Combine Filters

The smash-them-together factory. If you want to combine several images into one, fade images into each other or even create a piece of celluloid film, these are the filters to use.

## Depth Merge

| Depth Merge is a very nice tool for combining two images. The combination is accomplished with the help of two map images. The maps should be grayscale images (so you can better control the outcome).

### Example

This example will hopefully make matters more clear:

1. Start with two images of equal size. Then create two new empty images that are the same size as the original images.

2. In one of the empty images, use the Blend tool to blend from black in the top-left corner to white in the opposite corner. For the other empty image, do the opposite: Blend from black at the bottom right to white at the top left.

3. Now, bring up the Depth Merge dialog. Set Overlap to 0, set Offset to 0 and set Scale 1 and Scale 2 to 1.000. Use one of the first opened images as Source 1 and the other one as Source 2.

4. Set the first blended image as Depth Map for Source 1, and the other blended image as the Depth Map for Source 2. The preview window will display the two images combined and a sharp border will appear diagonally from the top right to the bottom-left.

### How Does Depth Merge Work?

What causes this effect? Well, the plug-in looks at both map images, and compares every pixel. The map with the darkest pixel will win, and the source to that map will show its image pixel. When we created our grayscale images, a clean line diagonally from top right to bottom left separates where the darkest pixels changed from one map to the other.

Now that you understand the basics, you can create all kinds of maps.

#### Parameters

Let's see what the sliders can do for us. As you saw in our example, there was a sharp border between the images. This was because Overlap was set to zero. If we slide it up a bit, you will see that the border becomes more fuzzy and transparent. Use Overlap if you want to create soft transitions.

Offset changes the darkness value of your maps. If you slide it to a negative value, the map to Source 1 will become darker and therefore control more of the resulting image. If you slide it to a positive value, the other map will get darker and will control more of the resulting image.

The Scale 1 and Scale 2 sliders make the Depth Map for Source 1 and the Depth Map for Source 2 darker or lighter. They have the same effect as Offset, but they are more sensitive. When you scale to a lower value, it will affect the map image's value, making it darker and thereby more dominant in the merge; that is, you will see more of the image that the map is serving.

## Film

Film creates a film celluloid of one or more images; a nice special effect.

### How To Use The Film Filter

Film's user interface is quite simple. Under Available images, you have a list all available images. Select an image and click add to use it in your film.

On film shows the pictures on your film. To change the order of the pictures, you have to add and remove pictures.

Height is the height of the outcoming film.

Color is the film color (black). The plug-in will automatically adjust your images so that they will fit.

Numbering lets you specify a start number on the roll. Set numbering to Numbering/Startindex.

Font lets you choose the font that is showing the frame numbers in the film (you have to have the font installed).

Color is the color of the frame numbers in your film (orange by default). Both the color of the film itself (usually black) and the color of the numbers can be changed by clicking on the color swatches.

Check the at top and at bottom checkboxes if you want numbers there; otherwise, leave them unchecked.

## Fuse

Fuse creates a new image from tiles of one or several input images. You can use this filter in two ways.

### Template

First, you can use the target image as a template. The result will be an image that looks like a mosaic or cubist version of the original image, where the mosaic stones or cubes consist of pieces of the input image (a little like modernist collage art where you create a composite image by cutting and pasting pieces of a newspaper).

### Fusing

You can also create a new shape by fusing one or more images. This filter uses associative image reconstruction, meaning that it will search out pieces that match where they overlap, thus creating a pattern with more or less "solid objects" in it. The new pattern is a random mix of matching tiles from the source images, with a direction tendency toward the center of the image.

The Fuse dialog displays a window at the top of the dialog with a list of available images (note that indexed images are not accepted). You can select one or all of the images in this list by clicking on them. Click on them again to deselect them.

Note: The image you opened Fuse from is not used in the fusing process unless you select it in this menu or check the use target as template checkbox.

### Parameters

The parameters list starts with Tile Size, which controls the size in pixels of the square tiles. Small tiles produce smoother images, but will make the operation very slow.

Overlap determines by how many pixels the selected tiles should overlap in the fused image. If Overlap is too low, you'll get small black gaps in the composite image, and if it's too high, the process will slow down a great deal. The recommended amount of Overlap is somewhere between a quarter and a third of the Tile Size.

Search Time refers to how long the filter should search for the tile that best fits the Overlap. Search Time also slows down the process, but results in a smoother output.

When you check use target as template, Fuse has to determine whether it is more important to find a tile that matches the template, or a tile that matches the Overlap.

If you set the Template weight slider to a high value, you'll get a good representation of the target image, but the image will look much more "cubist" than a fused image without the template (but with the same parameter value). If you set the Template weight lower, you'll get a smoother image, but it will not bear as much resemblance to the template image.

Frozenriver Digital Design http://www.frozenriver.nu Voice: +46 (0)31 474356 Fax: +46 (0)31 493833 support@frozenriver.com | Publisher Coriolis http://www.coriolis.com