Phantasmagoria: transform your images with an arsenal of cool effects
Phantasmagoria is a free image manipulation program that offers a number of potential interventions, ranging from common editing operations (scaling, rotating, cropping, annotation, etc.) to sophisticated effects such as adding background textures, applying color adjustments, distortion and warping, blurring and sharpening, and a number of other effects. It also includes Flickr and Twitter uploading support, as well as the option to receive Twitter messages.
This program offers you the ability to load an image and perform a wide number of possible operations. It is the kind of tool that lends itself well to experimentation (in fact that is probably the only way to use this tool, at least until you are familiar with the kind of effects it can do that you like).
The idea behind Phantasmagoria is to provide a collection of tools that can be used to produce interesting images without the need for any other editing program. Alternately, of course, you can use these effects to transform images that you then go on to use in other editing or design applications. For examples of the type of things that this program can do, see the examples above (these are a small subset taken from the examples page on the program web site). Here are more notes on this program:
The user interface: clean and sleek, however, I do think it could have been better (see wish list below).- The effects: a wide range. The first thing to do after you install this is open the effects chooser (select "effects" then "effects chooser" from the menu) and see what’s on offer.
- Region of interest: you can select this option from the ’edit’ menu, select a (rectangular shaped) region from within you image, perform any number of operations on that region, then select ’region of interest’ again to reveal your entire image with whatever manipulations only applying to the area you had selected (and the rest of the image unchanged).
- Background textures: you can a number of cool textures to the transparent regions of images, or, through the "effects chooser" overlay a texture transparently on top of your image.
- Undo: an interesting implementation of this. The program does not have undo functionality but will allow you to create a "restoration point" at any time, and can revert you to that point if you so choose – so don’t forget to set it frequently.
- Other editing functions: scale (i.e. resize), crop, rotate, add text or add image, adjust color properties (hue, saturation, intensity), remove R/G/B or transparent color band, remove red eye, equalize contrast (in HSI or RGB space), add spotlight, and others.
- Flickr, Twitter: you can upload your images to these. For Twitter you have the option to receive updates straight into Phantasmagoria, or set it to send updates whenever certain events occur such as opening the program, uploading an image, etc. Note: I did not try these personally.
- Capturing webcam images: is possible, but requires downloading the Java Media Framework.
Wish list:
- Effects chooser placement: should have been on the main interface, in my opinion, next to the image and adjacent to (or in place of) two histograms
that currently display quantitative information on god-knows-what. - Live previews: in most instances you will have to select your filter and any associated values then run them to see what they will look like. "Live previews" would be a very welcome feature.
The verdict: a nice set of tools overall. This program contains many effects which can be found as standalone programs (e.g. creating a "sketch" or stained glass effects), and its nice to have all of these in one place. If you are a designer and/or you work with images a lot you will appreciate these effects for (if nothing else) the ideas and inspiration they might stimulate just playing around with them. Overall an interesting program – try it for yourself.
Version Tested: 1.00
Compatibility: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista, Mac, Linux. Install-free version through the browser is available. Requires Java Runtime Environment (JRE) versions 6 or later (get it here).
Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 3.4 megs).
great post, thanks! I’ve been looking for something like this!
Woow, thank you, but how can i get the matrix effect, or the mirror efect, or the commodore 64??? I just don´t see where they are…
Thanks.
I like your blog except for your naive expression of this pop-culture political bent of yours. Unless you have many years of experience in the type of politics Obama represents and implements, as I have, you have no idea what you are jumping on the bandwagon with. If you do have that experience you are simply a fool IMO, or are benefitting from the staus quo, which would make you a hypocrite. I tend to think the former, so you need to rise above your groupie mentality and realize you are falling for targeted rhetoric from the same advertisers that sell you garbage under the guise of meat. At any rate it has no place here does it? Hardly a genius.
@sense
Whether that banner has a place here or not is my business. This is a personal blog and a free service and you’re free to take advantage of it -or not. Ever heard of something called free speech?
