Using code that Zach Lieberman posted on the oF forums which allows you to show the pixels directly below the OF app window in a texture, Jesus Gollonet created this little experiment which converts all content below the window into dithered image. This allows you to move the window around the screen exploring the dithered space in color image/video/etc.

Continue reading.... Realtime Dithered Screen Capture [openFrameworks]

1:2-tone [=Halftone] converts your iPhone photos into halftone patterns. The process is simple; Browse your Photos album and pick an image, Zoom in or out and fit to the screen size, Choose dot size and then either make a wallpaper by saving the image to your library for later use or send the image by email.

iPhone 3GS users only: in case you’d take a 2048×1536 photo, 1:2-tone may refuse to open it. The fix is on its way to App Store in the next update.

1:2-tone was created by ANTIsoftware, a Polish iPhone development studio.

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: $1.99
Developer: Mateusz Bajer

(via app.itize.us)

AsciiMe gives you the ability to create ASCII art on the fly. Using only letters from the alphabet, combined with any picture from your library or that you take with your camera, you can create Ascii interpretation of your picture with few clicks. Once created you can email these in both text and image formats or alternatively post to facebook or twitter by adding your credentials. The UI is wonderful, consistent throughout including email and twitter forms.

Features:
- Change the font to view variations in tone and contrast
- Change the font color and/or the background color for more of a ‘pop’
- Save, Email, or upload to Twitter or Facebook your creation!

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: $0.99
Developer: Winfield & Co.

UPDATE 04.02.2010: Vijay of Winfield & Co was kind enough to send us 6 promocodes to giveaway to you, our wonderful readers. All you have to do is leave a comment below and we’ll pick 6 random winners later today.

Ever since the release of Toy Camera together with Old Camera I have been slightly reluctant to review many “effector” apps now available in the AppStore. On a number of occasions I have also been suggested by friends to check out Camera Bag, Night Camera and a bunch of others that would somewhat deserve a mention considering the features they provide. I have and continue seeing new additions that way too much resemble ideas that Takayuki Fukatsu (could be said) initiated. Takayuki’s apps had style and sense of clarity in what they were about. Many followed, some with additional functionality that clouded the clear vision of what point+shoot apps should be about. Most popular being one about applying effects to photos you have already taken, and more recently full blown “photoshop” type apps that are way to complex for mobile device and providing not enough features to come even close to desktop software.

Then yesterday I came across Hipstamatic:

Digital photography never looked so analog. The Hipstamatic brings back the look, feel, unpredictable beauty, and fun of plastic toy cameras of the past! The Hipstamatic keeps the the quirks of shooting old school but gives you the ability to swap lenses, film, and flash settings all with the swipe of a finger.

My first reaction was “here we go another effector app, as we don’t have plenty already”. This is not the first time thing like this happens. Twenty thousand apps in the AppStore and there ought to be some duplicates and boy there are. Apple’s AppStore policies have supported app cloning, duplicates and it seems like a trend to find semi-succesful apps in the appstore, make a copy but with better skin and shiny UI and there is a big chance you will hit top 100 apps. It is safe to say that Hipstamatic could be one of those apps, but there is something quite special about this app I hope to uncover here.

When Takayuki set-out to create Toy Camera he was looking for a simple effecter app that would with one click generate attractive photos reminiscent of old skool Toy Cameras. He wasn’t particularly interested in what camera that might have been, the lens or the film. It was about simple point+shoot+applyeffect. If this wasn’t enough Takayuki also incorporated feature that would randomly choose the effect so you never knew what you would get. Simple, fun and unexpected was his moto. Then came a wave of new apps making this process more and more prescriptive, ie applying effects to you own photos and some even incorporating previews of what your photo would look like once the effect has been applied. Sure this is useful but for mobile?? When do we ever have the time to sit down and begin editing our photos. This is something we may do on the desktop and there are plenty of tools that will let us do this and achieve way better quality than on the iPhone. We seem to be loosing the quality of surprise what Toy Cameras were all about = cheap and cheerful photography.

Hipstamatic app was inspired by the camera invented by Bruce and Winston Dorbowski. The idea was simple at the time, to bring people a camera that cost less than the film. Bruce had a Russian plastic camera that our father gave him as a Christmas gift in 1972. The camera had since broke and was no longer being made or sold, at least anywhere he could find it. So Bruce and Winston came up with a plan to recreate something similar. Winston had fallen in love with his Kodak Instamatic and that was the start of the Hipstamatic (read more here).

Then recently the guys from Synthetic approached Richard Dorbowski (brother) to recreate the experience of using the original Hipstamatic 100 as a digital application for iPhone. I now wonder whether I should go on and describe the experience or maybe you should discover that for yourself as I did trying different combinations of lenses, never knowing the results you will get. The only thing you should actually know before you make any purchase is that the app comes with single lens, flash and 2 films by default. Once you have tried these you will want more and additional films (the look of final prints) and effects can be purchased (3 exactly) costing $0.99 each.

