AKVIS Explosion: Break a Photo Into Flying Particles, Sand and Dust
AKVIS Explosion is a Windows, macOS and Linux program that makes part of a photo burst into a cloud of particles or blow away as sand and dust, for designers and hobbyists who want that effect without hours of hand masking in Photoshop. The Home license costs $29 once, and the full-featured Home Deluxe is $39.
You have seen the look on movie posters and album covers: a dancer whose arm dissolves into grains, a leaf that shatters into sparks. Doing it by hand means brushes, layer masks and a lot of patience. Explosion does it as a filter. You paint over the part that should come apart, choose an effect and a preset, and press Run.
Quick facts
- Version: 2.1
- Developer: AKVIS
- Platforms: Windows 7-11 (32/64-bit), macOS 10.12 to macOS 27 (64-bit, Intel and M1), Linux 64-bit (standalone only)
- Editions: standalone app, or a plugin for AliveColors, Adobe Photoshop, Corel PaintShop Pro and other editors
- Effects: Particles and Sand
- Price: $29 Home (plugin or standalone), $39 Home Deluxe, $59 Business, all one-time
- License: never expires, covers 2 computers, which can run different operating systems
- Trial: 10 days, all features, no registration
- What we checked: the license comparison table on the vendor site, the 64-bit Windows installer on the download server (71 MB, file dated April 15, 2026), and the price of all four licenses on the order page on November 8, 2026. We didn't install the program or run it on our own photos
Before you buy
The $29 Home license gives you one edition, not both. Home Standalone is the separate app only, and Home Plugin works only inside your photo editor. Home Deluxe ($39) and Business ($59) include both.
Both Home licenses also leave out the History Brush, the tool that paints parts of the original photo back over the result. Without it, you fix a stray patch of particles by changing the selection and running the effect again. The effects themselves, presets, formats and color spaces are the same on every license.
Home and Home Deluxe are for personal use only. For client work or anything you sell, you need Business.
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Overview
When AKVIS Explosion starts, it shows thumbnails of its two effects, Particles and Sand. You pick one, then mark the area that should break apart with the Selection Brush, Lasso or Selection Bucket. The Transform tool moves and resizes that selection, and you can save it to a .stroke file to reuse on a similar photo.
The window has two interface modes. Express shows a short list of settings and the full set of ready-made presets, which is enough for most pictures. Advanced opens every slider. Before and After tabs let you compare the result with the original at any time.
AKVIS Explosion 2.0 on Windows in Advanced mode, with the Particles effect and the "planet" preset scattering a leaf into white particles.
Features
Particles: shatter an object into pieces
AKVIS Explosion's Particles effect turns the selected area into a flying cloud of pieces. You set the particle size, how far they fly (100 to 3,000 pixels), how many there are, their rotation, how widely they scatter, and whether they shrink toward the edge. A Step by Step option breaks each selected area apart on its own, which gives more particles but processes more slowly.
Particle shapes from a texture library
AKVIS Explosion draws particles from a built-in library of shapes (circles, squares, triangles, stars, hearts and more), and you can load your own sample. The pieces can carry the colors of the photo, like real broken fragments, or be filled with one color you choose. That is how you get snowfall, falling leaves, starfall or a burst of hearts instead of plain debris.
The Mac version with the "snow" preset, which uses snowflake-shaped particles around a child playing in the snow.
Wind and variation controls
AKVIS Explosion can push the particles with wind, set by strength, fading, turbulence and how much the stream alternates between dense and sparse areas. The Variations tab mixes sizes, rotation angles, proportions, hue and saturation, so the pieces don't look stamped out of one mold. Edge blur and motion blur soften the particles for a sense of speed.
Sand: blow a subject away as dust
AKVIS Explosion's Sand effect scatters the image as grains of sand and dust, built from three layers: waves, particles and smoke. Each has its own tab, with swirl size, blur, fading, noise and darkening, and you can set the opacity of the waves and smoke or hide the particles. The grains take their colors from the area they come from, so skin and clothing turn into matching dust.
The Sand effect with the "AKVIS Dark Storm" preset, showing the Waves, Particles and Smoke tabs on the right.
Presets and blend modes
AKVIS Explosion comes with presets for both effects, and you can save your own and export them to an .explosion file to share. Nine blend modes control how the effect mixes with the background, such as Color Dodge for a glowing trail, and a separate layer blend mode controls how overlapping effects interact.
Formats and color depth
AKVIS Explosion opens TIFF, JPEG, BMP, PNG, WEBP, RAW and DNG files, and works in RGB, CMYK, Lab and Grayscale at 8, 16 and 32 bits per channel. PSD files work only through the plugin, inside your photo editor.
Benefits
The main gain is time. A disintegration effect that would take an evening of masking and brushing becomes a selection and a preset, and you can try a dozen variations before settling on one. The Random Seed button gives a fresh distribution of particles with the same settings, so a result that is almost right can be rerolled instead of rebuilt.
Because the particles take their colors from the photo, the effect looks like part of the picture rather than a pasted-on overlay. And with presets you can save, a series of images gets the same treatment.
Real-World Uses
- Album covers and posters: dissolve a performer into dust for a dramatic, cinematic cover.
- Sports and motion images: add a glowing particle trail behind a sprinter or a car to suggest speed.
- Seasonal greetings: scatter snowflakes, leaves or hearts across a family photo for a holiday card.
- Ads and article illustrations: show an idea "falling apart" or "taking off" with a product that bursts into pieces.
- Fantasy portraits: a glowing orb in a hand that spills sparks, as in the vendor's own examples.
