Foto-Mosaik
For creating a single image composed of many smaller and different images
Fotomosaik version of my Venus image cropped for head only
Foto-Mosaik is an impressive freeware program for creating mosaics. The author requests only that you send him a postcard with no payment as the program is free. You will like the wizard and clear instructions guiding you to your final mosaic. post mail this guy a postcard because this is fantastic software. Here instructions below on creating an entire mosaic for yourself.
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Click here to Download Foto-Mosaik v4.1.0 by Steffen Schirmer
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Begin by installing the program. I chose English and said okay to all the default installation locations. You'll notice when the program finally runs there is a delay with the message about mailing the author. I sent him a post card this week so I hope it gets to him.
1) The program starts by welcoming you and asking you to left-click the Next button.
2) The add-delete pictures from database screen is first up. Left-click the radio button next to the green plus graphic in order to add pictures to the database you will be creating. The New database option is chosen by default. Change the name of your database from New to something more meaningful. For instance if you are going to be sorting flower images title this database Flowers or something similar. You may want to change where the database file is stored. The default is Drive:\Foto-Mosaik\. Most of my files like this are written to a Temporary folder so I'll change mine to c:\temp. You'll need to left-click the folder icon and navigate to where your temp folder is. Typing it in manually doesn't seem to work. Move to the next step by left-clicking the Next button.
3) The folder or movie screen is up next. Pictures from local folder is the default option for this screen. Left-click the Next option. As a note the movie option may be helpful if you don't have an image collection of your own. From the looks of it you may need to let this capture movie frames in the length of time it takes to really watch the movie. Once you've captured your movie frames you may want to go back to the first screen. The "Edit" database option on the first page will show you all the movie images. At that point you can delete and clean up the database as you wish.
4) On the Add Pictures to Database screen left-click the blue folder icon and navigate to the folder where your pictures are located. Be sure to select the Include Subdirs checkbox option if you have more than one folder where your images reside. This is really helpful since my images are in many "sub-directories". Left-click the Next button. The program will begin searching for your images and cataloguing them into the database. This may take some time depending on the amount of images you have. The percentage of completion is shown at the bottom for your convenience. For a good mosaic you may need a break about now.
5) The Select Files screen wants you to left-click the Open icon and find an image that will be your master picture. I recommend something with good contrast between the foreground and background. The next line wants you to select where the final results are saved. Left-click the Choose icon and locate where you want the mosaic to be once complete. The option of selecting a CSV file for tracking images with the help of Microsoft's Excel isn't necessary in this tutorial. Left-click Next and let's move forward.
6) The select database screen is next. Left-click the small box to indicate which database you will use for your images. If this is your first time then the name is the same as the one we created just moments ago. Check that box and left-click Next.
7) The mosaic options screen is next. Change the number of tiles box and be sure to look at the screen resolution under the representation of your chosen image. I would do an image much greater than 1024x768 to assure the smaller images are viewable. For my example I'm going to leave the default as 1000 tiles but set the size of those tiles to 150 pixels below in the X and Y fields. My results end up being about 4884x3663 pixels. This is a small size for a mosaic but decent test size since the images that come out of my digital camera are about the same resolution. I'm going to leave the format for landscape but change this if you feel it is necessary based on the height of your own image. The last box asks how often should one tile be used. If your database has a large number of images then be sure to use a smaller number so the same darn pictures don't get seen over and over again. I'm going to lower my number to three or less.
8) The next screen asks about Cross-fading the mosaic. What this does at one end is output your raw mosaic. If the slider is too far the other way it starts to show your master image with little mosaic in it. So the half way point mixes your mosaic with the original image. Personally I feel a good mosaic should have very little or no blending because your smaller pictures should lure the viewer in using unusual shapes and colors. If you blend then you also take the risk of having the original image discolor your smaller images.
9) The last step is the Finished screen. All you have to do is left-click the Close button at the bottom. Now go find where you saved your image and take a look at it.
Your mosaics will be much clearer I'm sure. I shrunk all of the images in this tutorial for internet bandwidth. In some cases this page will still load slow depending on your internet connection. On your mosaic projects try using 150 pixels per tile as the minimum for your final results. That will give you decent clarity. Putting these mosaics together is quite a rush and I hope you get addicted as I have. Send any updates or recommendations regarding this tutorial using the link below.
Check out my video for Foto-Mosiak done. If you are the type person who learns faster from watching someone than reading, then below video may be helpful to you. Here I create an entire photo-mosaic in about a few minutes. Once you see the work-flow of the program you can head straight into the process as shown in the video. Feel free to send me feedback if this tutorial worked for you or maybe why it didn't. I've just put up a feedback area in the icon at the bottom of the screen. Happy mosaicing!
My video demo of Fotomosaik
Written Sep07 and updated Aug08 by Tracy Rose