Creating Magnifying Glass Effect In Sketch

We’ll make use of Image Fill, Slices, and Magic Mirror 3 Plugin

image taken from original Sketch website

First, Create a Frame with Rounded Rectangle Tool

1. Use the Rounded Rectangle Tool (Unlike the Circle Tool, this works better with Image Fill we’ll be using later) and create a 200*200 shape.
2. Make it a circle shape by dragging the Corner Radius to Max, or key in 100 (which is half of the length)
3. Add an Outer 1px #cccccc border
4. Add an Inner 5 px #ffffff border
5. Add a Drop Shadow with 2px y and 20px blur, #000000 20%

Second, Slicing Out The Specific Area

1. Use the Slice tool to specify the area in your design that you’d like to zoom in.
2. Press the Export button, now you can export the area to a separate image.
3. Select your Magnifier layer, go to the image fill option, and then paste the image.

Use Magic Mirror 3 to Make Updates Easier And Sharper

Slices are something Magic Mirror 3 now supports, but instead of using perspective transforming, we can also leverage it’s unique feature to skip some manual procedures (specifically the exporting and pasting work whenever the original design has updated).

1. Have Magic Mirror 3 Installed.
2. Make the slice available by checking the Include in Artboards option in the MM3 inspector panel.
3. Select the Magnifier layer we created earlier, now that slice is available to pick in the drop down menu.

Tip 1. So when the original design has updated, you can just hit the refresh button, and everything is set!

Tip 2. You may notice the images are actually sharper, because MM3 make sure the slice are exported with sufficient resolution. You can also adjust the image quality settings for even higher exporting resolution.

Download this .sketch file

More Resources on Magnifiers in Sketch

You can easily create a different style of magnifiers by adding a bit of creativity. Here’s a few resources that you can take a further look.

• Magnifier Sketch Resource | SketchAppSource
• How to create a magnifying glass effect in Sketch | Graphic Design Stack Exchange

If you like what we’re doing, please hit Recommend ❤