Swerve

What it does

Swerve warps images by stretching them in a smooth or jagged way.

How to install

Illustrated installation instructions are online.

To use this software, you need a paint program which accepts standard Photoshop 3.0 plugins.

Just put the plug-in filter into the folder where your paint program expects to find it. If you have Photoshop, the folder is Photoshop:Plugins:Filters or Photoshop:Plug-ins. You must restart Photoshop before it will notice the new plug-in. It will appear in the menus as Filters->Flaming Pear->Swerve.

Most other paint programs follow a similar scheme.

If you have Paint Shop Pro: you have to create a new folder, put the plug-in filter into it, and then tell PSP to look there.

PSP 7:

Choose the menu File-> Preferences-> File Locations... and choose the Plug-in Filters tab. Use one of the "Browse" buttons to choose the folder that contains the plug-in.

The plugin is now installed. To use it, open any image and select an area. From the menus, choose Effects->Plug-in Filters->Flaming Pear->Swerve.

PSP 8, 9, and X:

Choose the menu File-> Preferences-> File Locations... In the dialog box that appears, choose Plug-ins from the list. Click "Add." If you are using PSP 8 or 9, click "Browse". Now choose the folder that contains the plug-in.

The plugin is now installed. To use it, open any image and select an area. From the menus, choose Effects->Plugins->Flaming Pear->Swerve.



Controls

When you invoke Swerve, a dialog box will appear:

Quick start
If you just want to see some effects quickly, click the dice button until you see something you like; then click OK. Using the dice is the easiest way to use Swerve. If you want to hand-tune your own effects, it helps to learn the controls, which are explained below.		dice

Settings
Swerve offers controls for basic warping and for adding extra distortion. Warping is the strength of the distortion, ranging from 0 (no distortion) to 100 (maximum). Warp size is the scale of the distortion features. Low values give many small wiggles, and high values give fewer, larger wiggles. Chop makes the distortion more jagged. The Chop Mode popup menu determines what kind of distruption is added by the Chop slider. There are four settings: normal, stripes, V, and stairsteps. To remove all chopping, choose the normal mode and set the Chop slider to zero.

Things to try
Try loading the settings files that come with Swerve to see what it can do, or click the dice until you see something you like. Here are some example effects that you can do. Open a favorite picture for these examples -- you won't see anything if you start with a blank canvas. Select part of the picture, and invoke Swerve.
1. Basic warping. Try these settings: Warping 20 Warp size 50 Chop 0 Chop mode 0 This is a basic smooth warp with no chopping. To change the look of the warp, try different settings for Warping and Warp size.
2. Chopping. Use the same settings as for the first example, but increase Warping to 50, Chop to to 50, and choose the V-shaped item from the Chomp Mode popup menu. When Warp size is small, the individual distortion features in the picture become small too.
3. Wobbles. Use a small warp, a large warp size, and any chop mode you like. Set the glue mode to "exclusion." The small warp creates a new image barely different from the image you started with. When combined with the original, a visual echo is created.
4. Graphics hash. Use a very high Warp, a small Warp Size, high Chop and the normal Chop Mode. With settings this strong, an image can be turned into an abstract swirl of color.

Other controls
Dice The dice choose a random effect. Click as much as you want to see different effects. Random seed Clicking changes only the random pattern, and leaves everything else the same. Glue mode popup menu Lets you combine the result with the underlying image in various ways. Modes other than "normal" produce special effects. The next-glue button advances to the next glue mode. Plus, % and minus buttons: These zoom the preview in and out. Drag the preview to move it. Load preset Swerve comes with some presets, which are files containing settings. To load one, click this button and browse for a preset file. Save preset When you make an effect you like, click this button to save the settings in a file.  Undo backs up one step. OK  Applies the effect to your image. Cancel  Dismisses the filter, and leaves the image unchanged.		dice random seed next glue load preset save preset undo

Versions Version 1.55 June 2007 Fixes a problem where the plug-in wouldn't remember its registration when it was installed in one user account but activated in another. Version 1.4 July 2004 Works in 16-bit color. Version 1.3 December 2003 Recordable as a Photoshop action. Version 1.25 September 2003 Adds more glue modes and the next-glue button. Version 1.22 February 2003 Adds more glue modes and fixes a crash that could happen when using the menus under Windows XP. Version 1.21 December 2002 Adds new glue modes: Color, Luminance, Linear Light, and Pin Light. Fixes the appearance of text in the interface when running under Mac OS X 10.2.3 . Version 1.2 February 2002 Adds previews in the preset browser. Version 1.1 September 2001 Adds an Undo button. Version 1.0 September 1999 First release.

How to Purchase

You can place an order online here. A secure server for transactions is available.

Questions

Answers to common technical questions appear on the support page.

For bug reports and technical questions about the software, please write to support@flamingpear.com .