Rubik Variant Images on Archetype Themes: Impulse, Motion, Streamline & Expanse (2026)
Archetype themes are everywhere. Impulse alone has over 1,270 reviews with a 95% positive rating. Motion, Streamline, Expanse, all $400 each, all with ratings above 93%. The Vancouver-based studio has powered over 100,000 brands, and their founders are Shopify alumni who built themes before most app developers entered the space. These are polished, well-supported themes with strong community trust.
But none of them have native variant image filtering. Just like every other Shopify theme, Archetype themes show all product images in the gallery regardless of which variant the customer selects. If you sell a jacket in 8 colors with 5 photos per color, your customer sees 40 images at once. Doesn’t matter which color they pick. That is Shopify’s default behavior, and Archetype does not override it.
Rubik Variant Images has detection code for each Archetype theme individually. We actually built a specific Impulse tutorial video because so many merchants asked for it. All four themes are fully supported.
In this post
- Why Archetype themes need variant image filtering
- Impulse ($400, 1,270 reviews, 95%)
- Motion ($400, 555 reviews, 97%)
- Streamline ($400, 332 reviews, 95%)
- Expanse ($400, 333 reviews, 93%)
- Comparison table
- Setup walkthrough
- Pairing with Rubik Combined Listings
- FAQ
- Related reading
Why Archetype themes need variant image filtering
Archetype themes are premium themes used by stores that care about design. These stores invest in product photography. Multiple angles per color. Lifestyle shots. Detail close-ups. That photography investment backfires when every image shows for every variant, because the gallery turns into a scroll-fest instead of a focused shopping experience.
Think about it from the customer’s perspective. You land on a product page on an Impulse-powered store. The product is a hoodie in 6 colors. The store has invested in great photography: front, back, hood detail, and on-model shots for each color. 24 images. You click “Sage Green.” The gallery scrolls to the sage green featured image, but the other 20 images (red, navy, black, white, grey) are still right there in the gallery. Is that image of the green one or the sage one? Which back shot belongs to which color? The customer should not have to figure this out.
Variant image filtering solves this by showing only the images assigned to the selected variant. Select Sage Green, see 4 images. Select Navy, see 4 different images. Simple. Obvious. The way it should have always worked.
Impulse ($400, 1,270 reviews, 95%)
Impulse is Archetype’s most popular theme. Built for fashion and lifestyle brands, it uses a feature-rich product page with multiple gallery layout options: standard, grid, stacked, and sidebar. The gallery implementation varies depending on which layout you select, which means most variant image apps work on some layouts but break on others.
We tested Rubik on all of Impulse’s gallery layouts. Every one of them works.
Where Rubik filters images: whatever gallery layout you have selected. Standard slider, grid layout, stacked scrolling, sidebar thumbnails. Rubik detects the active layout and adapts its filtering. Change layouts later? Rubik adjusts. No reconfiguration needed.
Recommended swatch type: Color swatches for apparel brands (circle or rounded-square). Image swatches for products with patterns, prints, or textures. Mix types per option group: color circles for “Color” and pill buttons for “Size” on the same product. Impulse’s fashion-forward design pairs well with visual swatches.
Real use case: A streetwear brand with hoodies in 10 colorways, each photographed from 5 angles. 50 images per product. On Impulse’s stacked gallery layout, without filtering, the customer scrolls through 50 images vertically. That is absurd. With Rubik, they scroll through 5. The brand’s photography investment actually pays off because each image gets the attention it deserves.
Motion ($400, 555 reviews, 97%)
Motion has the highest positive rating of all Archetype themes at 97%. It is built for stores that want smooth animations, parallax effects, and cinematic product presentations. The product gallery uses scroll-triggered animations that reveal images as the customer scrolls down the page.
Where Rubik filters images: the animated gallery. Rubik updates the image set before Motion’s animation code runs, so the reveal animation plays with the correct variant images. No jarring transitions, no images swapping mid-animation. It just looks right.
