I'd like to cut a photo into 50 or 100 vertical strips and reassemble them randomly. I could do this by cropping/cutting/pasting in Photoshop Elements, but it would be a lot of work. Does Elements offer a better way? Is there software or a website that I can use to do this simply and cheaply?
Joann Empson
Posts: 234
Walnut Creek, California, US
Eric Mayhem wrote: I'd like to cut a photo into 50 or 100 vertical strips and reassemble them randomly. Is there software or a website that I can use to do this simply and cheaply?
In GIMP, you can use the G'MIC plugin called "Taquin."
1. Open your photo in GIMP.
2. In the menu, go to Filters --> G'MIC.
3. Under "Arrays and Frames," select "Taquin."
5. In the X-tiles box, enter the number of horizontal splits.
6. In the Y-tiles box, enter the number of vertical splits.
4. Click OK.
Boom. Random reassembly of cuts.
Edit: I just realized that the Taquin plug-in limits the number of slices to 20. It won't cut it into 50 or 100 strips.
Thanks, Joann. The GIMP/Taquin solution is almost exactly what I'm looking for. I keep thinking there must be a way to get more slices. Maybe slice a second or third time, or move the image and slice again, or something like that. But, I haven't been successful. Anybody have any ideas?
So drag the slices in order from one image into the random slots in a second image. It's a chore but if you don't need to do it a lot you can get away with no automation
I'll bet I could come up with a displacement image for you made of random red bars (and 127 in the green channel for no vertical offset) and you could use the displacement map filter in Photoshop together with the random red bar image to 'shuffle' the input image.
Random red bars - green at 50%, blue doesn't matter - I set at 0% - hence the orange color.
Displacement Map with x set to width of image in pixels, Green set to whatever you like (since green is 50% in the image, which means no dis[placement) but you may as well set vertical displacement to zero in the menu box, as well. No reason not to.
Result
** You still have to come up with a way to randomize the red bars. I rendered a cloud and mosaic'd it and stretched it but that doesn't make a very random thing, nor does it guarantee each random number is unique.
Eastfist wrote: Otherwise, you can use javascript and css, which won't physically alter your image. That is, I'm assuming you want to slice it up for a webpage.
That seems to be a common but incorrect assumption:-) I'm just slicing it up to print. What I'm looking for is something like the Gimp/Taquin solution above, but I need more slices.
Platinum Dust
Posts: 92
San Francisco, California, US
You can try breaking your original image into 5 pieces, then using the plugin at 20 slices each for a total of 100. Technically not truly random across the entire image, but randomized enough to be unrecognizable.
Another option:
1. Use the plugin for 20 slices.
2. Shift the entire image over to one side by half the width of a slice (i.e. if the original image was 1000px wide, the plugin would make 20 slices at 50 px wide. Shift the image over to one side by 25 px)
3. Move the part of the picture you bumped off the canvas to the empty spot on the other side to make sure you don't wind up missing a piece of the image.
4. Run the plugin again to double the number of slices. End up with 40 slices.
You can run the plugin two more times to double the number of slices again -- first time shift the image over by half of the distance you used earlier, second time shift the image by the same distance you used earlier. End up with 80 slices.
Platinum Dust wrote: You can try breaking your original image into 5 pieces, then using the plugin at 20 slices each for a total of 100. Technically not truly random across the entire image, but randomized enough to be unrecognizable.
this *might* work great, but I worry that the fact that 5 and 20 are not co-prime (they share factors) might be an issue.
I would use 9 and 11, myself, as they don't share any common factors and you'll get 99 slices
Something in my math-brain is tickling me. You slice 5 times... each 1/5th of the image is one solid block. Then you slice 20 times. each 1/5th of the image is then broken up into 4 more slices, so you still only get 20 slices. You'd need to slice each 1/5th block 20 times.
I think 9 and 11 might produce varied-width slices, and nowhere near 100 of them. Anyone want to try it?
There has to be a solution. Slice 20 times. offset left by 1/100th the width of the image, repeat the slice and offset 4 more times.
Platinum Dust
Posts: 92
San Francisco, California, US
Mask Photo wrote: Something in my math-brain is tickling me. You slice 5 times... each 1/5th of the image is one solid block. Then you slice 20 times. each 1/5th of the image is then broken up into 4 more slices, so you still only get 20 slices. You'd need to slice each 1/5th block 20 times.
What I meant was to first cut up the original photo into five pieces, each one being a separate image file. Then run the plugin at 20 slices on each of those images so you end up with five images with 20 slices each (100 slices total). You then just put those five files together again in whatever order you want (or even what looks most aesthetically pleasing). The final image will have 100 slices, not 20.
I see what you're trying to come up with, to figure out a number combo that would let you just run the plugin a few times so you don't need any manual work, but I don't see how that would get you evenly sized slices. Good thought though.
or ask a friend that knows how to program 
![http://i.imgur.com/VWgzR5R.png]](http://i.imgur.com/VWgzR5R.png])
| 
| 
| edu