Paper grain
A subtle procedural surface applied across the desktop.
01 — THE SURFACE
A little texture goes a long way.
Modern displays are perfectly uniform, bright and glossy. GrainLayer adds a faint procedural grain over the desktop to give that surface a more tactile, paper-like character.
The effect is deliberately subtle. Adjust the intensity until you find the amount of texture that feels right for your screen.
SEE THE DIFFERENCE
02 — NOT AN AMBER FILTER
Change the surface,
not the picture.
Night Light and blue-light filters change your display's color temperature. GrainLayer takes a different approach: it overlays a textured surface.
COLORNo tint in the default mode.
GRAINActual spatial texture, not a flat color wash.
03 — FEATURES
Click-through
The overlay stays out of the way of your normal mouse interaction.
Live intensity
Adjust the effect directly from the system-tray menu.
Presets
Paper-style and warm/tinted presets for different moods.
Keyboard control
F6 toggles the overlay; F7 and F8 adjust intensity.
Persistent settings
Your overlay state, intensity and tint are remembered automatically.
04 — PICK YOUR SURFACE
Paper, grain and a few colors.
Choose a paper-style preset or add a little warmth and color from the tray menu.
Soft Wave
Rice Paper
Laid Cotton
Newsprint
Cold Press
Artist Canvas
Felt Side
Frost Glassine
Foxed Amber
Bookcloth
Recycled Kraft
Plum Kozo
Rose Quartz
Sage Press
Nordic Sky
05 — UNDER THE HOOD
Small program.
Proper Win32.
01
Layered window
A transparent click-through Win32 window sits above the desktop.
02
Per-pixel alpha
The surface is rendered into a 32-bit DIB with alpha-aware compositing.
03
Procedural grain
The paper effect is generated rather than relying on a photographic texture.
04
System tray
Configuration stays in the tray, leaving the desktop itself unobstructed.
06 — OUT OF THE WAY
One tiny menu.
Everything you need.
Toggle the overlay, change intensity, choose a preset, enable Windows startup or exit — all from the system tray.
F6 toggle F7 decrease F8 increase
GRAINLAYER FOR WINDOWS
A paper surface for your desktop.
Free, open source, native x64 Windows software.
MIT licensed · Windows 10+ · x64