Pixelsorting on Curves [Feature Request]

[abetusk]

This is a feature request to add "curvy" pixel sorting options.

For some examples, austinhein_1 on Reddit has some posts that show the effect here and here.

In theory this should be simple to do but there are many details that might be a bit subtle. There's also the question of how to specify the curves which I don't have a good idea of what people should expect.

Algorithmic Idea

However the curve is specified, walk along the curve in the original image, filling in an array of pixels, then pixel sort as normal, providing the same threshold and sorting option as before.

The subtlety comes in doing sub pixel sampling and knowing how to sample and realize the pixels in the destination image.

Maybe I'm overthinking it and forcing the curve to only pick a single pixel at any given point, ignoring aliasing effects, is reasonable.

Curve Specification

I can think of a few different methods:

• Algebraic: Provide an explicit equation, maybe in the form of a complex equation
• Flow Field: Provide a file that has "velocity" (v_x,v_y) positions at key points, potentially at a lower sample rate than the input picture, and then trace curves over that flow field. This can be used in conjunction with a mask to make sure only the desired pixels get sorted
• Normal Map: somehow use a normal map image, interpreting the (r,g,b) -> (x,y,z) normal in some way and considering it a vector/flow field (?)

There might be some subtlety here with curves needing to be non-constant width when sorting pixels, because it might be hard to find "stacked" curves that only need on pixel.

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Anyway, I'm not exactly sure how to implement this but it would be a cool feature.