Wreckage

What it does

Wreckage ruins pictures. It does so by throwing away most of the pixels in an image, then reconstructing what remains with flawed methods.

How to install

To use this software, you need a paint program which accepts standard Photoshop 3.0 plugins.

Just put the plug-in filter into the folder where your paint program expects to find it. If you have Photoshop, the folder is Photoshop:Plugins:Filters or Photoshop:Plug-ins. You must restart Photoshop before it will notice the new plug-in. It will appear in the menus as Filters->Flaming Pear->Wreckage.

Most other paint programs follow a similar scheme.

If you have Paint Shop Pro: you have to create a new folder, put the plug-in filter into it, and then tell PSP to look there. In PSP's menus, choose File-> Preferences->General Program Preferences (PSP versions 5 and 6) or File->Preferences->File Locations (PSP version 7). Next, click the Plug-in Filters tab. Use a "Browse" button to choose the folder. The plugin will appear in the menus as Image->Plug-in Filters->Flaming Pear->Wreckage.

Controls

When you invoke Wreckage, a dialog box will appear:

Quick start
If you just want to see some effects quickly, click the dice button until you see something you like; then click OK. Using the dice is the easiest way to use Wreckage. If you want to hand-tune your own effects, it helps to learn the controls, which are arranged into two groups. There are skeleton controls for choosing which pixels are used as the basis of the new picture, and 'reconstruction controls to influence the way the final picture is rebuilt from the skeleton. Skeleton Reconstruction ...and there are some other controls that affect the whole image.		dice

Skeleton
Edges: Pixels can join the skeleton if they fall on a contrasty edge in the original picture. The edges slider lets you choose how strong an edge is sufficient. The Pattern popup lets you add extra pixels to the skeleton. There are eight patterns. Each one reacts differently to the Tweak 1 and Tweak 2 sliders. none -- no extra pixels get added to the skeleton. speckle -- a uniform random haze of pixels. Tweak 1 density of the haze Tweak 2 not used speckle centered -- a haze of pixels that's dense at the center and tapers off at the periphery. Click on the preview to choose the center point. click on preview -- sets the center of the haze Tweak 1 density of the haze Tweak 2 density falloff rays centered -- radiating lines. Click on the preview to choose the center point. Tweak 1 number of rays Tweak 2 twirliness of rays hex -- radiating lines. Tweak 1 scale of pattern Tweak 2 spin of pattern maze -- a maze of straight lines. Tweak 1 scale of pattern Tweak 2 spin of pattern stripes --parallel straight lines. Tweak 1 spacing of lines Tweak 2 angle of lines shards --irregular angular clumps. Tweak 1 scale of the clumps Tweak 2 solidity of the pattern contours -- lines of equal brightness. Works best on images without lots of fussy detail. Tweak 1 number of contours Tweak 2 shifts the exact placement of the contours		original image contours skeleton wrecked

Reconstruction
Once the skeleton is chosen, Wreckage spreads its colors into the surrounding areas. Type The colors can spread in a blurry way, a harsh blocky way, or a wrong way that chooses colors from inappropriate places. Bias If bias is anything other than 'normal', the colors spread more eagerly in certain directions than others, giving the picture a vaguely lopsided look. Warp Ordinarily the reconstruction of the picture takes place on an regular square pixel grid. You can choose instead to have Wreckage bend the picture out of shape, reconstruct it, then bend it back. This makes the picture streaky and ruins the resolution. Mode Leaky mode smears colors a lot. Airtight mode produces a more opaque look.		blocky type splotchy bias wobbly warp airtight

A frequently asked question
Why is the picture all black? Probably the controls are set so that there's no skeleton at all. Try increasing the Edges slider, and choose a pattern other than 'none.'

Other controls
Dice The dice choose a random effect. Click as much as you want to see different effects. Glue mode popup menu Lets you combine the result with the underlying image in various ways. Modes other than "normal" produce special effects. Plus, % and minus buttons: If the selected image area is larger than the preview are, these buttons will let you zoom in and out. You can also reposition the preview by dragging it around; your cursor will turn into a hand. Load preset Wreckage comes with some presets, which are files containing settings. To load one, click this button and browse for a preset file. Save preset When you make an effect you like, click this button to save the settings in a file.  Undo backs up one step. OK  Applies the effect to your image. Cancel  Dismisses the filter, and leaves the image unchanged.		dice   load preset (top) and save preset   undo

Hints Wreckage works best on a picture are simple enough to retain recongnizability when degraded. Wreckage is slow. You can turn off the "Auto preview" checkbox if you want to change several controls without waiting for the picture to refresh for each of them.

Version History Version 1.0 March 2003 The first release.

Questions

Answers to common technical questions appear on the support page.

For bug reports and technical questions about the software, please write to support@flamingpear.com .