Photoshop makes it easy to pixelate with the mosaic filter but it’s boring and overused. Thankfully, there’s an easy trick that lets you pixelate using triangles instead of squares! This tutorial is incredibly easy so give it a try.

Final Results

before
New York City Poster

Step 1

Start by opening any photo you want into Photoshop. You should resize the image to your final output size before you continue. This is the photo that we’ll be using.

image

Step 2

Duplicate your background layer twice.

image

Step 3

Activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd+T or Edit > Free Transform) then set the horizontal skew value to 45º. The horizontal skew setting is located in the options bar when you have your Transform tool activated. Press Enter to apply the transformation.

image

Step 4

Go to Filter > Pixelate > Mosaic. Adjust the cell size setting to anything you like then click OK.

image

Step 5

Next, we’re going to transform it the opposite way. Activate the Free Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd+T or Edit > Free Transform) then set the horizontal skew setting to –45º. Press enter to apply the transformation.

image

Step 6

Set this layers opacity to 50% then select the middle layer. We’re going to be doing the same steps but with transformations done

image

Step 7

With the middle layer selected, activate the Free Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd+T or Edit > Free Transform) then set the horizontal skew to –45º.

image

Step 8

Apply the same mosaic filter again. You can do this quickly by pressing Ctrl/Cmd+F or by going into the filter menu and selecting the first filter in the menu. Photoshop automatically places your last used filter on the top of this menu.

image

Step 9

Use the Free Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd+T or Edit > Free Transform) to transform the layer back to its original shape by setting the horizontal skew value to 45º.

image

Step 10

We’re pretty much done but if you zoom, you can see that the edges don’t really line up. To fix this, press the left or right arrows on your keyboard to nudge the layer until the intersections align.

Before
After

Here’s how the image looks like so far.

image

Final Results

If you’ll be using this as a background, you might want to apply a faded/vintage film effect. We used the Vesper effect from the Instagram Video Photoshop actionsand completed the look with some text using the Abolition font.

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39 responses to “Quick Tip: How to Create a Triangle Pixelation Effect in Photoshop”

  1.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Help me. How can I make the triangles align so I can make this into a Photoshop action?

  2. Jennifer Avatar
    Jennifer

    Thank you

  3. mariah Avatar
    mariah

    I was looking for a perfect mosiac tutorial as I always turn the picture too blurry. This tutorial helped me a lot to understand how it actually works. The tutorial is broken down into several parts which helped me to deeply understand everything. Thanks to you for making such amazing tutorials.

  4. Image Enhacement Avatar
    Image Enhacement

    Thank You for sharing such a nice article. Worth reading it.

  5.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    awesome..

  6. Jogesh debnath Avatar
    Jogesh debnath

    Amazing photoshop tutorial.Thanks for sharing with us.

  7. jogesh debnath Avatar
    jogesh debnath

    Very effective photoshop tutorial.

  8. Ranjeet Vasan Avatar
    Ranjeet Vasan

    You are the best !!!

  9. thomoardya Avatar
    thomoardya

    i like that really

  10. thomoardya Avatar
    thomoardya

    very cool i like that

  11. vaishali Avatar
    vaishali

    great! easy n effective result.

  12. jerome Avatar
    jerome

    Hi .. im apparently using cs3 .. it is possibly to that kind of output on cs3 ..?

  13. Maidul Islam Avatar
    Maidul Islam

    Wonderful tutorial..Thanks for sharing.

  14. nomarP Avatar
    nomarP

    awesome

  15. Axel Avatar
    Axel

    Great, thks for sharing

  16. Anneke Avatar
    Anneke

    Old tutorial but still amazing. Thanks!

  17. Pro_With_Op Avatar
    Pro_With_Op

    If anyone is any smart, they wouldn’t think this is any good, its cheap JUNK with no texture. It isn’t possible for a “professional” to create these scrubby creations.

    Must be a bunch of kids, looking for something to do besides digging holes.

  18. Mouss_A Avatar
    Mouss_A

    Really Impressive !

  19.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Great tutorial, great effect.The look like really befitting & attractive.

  20. Marek Matysiak Avatar
    Marek Matysiak

    Wow… so easy and so nice effect. Thank you!

  21. Anne Avatar
    Anne

    Really great. I’m going to try this tonight.
    But aside from the tutorial, is there a way you can use that Before/After slide affect on other sites? It’s really great. Awesome presentation.

  22. Anir Avatar
    Anir

    Very informative, thanks for sharing, it helps a lot.

  23. DeLtA Avatar
    DeLtA

    Nice Thanks For This neat trick
    can you tell me where to get the pic effect to slide from side to side viewing 2 images in the same frame :D
    & Thanks

  24. Su Hall Avatar
    Su Hall

    I’ve applied this technique to all kinds of images since reading this tutorial! I look for certain colors for a look I want, or whatever. Most are really quite a surprise! Good surprise! Never knew this ‘design’ was so easy! Thank you very much!

    Su

  25. kavin brown Avatar
    kavin brown

    thanks dear for giving a new piece of effect in desiging its is easy and effective. i like your tutorial

  26. Shakil Hossain Avatar
    Shakil Hossain

    Tnx for share..

    1. nitesh Avatar
      nitesh

      Thanks a lot. I hope understand.

  27. Galina Avatar
    Galina

    Thank you. Excellent effect and very simple.

  28. Hasan Avatar
    Hasan

    They look like really wonderful. I have one web page and I want to use this kind of effect for my page pictures. Can somebody look my page for give to me one idea? this is my page. Really I need to take attention from peoples. Please help.

  29. cers_ Avatar
    cers_

    Great results from this tutorial. thnx!

  30. Mitch rubfh Avatar
    Mitch rubfh

    it didn’t work

  31. Sam Avatar
    Sam

    Great tutorial, great effect. Easy to turn into an action as well. Thanks.

    1. Roy Medina III Avatar
      Roy Medina III

      Could you possibly share that action? Would be a huge time saver!

    2. Photoshop Tutorials Editor Avatar
      Photoshop Tutorials Editor

      Sure thing! We just made it into an action and you can find it here: https://www.photoshoptutorials.ws/downloads/photoshop-actions/freebie-pixelate-pixelator/

  32. Damon G Avatar
    Damon G

    wow

  33. colorexpertsbd.com Avatar
    colorexpertsbd.com

    I’ve read your tutorial regarding to create triangle pixelation effect in photoshop and its was really amazing!

  34. vijay Avatar
    vijay

    Really fantastic… thx 4 share

    1.  Avatar
      Anonymous

      Woow amazing tip and so easy! thanks a lot!

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