Photo morphing freeware to meld two portraits into one?

[Martin Chuzzlewit II]

Do you know of any photo-morphing freeware that is designed top meld two
portraits into one?

I need this just once to make a birthday card, where I wish to morph a
portrait with someone's family members when printing the card.

[Savageduck]

On 2016-12-02 03:38:30 +0000, Martin Chuzzlewit II

Morphing isn't my thing, but a quick search finds a few titbits.
Some free, some not so much.
<https://www.downloadcloud.com/photo-morphing-software.html>
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/facefilm-blend-morph-face/id600610075?mt=8>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hamsoft.face.morph&hl=en>
<http://www.fantamorph.com/index.html>
<http://www.morpheussoftware.net>
--
Regards,

Savageduck

[Martin Chuzzlewit II]

On Thu, 1 Dec 2016 19:55:40 -0800, Savageduck wrote:

> Some free, some not so much.
> <https://www.downloadcloud.com/photo-morphing-software.html>
> <https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/facefilm-blend-morph-face/id600610075?mt=8>
> <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hamsoft.face.morph&hl=en>
> <http://www.fantamorph.com/index.html>
> <http://www.morpheussoftware.net>

Thanks. If you don't have experience with the software, almost certainly
nobody else here does.

Searching only works when there are reliable reviews, but as you know, most
reviews are unreliable, and many software claims are dubious.

So I was hoping to find someone who has used the morphing software for the
intended purpose.

Since nobody has (so far anyway), as always, I'll just try a few out on each
platform and report back to the team so that the next person has a better
start on the problem than I had.

[Wolf K]

I had one on Win 3.x many years ago, did a nice job, quite fast, too
(but image files were much smaller then). Sorry, can't recall its name.
You could set the number of morphing steps, I'd say that was the most
important feature.

--
Best,
Wolf K
https://kirkwood40.blogspot.com
It's called "opinion" because it's not knowledge.

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <o1qqbl$lq4$1...@gioia.aioe.org>, Martin Chuzzlewit II

What, you're trying to show how the person resembles his relatives?
You're going to put the half-way-in-between stage(s) on the card?
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

The squeamish will squeam a lot.
(Barry Norman on the film "300", in Radio Times 30 March-5 April 2013.)

[Don McC]

"Martin Chuzzlewit II" <MartinChu...@savageduck.net>
wrote in message news:o1s24j$ft5$1...@gioia.aioe.org...

> So I was hoping to find someone who has used the morphing
> software for the intended purpose.

Try a Web-based photography forum. People there would have
more experience with PhotoShop and the like.

www.apug.org or www.photo.net

--
Don

[Martin Chuzzlewit II]

On Fri, 2 Dec 2016 14:57:23 +0000 (UTC), Martin Chuzzlewit II wrote:

> I'll just try a few out on each
> platform and report back to the team so that the next person has a better
> start on the problem than I had.

I looked at the two desktop suggestions from Savageduck:
1. http://www.fantamorph.com/index.html
2. http://www.morpheussoftware.net

Both appear to be overly marketed, which is always a bad sign.
However, I first downloaded the 30-day trialware option for Fantamorph to
test it out for the team.

In general, I don't do trialware because I'm a freeware junkie where I only
use the best freeware that exists and that is widely known.

Freeware isn't free.

The *cost* of freeware is dealing with the various interfaces of all the
garbage until you hit upon the best freeware that does the job (which you
rarely hit upon by googling unless an expert informs you of the best
software for the job).

Only once you have actually installed the best freeware for the job, is it
worth learning the interface, so, the problem with trialware being used as
freeware is that after 30 days, most of your learning efforts are wasted.

So it's best, usually, to avoid all trialware out of hand especially as
trialware photo editors are often useless anyway for results because of
watermarks.

Nonetheless, since Savageduck listed it, I felt someone needed to test it
out, at least initially, for all users to benefit from the combined effort.