Recommended swatch type: Motion attracts brands with strong visual identities (cosmetics, art, design products). Image swatches complement the cinematic feel. Show a small thumbnail of each variant in the swatch, matching the visual-first approach Motion takes with everything else.
Real use case: A cosmetics brand with a foundation available in 12 shades. Each shade has a swatch photo, an on-skin photo, and a product shot. 36 images. Motion’s scroll-reveal effect works beautifully when it shows 3 images per shade. Showing all 36 with the same animation? Not beautiful at all. Kind of makes the customer feel like they are trapped in an infinite scroll of foundation bottles.
Streamline ($400, 332 reviews, 95%)
Streamline is designed for speed and conversion. It has a lean product page layout with a focus on quick purchase decisions. The gallery is compact: typically a slider with minimal thumbnails or a simple image-swap on variant selection (but only for the featured image, not the full gallery).
Where Rubik filters images: the compact gallery widget. Streamline’s minimal approach means fewer images visible at once, which makes variant filtering even more impactful. When the gallery only shows one large image at a time, you really want that one image to be the right one for the selected variant.
Recommended swatch type: Pill buttons fit Streamline’s conversion-focused design. They are compact, informative, and do not take up much vertical space on the product page. For color variants, color circles are the fastest visual signal. Streamline stores typically want customers to decide fast, so swatch types that communicate quickly win.
Real use case: A DTC brand selling phone cases in 8 colors. Each color has a front and back photo. 16 images. Streamline’s compact gallery shows one image at a time with arrow navigation. Without filtering, the customer arrows through 16 images. With Rubik, they arrow through 2. The conversion path from “land on page” to “add to cart” gets shorter.
Expanse ($400, 333 reviews, 93%)
Expanse is built for large catalogs. It handles products with many variants, detailed specifications, and extensive product information. The product page is structured for information density, with tabs, accordions, and collapsible sections. The gallery supports multiple layout options including grid, carousel, and traditional slider.
Where Rubik filters images: the main gallery widget (whatever layout is active). Expanse is often used by stores with complex products that have multiple option types (Color + Size + Material). Rubik handles multi-option filtering, meaning you can assign different images to different option combinations, not just single options.
Recommended swatch type: Mixed types work best on Expanse because the theme already supports complex product configurations. Color swatches for the Color option, pill buttons for Size, image swatches for Material or Pattern. Each option group independently styled.
Real use case: A furniture brand with a sofa available in 5 fabrics and 3 configurations (2-seater, 3-seater, sectional). Each fabric/configuration combo has unique photography. That is 15 combinations with 3 photos each, totaling 45 images. Expanse’s information-dense layout handles product specs well, but 45 images in one gallery is too much for any layout. Rubik filters it down to 3 per selection. The customer sees the exact sofa they are configuring.
Archetype themes comparison
| Theme | Price | Reviews | Rating | Gallery type | Best swatch type | Rubik support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Impulse | $400 | 1,270 | 95% | Multiple layouts (grid, stacked, sidebar, standard) | Color + pill mix | Full |
| Motion | $400 | 555 | 97% | Scroll-reveal animation | Image swatches | Full |
| Streamline | $400 | 332 | 95% | Compact slider | Pill buttons | Full |
| Expanse | $400 | 333 | 93% | Grid, carousel, slider | Mixed types | Full |
All four themes are $400. All four are fully supported. And all four share one thing: image assignments are stored in Shopify metafields, not theme code. Switch from Impulse to Motion? Your variant-to-image mappings carry over. No re-assignment needed. This is especially useful for stores that test multiple Archetype themes before settling on one.
What Rubik adds to any Archetype theme
- Multiple images per variant. Assign unlimited images, videos, and 3D models to each variant. Gallery updates instantly on selection.
- Three swatch types. Color circles, image thumbnails, pill buttons. Mix per option group. Shapes: circle, square, rounded square, pill, button.
- AI auto-assign. Per-product AI using 5 data points plus vision analysis. Good for products with descriptive filenames or alt text.