Here is a little about: Pictures taken with the Hipstamatic have their very own look and unique character. Artistic and painted with light and quirk, Hipstamatic images are sometimes surprising and offer a delicate beauty turning any iPhone into an instant art making machine. Images can be uploaded directly to your Facebook album or emailed to your friends and family.

FEATURES
———————————————–
• HipstaSwap™ lens technology
• HipstaSwap™ film technology
• Square format prints
• Built in Facebook sharing
• Sweet sound effects
• ‘Classic’ parallax-offset viewfinder (with option to turn off)
• Jet black molded plastic unibody
• KwikProcess™ technology
• Swank Camera flip action
• HipstaAlbum™ viewer w/sharing
• HipstaMart shopping for additional film & lenses

Considering that there were only 157 Hipstamatic 100s ever produced — 154 of them were sold, and the family has only 3 in their storage unit, the app has made it’s way to the hands of thousands if not millions soon. If you are interested to find out more about camera’s history you should check out hipstamatic blog ran by Richard Dorbowski. For information on the app with full manual to download, see hipstamaticapp.com. For $1.99 + additional 3 lenses and flashes all in total costing $5 you get to own a piece of history. Do I need to say more?

Platform: iPhone
Version: 110
Cost: $1.99 (+in app purchases)
Developer: Synthetic Corp

TiltShift Generator is a new iPhone photo effector application by Takayuki Fukatsu. Currently in development and available in the AppStore soon, TiltShift Generator builds on Takayuki’s previous iPhone apps (ToyCamera, QuadCamera) to deliver something quite unique. For those unfamiliar with the TiltShift term: the method refers to the use of camera by tilting the lens relative to the image plane and using a large aperture to achieve a very shallow depth of field (wikipedia).

TiltShift Generator Air app is already available and the upcoming iPhone version brings a wonderful set of features to produce some truly amazing photo effects on the go. We have been sent a beta version to have a play, and have to say that this may be the best iPhone photo app Takayuki has made to date.

When you launch the app you are welcomed with the screen to choose either a photo from your album or take a new photo. Once you have loaded the pic you can switch between different modes including ability to change circle or strip blur effect (similar to tiltshift), modify colour by adjusting saturation, brightness or contrast, and third apply vignetting effect to your photo (dark shadows around the edges). Adjusting levels is done via sliders which provides an instant number feedback of how much effect your are applying. As you would expect, save option is the last button which processes effect you have selected  and saves the photo to your library. Settings are always remebered so if you quit the app and open it again taking a new photo, the same effects will be applied at start and you can change them as you like.

TiltShift Generator also includes full Twitter integration. Where you expect this to be a “upload to photo service, provide a short url and open preferred twitter client”, TiltShiftGen allows you to post to twitter straight from the app. This is achieved with the help of Takuma Mori and his open source Twitter client NatsuLion, providing a seamless integration so you are able to enter the tweet text and both the text and your photo (via twitgoo.com) are posted to twitter. This option is available from “Save” menu where you can also send your pictures by mail (once again fully integrated into the app).

TiltShift Generator for the iPhone brings a set of features that allow you to create and share amazing photos quickly and easily. The app’s icon is an icing on cake. Slick, clean, obviously inspired by the Cemara.app icon but suggesting a whole new set of features. Full featured, point, shoot and share iPhone app, TiltShift Generator will be an absolute must when released. Now available!

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: $0.99 (first week only / normally $2.99)
Developer: Takayuki Fukatsu

UPDATE: 02.09.2009 / To celebrate the release, Takayuki was kind enough to send us 5 promocodes to give away. Leave a comment below to enter. Winners will be picked by random later today.

A new addition to the ever growing collection of particle emitters for the iPhone, Fluid Motion Painter is a new release by David Hoe with a considerable amount of features to create and modify particle effects. Apart from what you would expect, and we have seen a number of apps incorporate elements like colours and stroke sizes, Fluid Motion Painter includes features like frame-by-frame viewing, force direction, rotations and much more.

Features:
+ Full resolution, high frame-rate, cutting edge graphics
+ Make your own colour sets, or choose from preset color combinations
+ Low and high level control over field customization
+ Set of high level options to customize global motion such as speed, randomness, scaling and translations
+ Includes a custom field editor with velocity brush to shape the underlying movement
+ Choose from different brush types
+ Single or dual touch
+ Quick pause – top corners
+ Frame-by-frame viewing
+ Snapshot button saves to ‘saved photos’ folder
+ Infinite amount of possible variation

For more example images, see fmpapp.com

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: $0.99
Developer: Headvoid

via Fluid Motion Painter – About .

Continue reading.... TiltShift Generator [Air]

Continue reading.... ToneMatrix [Flash]