Halftone heaven
Vectoraster is a standalone application whose sole purpose is to turn images into vector-based raster patterns modelled on the halftone screen effect. It’s a task it performs with tremendous style and versatility, creating highly stylised artwork with unprecedented ease.
You can either load the the source image via a standard Open dialog or simply paste it from the Clipboard. It’s then a matter of choosing the shape of the dot, which can be as basic as a circle, star or square, or as complex as specific groups of letters, custom and random shapes, or even lines.
Everything about the appearance and behaviour is customisable, from the number of points and interior angles of a constituent star to the style of dot build-up; from the minimum and maximum size to the limit below which dots won’t appear; from the random angle of each point to the style of grid used.
You can arrange dots and other shapes on regular, radial, alternating or random grids, or you can specify a set number of steps. This is useful when working with lines rather than dots, as it enables you to produce powerful graphic images to precise specifications. Patterns, both line and dot, can be scaled and rotated, and distorted using waves, splits and bulges.
You can set the colours of both the dots themselves and the background, and the colour of the dots can also be taken directly from the image. However, the real interest comes when you add a secondary source: this is used as a colour reference overlaid on the first, and affects the colours of the dots beneath the image. It’s how we turned our photograph of Prince Charles into a Union Jack (above). Note how each dot is a distinct colour: the Union Jack is mapped onto the pattern, rather than merely overlaid on top.
You make all the adjustments using sliders on an expansible floating palette where you can open up just the section you’re interested in. The sliders are often just a couple of centimetres wide, just too short to be able to make fine-tuning adjustments with ease, but the ability to use the up/down cursor keys to nudge any of the values gets around this shortcoming. You can even hold Shift to nudge values in multiples of ten, and Alt to nudge in increments of 0.1.
Adjustments take place in real time: as you drag a slider, you can see the image changing during the drag, which makes for a smooth, easy editing process.
You can export finished images in two vector formats – EPS and PDF. They can also be exported as Jpeg and Tiff files, the latter with transparency if you choose No Background. Since the effects generated are resolution-independent, you can even output Jpeg files to sizes very much larger than the original image, with no loss of quality.
A batch processing window allows the current effect to be applied to a folder full of images, or even frame by frame to a movie file. And while you can’t save preset settings, it’s easy to load a saved session and then swap the source image for a different one.
Vectoraster is a slick, powerful and very entertaining program to use. It’s the kind of thing you’ll find yourself fiddling with for hours simply for the joy of seeing how the different processes affect the image.
Steve Caplin
Price: $25
From lostminds.com
Needs Intel Mac + OS X 10.5
Pro Infinite variety of dot shapes, types and arrangement + Real-time preview + Dramatic results
Con None