I would venture, judging from your choppy, psuedo-academic discourse that I am much more qualified to comment on the type of politics Obama represents than you are.
OK here’s the law. Anyone posting further idiotic, conspiracy-minded, direspectful, or mean spirited comments will be ….. snipped!
This looks like it’ll be fun to play with…
wvluv, what you describe would be entirely possible in Photoshop, GIMP, and Paint.NET. Not sure why you’ve only managed to figure out how to do so in in MS Paint, but its method would be horribly inferior to the multi-layered approach available in the nicer apps.
As for politics, to teach their own… Like I said to somebody on an unrelated topic yesterday, you’ll have much better luck convincing others that your viewpoint is correct if you’re respectful towards them.
Wow! there are two sites about software that i always follow on my reader, this site and makeuseof.com. I can say that the quality of the content of your site is getting better!! i love it!
btw i already own adobe photoshop CS2 but this software could speed things up if i want to do specific task
@sense
yup this is a personal site, whether he want to close it or not, or he want to write about satanic things,or everything else, it’s his deal!! if u don’t like it, then don’t read it!
@DS
Most effects can be found in the effect chooser (effects -> effect chooser). Go to the effects pane, and select them from the drop-down menu. Live previews are coming in the next version, so you won’t see the changes until you press ok. Remember to set restoration points when experimenting… Have fun!
@sammer: law noted, jeesh. I was just trying to make lite of the political ninnying going on which amounts to zilch in the long run. Out of respect for the site and it’s visitors, I apologize to anyone who read my previous comment and was offended.
@Koselara: Thank you for your guidence, I’m glad someone actually responded to my question before is was yanked. Yes, to do the type of things I described in MS paint is painstaking. Basically the only functions I seek to use is Example: Take mouse arrow, trace a ball cap on someone’s head in a picture I have on my hd (gif, jpg, etc.) [tried gimp, but gimp would not trace object exactly, would only allow me to "box" the image, leaving unwanted visual content] Then, maybe paste a straw hat in place of the ball hat.
I like to sounds of the features of Phantasmagoria, I just wonder if it can perform the functions I listed above? Sammer?
I realize I’m perpetuating the issue brought up by sense but I feel this needs to be said. If you cannot respect other’s views then I’m sure you can find a little place of your own on this big, big internet where your views will not be threatened.
@sammer
I think a great majority of us do not at all mind that you share your political opinion, as you have been sharing your opinion on various freeware offerings.
Samer,
Just wanted to thank you on one of the most useful web sites I have come across.
I am getting ready to wipe my 4 year old XP computer and reinstall. Your guide to the freeware is priceless. Using the programs you recommend I am sure to have clean machine.
Keep it up Samer!
Thanks from Alaska,
Andre
[...] Windows/Mac/Linux: Freeware application Phantasmagoria adds effects to your digital photos through a slick, simple-to-use interface. The program provides an impressive range of effects and can upload the results to photo-sharing site Flickr or easily share your results over Twitter. You can snap and annotate screenshots, and take webcam photos and go straight to adding effects, similar to OS X’s Photo Booth. Phantasmagoria is freeware, cross-platform, requires Java. Check out the sample page for a closer look at Phantasmagoria in action. Phantasmagoria [via Freeware Genius] [...]
[...] Windows/Mac/Linux: Freeware application Phantasmagoria adds effects to your digital photos through a slick, simple-to-use interface. The program provides an impressive range of effects and can upload the results to photo-sharing site Flickr or easily share your results over Twitter. You can snap and annotate screenshots, and take webcam photos and go straight to adding effects, similar to OS X’s Photo Booth. Phantasmagoria is freeware, cross-platform, requires Java. Check out the sample page for a closer look at Phantasmagoria in action. Phantasmagoria [via Freeware Genius] [...]
Two points:
1. This is an excellent blog.
2. “sensewithsensibile” has neither sense nor does s/he use it sensibly. That person is a complete and utter idiot.