a photo of a woman in black sunglasses
  • Wave Lines Effect on a photo of a black horse

Use Wave Lines 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

Line Spacing
Sets the gap between scanlines. Low values give fine, dense detail. High values give fewer, bolder lines and a more graphic result.
Displacement
Controls how far bright areas push the lines up. Raise it for deep, rolling waves, lower it for nearly straight lines.
Error Mode
Adds a glitch over the lines: Chroma Shift, Block Glitch, Scanline Tear or RGB Split. Error Strength sets how heavy it gets.

Frequently asked questions

How do I add wave lines in After Effects?

Drop Nexus on any layer as a native effect, tune the controls, and keyframe any of them, such as Displacement or Line Spacing, to make the lines move over time.

Can I make the wave line effect in Illustrator as vectors?

No. This look outputs pixels only. In Illustrator you use a selection as the source and the result comes back as an embedded image, not as editable vector paths.

How do I make a wavy lines effect in Photoshop?

Convert your layer to a Smart Object and apply the look as a Smart Filter. Double-⁠click the filter any time to change the settings, or render the result as a new layer.

Can I change the colors of the horizontal lines effect?

Yes. The look starts with bright green lines on a green ground. Line Color, Background Color and Band Accent Color each take any color, and Invert flips which tones become lines.

Can I try the wave lines 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.

Related effects

Try Wave Lines Effect in your browser

Free to try. Exporting needs a free account.

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