1. I downloaded the Fantamorph trialware
2. I disconnected the Internet
3. I clicked on the Windows installer
4. I installed to D:\test\trialware\fantamorph
5. It used up 11MB and installed quickly & didn't seem to require the net
6. It defaults to "Deluxe" (versus "Pro" or "Standard")
7. It comes up with a tutorial (which is nice).
https://s17.postimg.org/yulp2x14f/fantamorph1.jpg

I generally skip the tutorials, so I simply put two photos of two different
people into a folder and just loaded them in sequence:
Fantamorph: Image > Import Image 1 > C:\tmp\face1.jpg
Fantamorph: Image > Import Image 2 > C:\tmp\face2.jpg

I liked that Fantamorph immediately amalgamated the two images into a third
image, but it turns out the images needed to be cropped to just the faces,
which was easily done with Fantamorph:
Fantamorph: Image > (image 1) > crop
Fantamorph: Image > (image 2) > crop

It turned out that one of the cropped faces was tilted at an angle, so I
searched for an angle adjustment but all I could find were filter
adjustments (such as color, emboss, negative, hue, saturation, etc.).

So I first guessed you have to adjust the angle outside of the program
(which is easily enough done with Irfanview or Paint.NET or Vicman freeware)
but then, while I was testing options, I found a critical button which finds
the eyes, nose, ears, chin, etc., which compensates for the angles!
Fantamorph: Add-Ins > Face Locator

I was easily able to mix the two faces with various percentages using:
Fantamorph: Add-Ins > Face Mixer

The face-mixer results seem to go into a project file located in:
C:\My Documents\Abrosoft Fantamorph\Projects\new.fmx

At that point, I could export the morph "movie" or the current "frame",
when, BAM! Gotcha! This watermark warning screen pops up:
https://s12.postimg.org/4wif4w2dp/fantamorph_export.jpg

So, while the Fantamorph "Deluxe" 30d trialware is easy to use and works
reasonably well to meld two portraits (creating a dynamic movie or a static
screenshot), it's useless as trialware for actual results.

[Martin Chuzzlewit II]

On Sat, 3 Dec 2016 08:55:50 +0000 (UTC), Martin Chuzzlewit II wrote:

> I looked at the two desktop suggestions from Savageduck:
> 1. http://www.fantamorph.com/index.html
> 2. http://www.morpheussoftware.net

I wish they'd just tell us the truth on the home page but marketing never
tells you the bad stuff, which is why you have to ask someone with
experience.

Anyway, I downloaded, disconnected the Internet, and installed the $30
Morpheus trialware to test it out to see if it was also watermarked.

The first thing it did was try to phone home, which is always a bad sign:
http://www.morpheussoftware.net/morpheusmorph/install.php?a=0

The software came up with a timed nag screen (as did the prior software),w
with a 5-second nag (which we can presume gets worse over time) and then it
came up with a wizard which easily loaded the two photos where the morphing
process is similar as before, with the user placing a dot in one picture
which has a twin in the other picture.

This software seemed to have fewer automated options, e.g., I didn't see any
crop command, nor the automatic creation of the dot pairs, so I temporarily
exited the program to closely crop the portraits in Irfanview freeware.

Back in Morpheus, I loaded each photo and placed dots around the eyes, nose,
mouth, etc. using the command:
Morpheus: Tools > Add Dots > click (on the center of the eyeball in photo 1)

That created a geometrically placed "partner" dot in photo 2 (in the wrong
place), so I moved the second dot using:
Morpheus: Tools > Move Dots > clicking to select & move the partner dot

This took some getting used to, so the good news is that there were keyboard
shortcuts of "A" to add a dot to the first photo and "D" to move the
companion dot to a similar feature location on the second photo.

After a while of adding dots and moving companion dots, you realize where
the automatic feature of the prior software is useful, but the compensation
mechanism would be to have had the two photos reasonably evenly matched in
size and grid location in the first place (e.g., eyes in a similar grid
location in both photos).

As with the prior software, there were three images, where you could move a
slider on the third amalgam to manually choose the morph frame from mostly
picture 1 to mostly picture 2 and everything in between.

Now that it was time to save, it wasn't obvious how to save the morphed pic!
Morpheus: File > Save Layout > new.aml

Looking around, there were options to email, but they used a server instead
of your own email; and there were options to upload to a web site (which
would be crazy) and besides, I had disconnected the Internet on purpose
while using the software (which is standard practice when testing software),
so, nothing would work on the net anyway (nor would I have wanted that to).

