affinity photo 'Pixel Stretch' in Affinity Photo

[DelN]

Hi,

I've tried to create a 'pixel stretch' using an image I found online (attached below). I didn't even know that it was called 'Pixel Stretch' when I first came across the images I had seen. I just liked the cool effect...

So I masked out the man dancing (below) so I had him on a separate layer, then removed the shadow...

I thought the Image Brush might have been the best way to achieve this, but when you create a strip of the man jumping...

...then create an image brush from it, the image brush does not paint the way it should on the curves because you cannot get the 'Spacing' close enough (the smallest is 1). When you paint a curved stroke using the image brush, it is missing segments on the curve.

Frustrating...

NB. I wish they would make a 'negative' spacing in the Image Brush Settings so that when you painted a curve with the Image Brush those jagged holes on the curve would be eliminated... 

But graphic design is all about finding ways to achieve something that you see (and like) or that a client wants, but you don't know how it was done, so...

I duplicated the strip and created vertical and horizontal guides, then set the centre of rotation of the strip and rotated each new instance of the strip around this point (see screengrab below)...

I created the strip of image until I had a quarter circle of them (rotated around the point you see above. I moved the object's centre point), then I grouped them and rasterised the group so that it was one layer. Then I duplicated it three times until I had a full circle. Then I grouped them and rasterised them too so that it was one layer...

...then I placed this circle layer beneath the man jumping and masked out the area of the circle to achieve the 'pixel stretch' effect I was after. I created a shadow (I didn't like the shadow on the original image) and then created a straight line using the original strip of the image by stretching it.

Then, using the Mesh Warp Tool, I dragged the line across itself and manipulated the nodes until it had the effect I was after.

This is how I did it. There may be easier ways. I just don't know them...

It's all in the Affinity Photo file (with layers), which I attach. You can open it and check out the layers.

Try one for yourself. It's quite time-consuming, but if you've seen pixel-stretch images and wondered how it was done, then this is how I did it (cos I wondered too 😶)... 

DelN

Man Jumping Pixel Stretch.afphoto

[NotMyFault]

Nice job.

some of you assumptions are not true.

• you can use a image brush to get perfectly stretched strokes, and you can use the „dynamics“ control in brush settings set to rotation to even get rotation variations during brush strokes, and using e.g. keyboard or pressure to control rotation.
• a brush stabilizer and smooth hand helps to avoid the gaps. You may need to stretch the source image to get it wider. It must be rotated 90 degree (x axis) before creating the brush
• to get the circle effect, simply make a full canvas brush stroke (quadratic area) and then use rectangular to polar distortion filter to get perfect circle.

[DelN]

Thanks, NotMyFault. I tried the Rectangular to Polar distortion filter but I didn't get what I was hoping for. And I used a mouse, so I couldn't use a lighter or heavier stroke as you can with a pen...

But it was fun doing it... 😃

[Darner]

Nice work!
Noticed with Pixel Stretch, that the edges (each side of the stretch) becomes a bit transparent. Not sure if a bug or "just how it is". But be nice to have clear cut on the edges. Any experience / thoughts from someone tried this?
Thanks!

[NotMyFault]

13 minutes ago, Darner said:

that the edges (each side of the stretch) becomes a bit transparent. Not sure if a bug or "just how it is"

It’s a bug already reported. 

 

[Darner]

Thank you for the feedback!
Hope it's a fix in next update

[Benfischer]

That’s not the same issue. Mine was related to the heads and tails of vector brushes. 

I played around with yours and tried to duplicate it and got the same transparent edge. Interestingly it only appeared at certain aspect rations. That is, I could stretch the width of the strip and get transparent edges but if I then stretched it lengthwise the transparency went away. I wondered if it was related to some antialiasing getting baked in and stretched to exaggeration but it’s hard to say. 

the only way I could think of to get rid of it is to use a mask to clip off that transparent section.  Or clip it inside another shape, but that will be hard for your Pixel Stretch Section layer. 
 

it looks cool, though!

