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[methylatedspirit]

So, was the result completely unexpected, or are you able to know in advance if an image have the potential to generate something interesting?

I knew that the Paulstretch effect in Audacity has the potential to produce these sorta psychedelic patterns when you give it these images in "planar RGB" format. Planar RGB is very simple. You take the R, G and B components of a picture, then you just have these 3 planes of R, G and B stored right next to each other that then get combined to produce a full-color image.

So then I wanted to try this idea in other color formats, just out of curiosity. There's this thing mostly in video called YUV/YCbCr. What that does is store the grayscale image (Y), the blue projection (U/Cb), and the red projection (V/Cr). It depends on the exact format, but I went with planar YUV 4:4:4, which just stores the Y, U and V components as planes of grayscale, blue, and red right next to each other in some way that I'm not aware of without dropping the resolution of any component.

I went into FFmpeg, banged my head against the wall trying to get it to work, got it to convert that nice picture into YUV, put that into Audacity and Paulstretched it. Then I banged my head against the wall yet again trying to get FFmpeg to accept the nonsense it's being fed, and finally got that result. At least it does produce nice color patterns, so that time I spent wasn't completely in vain. Could've gone completely sideways; I'm very sure this technique hasn't ever been published as a databending method. I am completely on my own for the first and last thirds (the parts involving FFmpeg) of this process.

I think I should write about this. I don't see myself as an artist, I see myself as a scientist who just happens to produce art on occasion, so I do want to just publish this method as an extension of the general method as detailed here and here. Maybe I'll try with different color formats, since with FFmpeg, I get to mess with a wide range of those. I don't care that my work is entirely reproducible on any computer with the right know-how. That's the point.

Edit: I have no clue how yuv444p, the pixel format I used is supposed to work. It's not 3 planes of Y, U and V stacked together consecutively.

Did you choose the original picture because of the rainbow?

It's pretty much that. I knew that the whole YUV thing basically splits images into the brightness component and two color components, so I wanted a colorful image so that the effect has something to work with. Effects cannot create new data, they can only manipulate it.

[methylatedspirit]

While I figure out what the everloving heck is going on with this format I've chosen, I made (not the original photo, but the results) these. They're all based on the idea of "what happens if I lower the bit depth (roughly corresponding to "color smoothness") of the color components of an image, but keep the original brightness component?" These aren't quite as spectacular as the Paulstretch ones, but I think it's interesting.

Spoiler: Attempt #1: Naively apply Decimator on the final 2/3rds of the image data, making the assumption that's where the color components are (click to show/hide)

4-bit


3-bit


2-bit


1-bit

It's just a colorful noise filter that seems to skip every 3rd column. How about I just ditch this odd toolset for a bit, and just use GIMP?

Spoiler: Attempt #2: Use GIMP to split the original image into YUV, then random dither the color components down to the desired bit depth (click to show/hide)

4-bit


3-bit


2-bit

Okay, this looks better, but I think the random dither doesn't look right. Now I'm going back to this Audacity and FFmpeg toolset, and add GIMP to the mix. I used GIMP to split the image into YUV, exported the YUV components separately, converted them into raw YUV, then applied Decimator to the individual color components. Reconverted them back into RGB format, and saved the resulting decimated color components. Used GIMP to recombine these images into full-color, and I get:

Spoiler: Attempt #3: Whatever I just said (click to show/hide)

4-bit


3-bit


2-bit


1-bit

I dunno if there's a dithering method that behaves exactly like this, rendering my effort moot, but I think there's some kind of charm to this.

Attribution for original photo: Photo by Damian Markutt on Unsplash

Sidenote: When I refer to "Decimator", I'm referring to this one. It doesn't come with Audacity; you have to download it from elsewhere, and unfortunately, it seems like the original page for it has been lost, so I'm forced to point to a Softpedia page.

[Quaksna]

Advised by master Celt bodypainters, I used Bourbon whiskey in my coffee paint, and it's the best formula I tested yet. Doesn't hinder the skin at all, it's easy to paint with a brush, dries up quickly and can be removed easily. So here's some new Kawavmaku:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Wind symbols, representing breath, commonly used on body parts like the neck, head, or stomach.

A scene from a fable I am currently writing, an unnamed Kevekiii Ūāvaukek is wandering the land and encounters a Vakvakok, a guardian spirit of rivers.

[Caz]

shave your arm, paint will go on better

[King Zultan]

A lighter can be used to shave your arm incredibly fast, had that happen once and man did it stink.

[Yellow Pixel]

I think I should write about this. I don't see myself as an artist, I see myself as a scientist who just happens to produce art on occasion, so I do want to just publish this method as an extension of the general method as detailed here and here. Maybe I'll try with different color formats, since with FFmpeg, I get to mess with a wide range of those. I don't care that my work is entirely reproducible on any computer with the right know-how. That's the point.

While I figure out what the everloving heck is going on with this format I've chosen, I made (not the original photo, but the results) these. They're all based on the idea of "what happens if I lower the bit depth (roughly corresponding to "color smoothness") of the color components of an image, but keep the original brightness component?" These aren't quite as spectacular as the Paulstretch ones, but I think it's interesting.

Thanks for the info about these great artistic discoveries! I knew nothing about how works this kind of picture wizardry before yesterday, so it satisfy my curiosity. You really should publish the technique.

Advised by master Celt bodypainters, I used Bourbon whiskey in my coffee paint, and it's the best formula I tested yet.

Nice edible bodypaint: now with new side effects (if you drink it ).

A scene from a fable I am currently writing, an unnamed Kevekiii Ūāvaukek is wandering the land and encounters a Vakvakok, a guardian spirit of rivers.

I'm already charmed!

[Egan_BW]

Advised by master Celt bodypainters, I used Bourbon whiskey in my coffee paint, and it's the best formula I tested yet.

You're supposed to paint with it, not drink it. ;p

[King Zultan]

That's what they told me about lead based paints, but that didn't stop me!

[Superdorf]

Someone else's design, drawn by request
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Spoiler: wobble-eyes (click to show/hide)

[brewer bob]

A lighter can be used to shave your arm incredibly fast, had that happen once and man did it stink.

Just curious, was it an accident or on purpose?

[King Zultan]

A lighter can be used to shave your arm incredibly fast, had that happen once and man did it stink.

Just curious, was it an accident or on purpose?

One day in high school a friend of mine had a lighter and asked if I wanted to see something cool, and I said yes then he put the lighter near my arm and suddenly I didn't have arm hair anymore, surprised the hell out of me didn't expect it to just go up and be gone so fast.

[Quaksna]

A lighter can be used to shave your arm incredibly fast, had that happen once and man did it stink.

Just curious, was it an accident or on purpose?

One day in high school a friend of mine had a lighter and asked if I wanted to see something cool, and I said yes then he put the lighter near my arm and suddenly I didn't have arm hair anymore, surprised the hell out of me didn't expect it to just go up and be gone so fast.

Can I call you King Zultan III. the Armhairless now?

[King Zultan]

A lighter can be used to shave your arm incredibly fast, had that happen once and man did it stink.

Just curious, was it an accident or on purpose?

One day in high school a friend of mine had a lighter and asked if I wanted to see something cool, and I said yes then he put the lighter near my arm and suddenly I didn't have arm hair anymore, surprised the hell out of me didn't expect it to just go up and be gone so fast.

Can I call you King Zultan III. the Armhairless now?

If you want to I have no problem with it, also why III?

[Quaksna]

Last time I checked you had three heads, I dunno

[King Zultan]

Last time I checked you had three heads, I dunno

That makes since.