Trying to ruin an image...

[Das]

I'm in a bit of a need for some abstract textures for a project I'm working on and I really like the way a jpeg image looks when it gets corrupted or gets a case of bit rot, turning it into a pixilated piece of modern art. Anyhoo, I was wondering if anyone knows of either a program, which can reproduce the effect, or a way to actually corrupt a jpeg so that it does this? I've tried taking a disk out while it's saving (on my PC with a 3 buck floppy drive mind you), magnets and a few other ways, but I can never seem to get it to corrupt (at best it says it can't read the file).

[MacManDan]

Maybe you can try saving a JPG in lowest possible quality, say in Photoshop or some other photo editor. If not, then maybe zoom in a little and then lower the quality when you save it. Is that the effect you are after?

[smada]

control click on your image and choose open with --> other. in this dialog choose all applications instead of recommended applications. then chose textedit and click ok. scroll down about halfway through the document, choose a bit of text, and delete. then save and voila. just be careful about deleting only the image data and not the headers at the beginning or anything like that. If you do it right youll end up with something like this:
http://68.53.33.228/~adamscarroll/distort.jpg

[King Cobra]

My choice of pixelation filters in Photoshop:

Photoshop > Filters > Brush Strokes > Crosshatch
Photoshop > Filters > Distort > Glass
Photoshop > Filters > Pixelate > Crystallize
Photoshop > Filters > Pixelate > Facet
Photoshop > Filters > Pixelate > Fragment
Photoshop > Filters > Pixelate > Mosaic

or some combination

[iGav]

It's even more fun using DV.... I've got a plug-in for After Effects called 'Pixel Polly' and it's fab!! :D

[Das]

Originally posted by smada
control click on your image and choose open with --> other. in this dialog choose all applications instead of recommended applications. then chose textedit and click ok. scroll down about halfway through the document, choose a bit of text, and delete. then save and voila. just be careful about deleting only the image data and not the headers at the beginning or anything like that. If you do it right youll end up with something like this:
http://68.53.33.228/~adamscarroll/distort.jpg

I tried that too, but I can never get it to accept the file after I open it and save it, it just says that it is an incomplete file. That sounds like the way to go though so I'll try it a few more times. I used a text edit in notebook on a PC since I'm away from my pb, so I'll try later on that to see if it works.

Thanks to all who replied.