[Darner]

Appreciate the feedback and testing @Benfischer.
The example here is made by another one though. Nice work indeed.
 

[DelN]

I've noticed that you can stretch a bitmap line (including a pixel stretch line of colours speed from the image, as above) vertcally or horizontally and you get very little pixelation (except maybe at the ends). But pixelation of a bitmap line is worse at some angles more than at others if the line is rotated. If the line is rotated 90 degrees, it is not so noticeable, but if it is rotated only slightly eg 30 degrees, then the pixelation is worse.

When I worked as a graphic designer  we were always looking for a fix for this. I even invested in a small program that 'filled in' the missing pixels, which did do a good job at the time. 

However, I found that working at a higher resolution (300dpi+) also solved the problem.

When I do a pixel stretch, I copy the figure and the pixel stretch line into a separate (larger) image and stretch it there. Then I drop it back into my file. 

Otherwise, when I am attempting a pixel stretch, it goes outside of the canvas and I can no longer see what I am doing and the results are not always what I wanted.

Not sure if this helps you guys.

I have found that you can do a Pixel Stretch using a combination of Symmetry, Mirror, the Mesh Warp Tool and the Perspective Tool and Ctrl J (Repeat), which is how I did the one at the top of this post.

 

 

[Darner]

Appreciate the feedback @DelN. 
You are now officially the pixel stretch guru:)

[Darner]

1 hour ago, DelN said:

I've noticed that you can stretch a bitmap line (including a pixel stretch line of colours speed from the image, as above) vertcally or horizontally and you get very little pixelation (except maybe at the ends). But pixelation of a bitmap line is worse at some angles more than at others if the line is rotated. If the line is rotated 90 degrees, it is not so noticeable, but if it is rotated only slightly eg 30 degrees, then the pixelation is worse.

When I worked as a graphic designer  we were always looking for a fix for this. I even invested in a small program that 'filled in' the missing pixels, which did do a good job at the time. 

However, I found that working at a higher resolution (300dpi+) also solved the problem.

When I do a pixel stretch, I copy the figure and the pixel stretch line into a separate (larger) image and stretch it there. Then I drop it back into my file. 

Otherwise, when I am attempting a pixel stretch, it goes outside of the canvas and I can no longer see what I am doing and the results are not always what I wanted.

Not sure if this helps you guys.

I have found that you can do a Pixel Stretch using a combination of Symmetry, Mirror, the Mesh Warp Tool and the Perspective Tool and Ctrl J (Repeat), which is how I did the one at the top of this post.

 

 

Tried copy paste original pixel selection to a new artboard and increase the resolution as suggested.
Came across another issue / bug...the document stretches faaaar outside the artboard, as in not able to zoom enough out to see the end of it😂

[DelN]

He-he! You're having fun today!

1. I would only put the pixel stretch image into a larger file if you need to. Ie if you want to twist and stretch it and it extends out beyond the canvas.

Did you increase the resolution of the image before you pasted the pixel stretch image or after?

I tend to drop the object that I want to stretch into a 300dpi image, rather than change it once I have pasted the pixel stretch image in.

2. And I would only drop it into an image of a higher resolution to see whether you get the same pixelation when you twist and rotate it. Its more of an experiment.

But these are two different issues...

No. 1 above is if you stretch the pixel stretch image beyond the canvas.

No. 2 above is an experiment to see if it solves the pixelation on the edge of the pixel image.

I think I wrote a step-by-step Word doc on how I created my pixel stretch. I'll see if I can find it and post it here.

I'm no expert in pixel stretch. I only did a few to see if I could do it cos I just wondered how it had been done. When I first saw the effect, I loved it. but didn't know what it was called. I now know it's called 'Pixel Stretch'. There are loads of YouTube videos on how you can do it...

 

[DelN]

No, unfortunately I didn't create a Word doc step-by-step of how I did a pixel stretch, but I explain above how I did mine. I attach my two pixel stretch Affinity Photo files for you to open and look at (if this helps)... 🙂

And familiarise yourself with the Mesh Warp Tool. That's what I used to do mine...

