Alien Mapping a la GIMP

[Ted Cousins]

Alien Mapping can be fun for those who like faux colors. I have it in the GIMP on my Adobe-free computer. I haven't found a plug-in for other apps.

8.37. Alien Map

Key Settings & OptionsColor Model:
Choose between RGB (Red, Green, Blue) and HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness) to change how the color transformation is calculated.
Frequencies: Sliders like Red frequency or Hue frequency adjust the frequency multiplier of the trigonometric waves, which controls the repeating patterns of color changes. Keeping frequencies low (around 1.0 or less) often yields smooth fantasy landscape effects.
Shifts (Phase Shift): Sliders and angle selectors offset the phase of individual color channels to radically re-map hues and tones.
Keep Components: Checkboxes let you lock specific channels (like Red or Lightness) so they remain untouched by the filter.

Here's an example session to give an idea of the possibilities ...

An original stolen from a DPRevived 'edit my image' post:

Tarted up for an enhanced mapping:

Here's the default mapping in RGB mode:

Here's the default mapping in HSL mode:

As you can see, it's pretty drastic when opened but can be toned down by the many available options.

Transcribed from https://dprevived.com/t/alien-mapping/8523/

 

[Ted Cousins]

Here's the default mapping in HSL mode:

As you can see, it's pretty drastic when opened but can be toned down by the many available options.

Here's an HSL mapping toned down a bit and with Lightness unchanged:

 

[Jerome Marot]

Alien Mapping can be fun for those who like faux colors. I have it in the GIMP on my Adobe-free computer. I haven't found a plug-in for other apps.

8.37. Alien Map

Here's an example session to give an idea of the possibilities ...

An original stolen from a DPRevived 'edit my image' post:

Tarted up for an enhanced mapping:

Here's the default mapping in RGB mode:

Here's the default mapping in HSL mode:

As you can see, it's pretty drastic when opened but can be toned down by the many available options.

Transcribed from https://dprevived.com/t/alien-mapping/8523/

 

[Jerome Marot]

It took me a while to understand what you were doing, till I clicked that link: https://docs.gimp.org/2.10/en/gimp-filter-alien-map.html

Basically, The Gimp has a built-in filter for weird colors.

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Ted,

Very interesting.

This is my favorite:

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Ted Cousins]

Hi, Ted,

Very interesting.

This is my favorite:
View attachment 14514

The one with no Alien Mapping, Doug?

best,

Ted.

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Ted,

The one with no Alien Mapping, Doug?

best,

Ted.

Oh. maybe it was.

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Ted Cousins]

The one with no Alien Mapping, Doug?

Hi, Ted,
Oh. maybe it was.

Yep, it was, Doug, no maybe about it.

Here's one done to the one you liked in RGB mode with just the blue frequency and phase adjusted and the opacity reduced so as to blend the one you liked back in a bit:

Personally I prefer low frequencies to avoid the banding but this shows the effect of the frequency slider at about 70%. Adjusting the phase slider moves the bands horizontally.

Why are the bands in the sky that color when I only adjusted the blue channel? Well, to find out, I went to the original GIMP layer and switched off the blue channel and, sure enough, the whole sky turned to that same color! In other words, if an area has lots of R+G+B (is light, tending to toward white) and you turn B down to zero, the result is indeed yellow-ish, i.e. red+green.

So in the above image the lighter bands are similar to the original colors and the yellow-ish bands are where the blue channel is mapped to a low value.

 

[Ted Cousins]

Here's another one (HSL screen shot) with split view:

 

[Asher Kelman]

I find this an interesting exploration but would use it only when the ecological effect completed the picture in a direction that I might hope a viewer would sense as I do.

Thsts, after all how we, generally send pictures off into the greater world: a window into how we might see things!

Asher

 

[Ted Cousins]

I find this an interesting exploration but would use it only when the ecological effect completed the picture in a direction that I might hope a viewer would sense as I do.

[After all, that's] how we generally send pictures off into the greater world: a window into how we might see things!

Well, Asher, the topic is more about 'Imaging Technology' than it is about 'Art Theory and Sensibilities'; so the weird colors illustrated are more for illustration of the method than they are for æsthetic pleasure.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Well, Asher, the topic is more about 'Imaging Technology' than it is about 'Art Theory and Sensibilities'; so the weird colors illustrated are more for illustration of the method than they are for æsthetics.

Thanks!

Yes one has to be able to have laint in order to throw it at a canvas or paint it judiciously with fine brushes to make art one way or another.

What you are guiding us is “the getting the unusual colors” in the first place!

Asher

 

[Ted Cousins]

Thanks!

Yes one has to be able to have paint in order to throw it at a canvas or paint it judiciously with fine brushes to make art one way or another.

What you are guiding us in is “the getting [of] unusual colors” in the first place!

Asher

Off-topic but shouldn't "Follow us on Twitter at @opfweb" say something else these days, after Musk's long-ago purchase and re-name?

 

[Asher Kelman]

Off-topic but shouldn't "Follow us on Twitter at @opfweb" say something else these days, after Musk's long-ago purchase and re-name?

Good point! I have been too embedded in my studio and I should get up to date.

Asher

 

[Ted Cousins]

Good point! I have been too embedded in my studio and I should get up to date.

Asher

Other places often say something like "Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, at @opfweb"

 

[Asher Kelman]

That’s a help!