---
title: "Film grain"
package: "@phaser-ae/post-grain"
tier: Pro
version: 3.0.0-3
released: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-20
description: "Still, filmic grain over the whole frame, strongest in the mid-tones and replaced whole at a film-like rate, for noir, horror and found-footage looks."
url: https://phaser.io/packs/post-grain
site: Phaser - https://phaser.io
---

# Film grain

Photographic grain over the whole frame, strongest in the mid-tones and gone in pure white, as on a film print. The
pattern holds still and is replaced whole, like the frames of a film, so it reads as the texture of the picture
rather than as noise crawling over it.

## What it does

`grain` is an effect for the `post` chain. It draws soft clumps of noise a pixel or two across, as strong between
the points of its lattice as on them, so no grid shows. The pattern changes `speed` times a second on the game's
clock: 24 is film, 12 is calmer, and 0 holds one pattern still. It freezes when the game is paused, and slows in slow
motion.

A response curve keeps the grain in the mid-tones, about a third as strong in black and none in pure white, and a
`colored` dial runs from black-and-white stock to independent grain in each channel. The grain is built from integer
hashes, so WebGPU and WebGL2 draw exactly the same pattern, and it reads no extra textures.

## Features

- **Amount** — 0.02 is barely there, 0.04 a 35 mm print, 0.08 heavy 16 mm, and 0.15 and up an old newsreel.
- **Size** — the clump size in display pixels, the same at every pixel ratio.
- **Speed** — new patterns a second, from still to fizzing.
- **Colour** — `colored` mixes mono and chroma grain.
- **Response** — how closely the grain follows the picture's brightness, from filmic to flat.
- **Cheap** — one pass with no extra texture reads.

## Good for

- **Noir** — heavier grain on a black-and-white grade.
- **Horror and found footage** — coarse, colourful grain at a faster rate.
- **War and period pieces, and flashbacks** — the picture of an older film stock.
- **Title screens** — a quiet grain that makes a screen feel shot rather than drawn.
- **Smooth dark gradients** — fog, skies and vignettes, where grain hides banding.

## Make it yours

Every param is live. Noir takes `{ amount: 0.06, size: 1.6 }` after a black-and-white grade; found footage takes
`{ amount: 0.1, size: 2, colored: 0.6, speed: 30 }`; a quiet title screen takes `{ amount: 0.025, speed: 12 }`. A
flashback can raise `amount` while it lasts, and `speed: 0` freezes the pattern.

## A quick look

```ts
const grain = game.post.add('grain', { amount: 0.04, size: 1.5 });
grain.set('amount', 0.1);      // live: heavier grain for a flashback
grain.set('speed', 0);         // freeze the pattern
```

## Works with

- `post` — required; the chain that runs it.
- `post-grade` — before the grain, so the grain sits on the graded picture.
- `post-looks` — its vignette after the grain, so the corners darken the grain with everything else.

## Good to know

- Leave it off crisp pixel art and text-heavy screens, where it muddies the pixels.
- It adds to the colour and clamps, so heavy grain lifts black and lowers white a little.
- The pattern follows the screen, not the world, so it does not move with the camera, as grain on a lens would not.

---

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