Filter Effects

A library for writing SVG filter effects using the convenience of generators.

Table of Contents

• Why Filter Effects?
  • Compose Effects
  • Reuse Common Patterns
• Examples
  • Simple example
  • More examples
• API Reference
  • Filter
  • Filter.do
  • Filter.done
  • filter#build
  • filter#create
  • filter#print
  • Effects
  • Sources

Why Filter Effects?

Compose Effects

Consider these two filter effects. One of them applies a gooey effect to shapes, the other applies a drop shadow.

<filter id="filter-goo">
  <feGaussianBlur in="SourceGraphic" stdDeviation="7" result="blur" />
  <feColorMatrix in="blur" mode="matrix" result="goo" values="1 0 0 0 0  0 1 0 0 0  0 0 1 0 0  0 0 0 19 -9" />
  <feComposite in="SourceGraphic" in2="goo" />
</filter>

<filter id="filter-shadow">
  <feFlood flood-color="#444" result="fill"/>
  <feComposite in="fill" in2="SourceGraphic" operator="in" result="clip"/>
  <feGaussianBlur stdDeviation="3" in="clip" result="blur"/>
  <feOffset dx="0" dy="5" in="blur" result="offset"/>
  <feBlend in="SourceGraphic" in2="offset" mode="normal"/>
</filter>

In order to apply both effects to the same graphic, you would have to copy both effects into a new filter node. You would also have to replace SourceGraphic in the second effect with the result of the first effect. Lastly, you would have to make sure there were no name collisions between the two effects.

<filter id="filter-goo-then-shadow">
  <feGaussianBlur in="SourceGraphic" stdDeviation="7" result="goo-blur" />
  <feColorMatrix in="goo-blur" mode="matrix" result="goo" values="1 0 0 0 0  0 1 0 0 0  0 0 1 0 0  0 0 0 19 -9" />
  <feComposite in="SourceGraphic" in2="goo" result="goo-result"/>

  <feFlood flood-color="#444" result="fill"/>
  <feComposite in="fill" in2="goo-result" operator="in" result="clip"/>
  <feGaussianBlur stdDeviation="3" in="clip" result="shadow-blur"/>
  <feOffset dx="0" dy="5" in="shadow-blur" result="offset"/>
  <feBlend in="goo-result" in2="offset" mode="normal"/>
</filter>

By using the filter-effects library, you can compose effects without copying and renaming. Here are the same effects rewritten using javascript.

let filterGoo = (source) => Filter.do(function *(){
  let blur   = yield feGaussianBlur({ in: source, stdDeviation: 7 });
  let goo    = yield feColorMatrix({ in: blur, mode: "matrix", values: "1 0 0 0 0  0 1 0 0 0  0 0 1 0 0  0 0 0 19 -9" });
  let result = yield feComposite({ in: source, in2: goo });

  return Filter.done(result);
});
let filterShadow = (source) => Filter.do(function *(){
  let fill   = yield feFlood({ 'flood-color': '#444' });
  let clip   = yield feComposite({ in: fill, in2: source, operator: 'in' });
  let blur   = yield feGaussianBlur({ in: clip, stdDeviation: 3 });
  let offset = yield feOffset({ in: blur, dx: 0, dy: 5 });
  let result = yield feBlend({ in: source, in2: offset, mode: "normal" });

  return Filter.done(result);
});
let compose = (f1, f2) => (source) => Filter.do(function *(){
  let result1 = yield f1(source);
  let result2 = yield f2(result1);

  return Filter.done(result2);
});

let filterGooThenShadow = compose(filterGoo, filterShadow);

Reuse Common Patterns

Many filter effects use common patterns. Using the filter-effects library, you can extract these patterns into reusable functions. For example, here is a helper function that loads an external image and tiles it.

let tiledImage = (path) => Filter.do(function *(){
  let image = yield feImage({"xlink:href": path});
  let tiled = yield feTile({ in: image });
  return Filter.done(tiled);
});

Examples

Simple example

import Filter from 'filter-effects';
import { sourceGraphic, feGaussianBlur, feColorMatrix, feComposite } from 'filter-effects';

let program => Filter.do(function *(){
  let source = yield sourceGraphic();
  let blur   = yield feGaussianBlur({ in: source, stdDeviation: 7 });
  let goo    = yield feColorMatrix({ in: blur, mode: "matrix", values: "1 0 0 0 0  0 1 0 0 0  0 0 1 0 0  0 0 0 19 -9" });
  let result = yield feComposite({ in: source, in2: goo });
  return Filter.done(result);
});

let filter = Filter(program, {id: 'filter-goo' });
filter.print();
//  <filter id="filter-goo">
//  <feGaussianBlur in="SourceGraphic" stdDeviation="7" result="0"/>
//  <feColorMatrix in="0" mode="matrix" values="1 0 0 0 0  0 1 0 0 0  0 0 1 0 0  0 0 0 19 -9" result="1"/>
//  <feComposite in="SourceGraphic" in2="1" result="2"/>
//  </filter>

More examples

You can find more examples in the examples directory.

API Reference

Filter

Filter(program [, attrs])

Make a filter from a filter program. Typically, filter programs will be created using Filter.do. This object can later be added to the document using filter#create, or printed as an XML string using filter#print. You can optionally specify any attributes you want to set on the resulting <filter> SVG node.

Filter.do

Filter.do(generator)

Make a filter program from a generator function. This program can be passed to Filter to create a filter object.

Filter.done

Filter.done(label)

Convert a label to a filter program. Typically, you will use Filter.done to wrap the return value of a generator passed to Filter.do.

filter#build

filter.build()

Create SVG DOM nodes for a filter. Does not append them to the document.

filter#create

filter.create()

Create SVG DOM nodes for a filter and append them to the document. Also wraps the filter nodes in <svg> and <defs> nodes.

filter#print

filter.print()

Write the filter to a string as XML.

Effects

• feBlend(attrs)
• feColorMatrix(attrs)
• feComponentTransfer(attrs)
• feComposite(attrs)
• feConvolveMatrix(attrs)
• feDiffuseLighting(attrs)
• feDisplacementMap(attrs)
• feFlood(attrs)
• feGaussianBlur(attrs)
• feImage(attrs)
• feMerge(attrs)
• feMergeNode(attrs)
• feMorphology(attrs)
• feOffset(attrs)
• feSpecularLighting(attrs)
• feTile(attrs)
• feTurbulence(attrs)

Append a filter effect to the program with the given attributes and return a unique result label for the node.

Sources

• sourceGraphic()
• sourceAlpha()

Return a label for the source graphic or source alpha that can be passed to an effect as in or in2.