Choose RGB Split for colored fringes around existing edges. Choose Block Displacement when you want rectangular patches to interrupt the image’s structure. They can work together, but changing color and changing alignment solve different visual problems.

The examples below use the same source at the same dimensions. This makes the treatment easier to compare than two unrelated photographs.

Use the same source for both trials

Download the comparison source PNG

(1200 × 1200). Its pale, lime, coral, and lavender diagonal bands give each effect a different edge to reveal.

An untreated geometric composition of interlocking diagonal lime, coral, lavender, and cream bands on deep plum, crossed by fine horizontal rules.
Control — the untreated source used for every result below.

For each trial, load the source into a fresh demo, turn the effect’s Animate switch off, and keep playback paused at time 0. Keep the source framing and size unchanged.

RGB Split: colored edge tension

Open RGB Split and set Amount to 0.015. The diagonal bands gain colored edges while their overall placement remains recognizable. Look at the pale shape against the dark ground: the separation is easier to see at that boundary than inside a flat region.

The original graphic with red and blue fringes around the fine rules, bands, and fine horizontal lines.
RGB Split alone — Amount 0.015.

Artfkt’s RGB Split shifts red and blue horizontally and keeps green aligned. It has no separate vertical offset or independent per-channel position controls. Read the RGB Split guide for its current range and default.

Block Displacement: broken alignment

Open Block Displacement on the original source, not the RGB export. Set Displacement 4.50%, Coverage 0.25, Block size 7.00%, Seed 37, and Mix 100%.

The original graphic interrupted by shifted rectangular patches without added color fringes.

Block Displacement alone — the same patch settings used in the cover-art guide.

The diagonal shapes and fine rules now have small interruptions where patches sample a shifted part of the image. Their original colors remain recognizable. This differs from Macroblock, which flattens detail into block colors. See the Block Displacement guide for its limitations.

Combine them deliberately

Start again with RGB Split at Amount 0.015, then add Block Displacement using the settings above. Turn Animate off on both effects. The second effect now displaces patches of the already color-separated image.

Colored fringes and displaced rectangular patches together on the AFTER IMAGE graphic.

Combination — RGB Split first, Block Displacement second, with both Animate switches off.

Compare the pale band across the three results: RGB Split adds fringes, Block Displacement breaks its boundary into patches, and the combination does both. If the result is too busy, lower Coverage before increasing either effect’s strength. Keep Seed fixed while making that comparison.

Use the poster tutorial to combine colored edges with horizontal slices, or the cover-art workflow to follow displacement with noise. All these studies work on one image layer in the free demo; Artfkt for Mac and Windows adds saved projects and the full collection library.

How this comparison was made

The source is an original geometric SVG composed for this comparison, with no external image or font assets. Artfkt’s production engine rendered the treatments on WebGPU with animation off and time zero. Settings describe these examples, not permanent defaults; rendering can vary by device.

About this study: the source is an original geometric composition drawn for this comparison. The three treatments were rendered with Artfkt’s production engine at 1200 × 1200, time zero, animation off. No source from another article is used.