Pixel Stretch on YouTube. This one's good (Photoshop though)...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YDghCx77rQ

 

Hummingbird Pixel Stretch 03.afphoto Man Jumping 01.afphoto

[Darner]

Thanks @DelN.
Yes, pasted in a new doc after setting higher resolution.
Looked at some tutorials earlier, and apparently doing it "correct".
Appreciate you following up.

[Darner]

Yes familiar with the Mesh Warp, thanks @DelN.
Correction from what wrote earlier...the file is sized well within the doc artboard, but as soon as hitting Mesh Warp, the MW lines for adjustment goes far far far outside the artboard. So far not possible to drag them inside with max zoom out😂

[Darner]

9 minutes ago, Darner said:

Yes familiar with the Mesh Warp, thanks @DelN.
Correction from what wrote earlier...the file is sized well within the doc artboard, but as soon as hitting Mesh Warp, the MW lines for adjustment goes far far far outside the artboard. So far not possible to drag them inside with max zoom out😂

But...When cutting away the buggy half transparent edges on the sides after dragging the pixels out, it remains within the doc when going Mesh Warp mode.

[DelN]

Yes, I've had that a few times too. 

Can you size down the pixel stretch layer so that it is really small, do the pixel stretch (if it will let you), then size it back up again. 

Might work...😀

 

[DelN]

5 minutes ago, Darner said:

But...When cutting away the buggy half transparent edges on the sides after dragging the pixels out, it remains within the doc when going Mesh Warp mode.

Hmmm. Is it possible to do the pixel stretch in stages and join them together afterwards?

 

[Darner]

As for your pixel stretched circles you referred to earlier that seemed bit tricky process, you can do your pixel strecting, and use "rectangular to polar filter". Might help speeding up the process.

[NotMyFault]

A live mesh warp is probably far easier 

I used the tiny color stripe, stretched it, rasterized, filled alpha channel to avoid transparency, rasterized again.

then just add a live mesh warp, add 2 nodes in middle horizontal, and play with nodes

 

[DelN]

1 hour ago, Darner said:

As for your pixel stretched circles you referred to earlier that seemed bit tricky process, you can do your pixel strecting, and use "rectangular to polar filter". Might help speeding up the process.

Tried that. It doesn't give a very nice circle at all. It's a kind of out of shape and unfinished circle.

However, what NotMyFault said above sounds interesting. I'm going to check that out myself. 

Thanks, NotMyFault... 😃

Good luck, Darner, on whatever method you use to achieve it. Would love to see the finished result...

49 minutes ago, NotMyFault said:

A live mesh warp is probably far easier 

I used the tiny color stripe, stretched it, rasterized, filled alpha channel to avoid transparency, rasterized again.

then just add a live mesh warp, add 2 nodes in middle horizontal, and play with nodes

 

[Darner]

1 hour ago, NotMyFault said:

A live mesh warp is probably far easier 

I used the tiny color stripe, stretched it, rasterized, filled alpha channel to avoid transparency, rasterized again.

then just add a live mesh warp, add 2 nodes in middle horizontal, and play with nodes

 

Yes familiar with this method also. Thanks @NotMyFault
Was referring more to having symmetric round circle.
When doing a little bit of mix, the method you showed is of course more efficient.

[Darner]

17 minutes ago, DelN said:

Tried that. It doesn't give a very nice circle at all. It's a kind of out of shape and unfinished circle.

However, what NotMyFault said above sounds interesting. I'm going to check that out myself. 

Thanks, NotMyFault... 😃

Good luck, Darner, on whatever method you use to achieve it. Would love to see the finished result...

 

@DelN the trick is to first make the canvas 100% squared (all sides equal) and all filled:)
But as mentioned for more abstract, Mesh works better. 
Thank you and good luck yourself!

[sansnom]

Hi, I picked up @NotMyFault's post, very intrigued by this tool that I rarely use, and I applied a gradient mask in order to accentuate (perhaps) the effect of movement and speed...