- Bulk assign. Image-order based grouping across hundreds of products in the background. Not filename matching.
- Common images. Size charts, lifestyle shots, or brand imagery visible on every variant.
- Shadow DOM isolation. Swatch CSS does not leak into Archetype’s theme CSS, and the theme CSS does not affect swatches. Two-way isolation.
- 100+ CSS variables. Customize swatch appearance through the visual editor or by writing custom CSS.
- Metafield-based loading. No external API calls. Data loads with the page. No performance hit.
Setup walkthrough (5 minutes)
- Install Rubik Variant Images from the Shopify App Store. Free plan lets you test on 1 product before upgrading.
- Enable the app embed. Go to your Archetype theme editor, open App Embeds, toggle on Rubik Variant Images, and hit Save. Works identically on Impulse, Motion, Streamline, and Expanse.
- Open a product. In the Rubik dashboard, select a product. You will see all images on one side and all variants on the other. Click a variant, then click the images to assign to it. Or drag-and-drop.
- AI auto-assign (optional). Click the AI button for automatic matching. Best results when your images have descriptive filenames (hoodie-navy-front.jpg) or alt text. Review and adjust the results.
- Preview on your storefront. Visit the product page and click between variants. The Archetype gallery should update with only the assigned images for each variant.
For larger catalogs, bulk assign processes products in the background using image-order detection. Arrange your Shopify media by variant (all navy photos first, then all red, etc.) and the app handles the rest.
Gallery not filtering? Swatches not appearing? Check the variant images not showing fix guide. Most issues are a missed toggle or a cache that needs clearing.
“This App and support crew are AMAZING! I spent hours trying to find a way to easily assign variant images for my products and thankfully I finally found Rubik Variant Images! I have reached out to the support team a few times when trying to get my custom theme working with the app and they responded within seconds to assist and had me up and running in no time! Definitely recommend!”
Stunnify, US, 5-star review, February 2025, Rubik Variant Images on the Shopify App Store
Pairing with Rubik Combined Listings
Rubik Variant Images works on the product page only. It does not add swatches to collection pages, and it does not link separate products together. Those are jobs for Rubik Combined Listings.
The two apps complement each other: RVI filters product page images per variant, RCL shows color swatches on collection page product cards and lets you group separate products as variants. Both support all 4 Archetype themes. Many stores that use Impulse or Expanse run both apps together. If you are hitting Shopify’s 100-variant limit and need to split colors into separate products, combined listings are worth looking into.
General Shopify tips on variant images, image SEO, and product page optimization are covered on our Craftshift blog.
See the live demo store, watch the Impulse tutorial, or read the getting started guide.
Frequently asked questions
Does Rubik work with all Impulse gallery layouts?
Yes. Impulse offers multiple product page gallery layouts: standard, grid, stacked, and sidebar. Rubik detects which layout is active and adapts its filtering. Change layouts any time. No need to reconfigure the app.
Will Rubik break Motion’s scroll animations?
No. Rubik updates the image data before Motion’s animation code runs. The scroll-triggered reveal animations play with the correct variant images. No visual glitches or mid-animation swaps.
Can I use Rubik on Expanse with multi-option products?
Yes. Rubik supports multi-option filtering. Assign images to specific option combinations (e.g., “Blue + Large” gets different photos than “Blue + Small”). This works on Expanse and all other Archetype themes. See the multiple options guide for details.
If I switch from Impulse to Motion, do I lose my assignments?
No. Image assignments live in Shopify product metafields, not in theme files. Switching between any Archetype themes (or any Shopify themes in general) preserves all your variant-to-image mappings. Rubik detects the new theme and adjusts rendering.
Does Rubik Variant Images show swatches on Archetype collection pages?
No. Rubik Variant Images works on product pages only. For collection page swatches, use Rubik Combined Listings, which supports all 4 Archetype themes and adds swatches to product cards on collection and search pages.
Related reading