Express mode on the Mac, with fewer sliders, adding a spray of glowing particles around an orb in a fantasy portrait.
Who It's For, and Who Should Skip It
AKVIS Explosion suits photographers and designers who make stylized, eye-catching images and want the dispersion look often enough to justify a dedicated tool. Photoshop users get the most from it, because the plugin can work on a PSD layer and the result stays in their normal workflow.
Skip it if you need a general photo editor: it does two effects and nothing else. If you only need the effect once, a free online tutorial and a few hours of masking may be enough. And if you edit video, this is a still-image tool only.
Usage Guide
- Download the installer and run it. The Windows installer holds both the standalone app and the plugin. On a Mac they are two separate downloads.
- Start the standalone app and open a photo, or open the photo in your editor and call Explosion from its filter menu.
- Choose Particles or Sand from the start screen.
- Paint over the part of the image that should come apart with the Selection Brush or Lasso.
- Pick a preset in Express mode, or switch to Advanced to adjust angle, distance, density and wind.
- Press Run, compare the Before and After tabs, and save. During the trial, try the History Brush so you know whether you need Home Deluxe.
Where it falls short
- Two effects only. The whole program is Particles and Sand. For $29 to $59, that is narrow.
- The standalone app can't open PSD files, so a layered Photoshop file needs the plugin.
- The Linux build has no plugin, and the Mac plugin is a separate download from the app.
- Step by Step mode is slower, as AKVIS itself warns.
- Updates after the first year cost extra. The update is free for 12 months after purchase; after that, the latest version costs $19.95.
What Users Say
AKVIS Explosion has very little independent coverage. We found no ratings on the big software review sites and no user reviews worth quoting, and the reviews AKVIS lists are from 2020, about versions 1.0 and 1.5. Treat what follows as a small sample.
Silicon Mountain Macintosh User's Group
"The provided Presets can help you create striking images from your photos. I was quite pleased with my first attempt." L. Davenport, Silicon Summit newsletter, June 2020 (version 1.5)
Davenport's review walks through the sand and particle controls and singles out the wind parameter ("Strength, Turbulence and Diversity of the scattering particles") and the ability to save your own presets. It has no criticism, and it was written for macOS 10.10 to 10.15.
The common thread is that the presets give a good result quickly. What's missing is any long-term user feedback on version 2, so the 10-day trial is the best way to judge it on your own photos.
Editions and Pricing
| License | Price at checkout | Edition | Use | What you get |
|---|
| Home Standalone | $29 | Standalone app only | Personal, non-commercial | Both effects, no History Brush, no PSD |
| Home Plugin | $29 | Plugin only | Personal, non-commercial | Both effects, PSD, no History Brush |
| Home Deluxe | $39 | Plugin and standalone | Personal, non-commercial | All features, including History Brush |
| Business | $59 | Plugin and standalone | Commercial use allowed | All features |
Buy Home Standalone ($29)Buy Home Plugin ($29)Buy Home Deluxe ($39)Buy Business ($59)
FAQs
Is AKVIS Explosion a subscription?
No. AKVIS Explosion is a one-time purchase, and the license never expires. Updates are free for 12 months; after that, a newer version costs $19.95, or $49.95 to update all your AKVIS programs at once.
Does AKVIS Explosion work in Photoshop?
Yes. AKVIS Explosion runs as a filter plugin in Adobe Photoshop, AliveColors, Corel PaintShop Pro and other editors that accept plugins. The plugin comes with the Home Plugin, Home Deluxe and Business licenses, not with Home Standalone.
Does AKVIS Explosion run on Apple Silicon Macs?
Yes. AKVIS Explosion supports Intel and M1 Macs on macOS 10.12 Sierra through macOS 27, with 4 GB of RAM as the minimum and 8 GB recommended.
Can I use one AKVIS Explosion license on a PC and a Mac?
Yes. Every AKVIS Explosion license registers on 2 computers, and they can run different operating systems with the same key.
Can I upgrade from Home to Home Deluxe later?
Yes. AKVIS lets you upgrade an Explosion license by paying the difference: $10 from Home to Home Deluxe, $30 from Home to Business, and $20 from Home Deluxe to Business.
Can I sell images made with AKVIS Explosion?
Only with the Business license. AKVIS Explosion Home and Home Deluxe are for non-commercial personal use, and AKVIS says commercial organizations may not use them.
Does AKVIS Explosion work on video?
No. AKVIS Explosion processes still images only. AKVIS's video filters for After Effects and Premiere Pro are separate products, and Explosion isn't one of them.
System Requirements
- Windows: Windows 7-11, 32 or 64-bit. Minimum Pentium IV and 4 GB RAM, recommended Core i5 and 8 GB RAM.
- macOS: 10.12 Sierra to macOS 27, 64-bit. Minimum Intel and 4 GB RAM, recommended Intel or M1 and 8 GB RAM.
- Linux: 64-bit Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat, CentOS, Fedora or openSUSE, standalone only. Minimum Core i3 and 8 GB RAM, recommended Core i5 and 16 GB RAM.
- Plugin: needs a photo editor that supports plugins.
- Languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese and Russian.
Conclusion
AKVIS Explosion is worth it if you make stylized images and want the disintegration look more than once. At $39 for Home Deluxe, it costs less than an evening of your time spent masking by hand, and the presets get you a usable result in minutes. The main reason not to buy is how narrow it is: two effects, very little independent feedback, and a cheapest license that leaves out the History Brush. Run the 10-day trial on your own photos first, and if you work in Photoshop, choose a license that includes the plugin.
Download Free TrialBuy Now