DOCS/Effects

Directional Blur

Blur

Smear along one angle instead of in every direction.

Directional Blur streaks the layer along an axis you choose. It is the manual version of Motion Blur: you decide the direction rather than letting movement decide it.

Horizontal and vertical are exact. Diagonal angles are axis-biased rather than perfectly rotated, which is invisible at moderate lengths and starts to show as a slight squareness at very long ones.

What it looks like

Before

Directional Blur

Same artwork either side, so the difference you see is the effect. Built with the same SVG-filter primitives the product uses, but tuned for legibility at this size — treat it as a faithful illustration of the behaviour rather than a pixel-exact capture of the editor.

When to reach for it#

Speed lines and directional energy.
Faking motion on a layer that is not actually moving.
Horizontal smears for a light-leak or anamorphic look.

Parameters#

Angleangle#

Direction of the smear. 0 and 90 are exact; other angles are approximated.

Lengthlength#

How far it smears. Long lengths thin the layer out considerably, since the same pixels are spread over more area.

Directional Blur

When to reach for it#

Parameters#

See also#