Mosaic
Pixelates an image by quantizing it to a grid of uniform-color cells.
Category: Effects Menu path: Effects > Mosaic
Ports
| Port | Type | Direction | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
in | imageRgba16f | input | Input image |
out | imageRgba16f | output | Pixelated result |
Parameters
| Param | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
cells | vec2 | (10, 10) | Number of cells in X and Y. Linked by default. Higher values = smaller cells = less pixelation. |
Expose Channels
When enabled (E button on node header), adds input ports that override params via edge connections:
| Port | Type | Overrides |
|---|---|---|
cells_in | vec2 | cells |
How It Works
The shader quantizes each pixel's UV coordinate to the center of its grid cell, then samples the input texture at that quantized position. All pixels within the same cell sample from the same point, producing the characteristic blocky mosaic look. Runs entirely on GPU in a single pass.
The grid spans the composition region, not the internal render canvas. When a layer's overscan grows (for example because a sibling branch in the same graph has larger content bounds), the render canvas enlarges, but Mosaic remaps the comp region back into the canvas so cells always means "cells across the comp." The result is identical regardless of overscan or render quality (Draft/Preview/Full) — cells is the only thing that changes the tiling.
Usage Examples
Basic: Pixelate an image
Connect any image source to Mosaic. Lower cells values (e.g. 20x20) give large blocky pixels, higher values give subtle pixelation.
Creative: Match Random field block size
Use Mosaic to pixelate a source image so its blocks match a Random field's scale. If the Random field uses scale of (50, 50) on a 1920x1080 comp, set Mosaic cells to (1920/50, 1080/50) = (38.4, 21.6).
Tips
- Cells are linked by default (uniform X/Y). Unlink for non-square pixels.
- Minimum 1 cell per axis. Values below 1 are clamped.
- At cells=(1,1) the entire image becomes a single averaged color.
- Place before Transform2D for seamless tiling of pixelated content.