Image Blender



Image Blender


This sketch takes two images and blends them together by taking the average of each pixel.

For example, if you start with these images:

leaf tree

The sketch blends them together to create this image:

blended image

let imgOne;
let imgTwo;

function preload() {
  imgOne = loadImage('images/leaf-1.jpg');
  imgTwo = loadImage('images/tree-1.jpg');
}

function setup() {
  createCanvas(500, 500);

  // Resize the images so they fit on the screen
  imgOne.resize(width, height);
  imgTwo.resize(width, height);

  // other setup
  noLoop();
  noSmooth();
}

function draw() {

  // Look at each pixel in the images,
  // and average their R, G, and B values
  // to mix the colors together.
  imgOne.loadPixels();
  imgTwo.loadPixels();
  for (let y = 0; y < imgOne.height; y++) {
    for (let x = 0; x < imgOne.width; x++) {

      // Get the colors.
      const colorOne = imgOne.get(x, y);
      const colorTwo = imgTwo.get(x, y);

      // Compute average R, G, and B values.
      const avgRed = (red(colorOne) + red(colorTwo)) / 2;
      const avgGreen = (green(colorOne) + green(colorTwo)) / 2;
      const avgBlue = (blue(colorOne) + blue(colorTwo)) / 2;

      // Draw a point with the average color.
      stroke(avgRed, avgGreen, avgBlue);
      point(x, y);
    }
  }

}

//noprotect

Click here to edit this code in the p5 editor.

Try changing the code inside the nested for loop to blend the images together differently. For example:

for (let y = 0; y < imgOne.height; y++) {
  for (let x = 0; x < imgOne.width; x++) {

    // Get the colors.
    const colorOne = imgOne.get(x, y);
    const colorTwo = imgTwo.get(x, y);

    // Get the brightness.
    const brightnessOne = red(colorOne) + green(colorOne) + blue(colorOne);
    const brightnessTwo = red(colorTwo) + green(colorTwo) + blue(colorTwo);

    // Draw using the brightest color.
    if (brightnessOne > brightnessTwo) {
      stroke(colorOne);
    } else {
      stroke(colorTwo);
    }
    point(x, y);
  }
}

This code compares the brightness of each pixel, and draws whichever pixel is brighter. This creates images like this:

blended image

This is part of p5 spooky sketches printout I made for CC Fest in 2019. That printout contains a bunch of Halloween-themed examples of drawing and image manipulation. Feel free to use it on your own or in a classroom!

Remix Ideas

  • Instead of averaging the pixels, create a color by taking the green from the first image and the red from the second image.
  • Take the darker pixel instead of the brighter pixel.
  • Try blending together more than two images!

Images Examples

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