Finally, I resorted to RTFM, where I soon found the output command:
Morpheus: File > Render Timeline > Save as type JPG > Save

This created 15 JPEG files, which were the range of morphing from 100%
picture 1 to 100% picture 2, which allowed me to step through them to choose
the desired image.

The good news is that this morphed result was not watermarked!

This quality of result was uglier in the first pass than the prior results
simply because you have to get the hang of putting the dots manually in the
right spots but at least the trialware (for however long it works) does
result in a usable morphed photo.

So, overall here's a quick comparison of the two suggested trialware apps:
Fantamorph: 30-day trial, easy to use, automated; results watermarked!
Morpheus: Unknown trial period, easy to use, manual; results are usable!

[Martin Chuzzlewit II]

On Fri, 2 Dec 2016 19:00:18 -0500, Don McC wrote:

> Try a Web-based photography forum. People there would have
> more experience with PhotoShop and the like.
>
> www.apug.org or www.photo.net

Thanks for that suggestion.

I'm a privacy freak, so, I don't want to go (yet) to the trouble of going on
VPN, creating a bogus email account and perhaps an email forwarder, and then
registering for a web site with a bogus email they will accept, and then
lurking for a while to get the hang of it and then posting the same question
I posted here, and then never posting there ever again (because this is a
one-shot photo question).

Really, all I wanted to know was whether anyone here had experience with
morphing software to give me advice. That nobody has that experience is OK,
as the second suggestion from Savageduck seems to have worked well enough
for my purposes (for now anyway, until the trial period expires).

The expense of freeware is the effort involved to get good results, but I
think I'm doing ok with that suggestion from Savageduck, in that the
Morpheus Photo Morpher v3.17 trialware seems to have worked.

Of course, it's not obvious how long that trialware will continue to work.

It's not in the FAQ that came with the software and it's not obvious how
long the trial period is from the web page either.
http://www.morpheussoftware.net/morpheusmorph/faq/faq.php

I searched their forum and didn't find the expiry period either:
http://forums.morpheussoftware.net/

So, how long the Morpheus trialware will work will have to be determined
over time by me; but then I can report that back to you so that everyone
benefits from every action (which is how Usenet is supposed to work).

[Martin Chuzzlewit II]

On Fri, 2 Dec 2016 10:29:21 +0000, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

> What, you're trying to show how the person resembles his relatives?
> You're going to put the half-way-in-between stage(s) on the card?

It's not so much that they *resemble* their relatives, but that an amalgam
of two (or more) people can be made, where you can see the features of both
people morphed together.

An example is shown in this tutorial screenshot from my computer:
https://s17.postimg.org/yulp2x14f/fantamorph1.jpg

In that example, they morphed a woman with a leopard, where you can
recognize features of both images in the final output.

[Martin Chuzzlewit II]

On Fri, 2 Dec 2016 10:20:00 -0500, Wolf K wrote:

> I had one on Win 3.x many years ago, did a nice job, quite fast, too
> (but image files were much smaller then). Sorry, can't recall its name.
> You could set the number of morphing steps, I'd say that was the most
> important feature.

Thanks Wolf.
I can see that there are two "features" which are pretty important.

The first is automation in finding the relevant common points in two photos
(although if it's freeware, manual should be ok).

The second is, as you said, the number of discrete morphing steps.

The two I tested gave, by default, about 15 steps (which could be changed)
but the first I tested gave sliders for shapes and features, which gave an
additional level of control over certain features.

So, for example, you could meld the eyes of photo 1 at 80% but you could use
the nose of photo 2 by 80% so that the final picture is more the eyes of one
and more the nose of the other instead of a 50:50 mix.

As I try various versions, I'm sure I'll find out more that matters, but
right now what mostly matters is that it's freeware and that the results are
usable (since this is a one-time need).

[Martin Chuzzlewit II]

On Sat, 3 Dec 2016 10:27:33 +0000 (UTC), Martin Chuzzlewit II wrote:

> Really, all I wanted to know was whether anyone here had experience with
> morphing software to give me advice. That nobody has that experience is OK,
> as the second suggestion from Savageduck seems to have worked well enough
> for my purposes (for now anyway, until the trial period expires).

In hindsight, I should have asked "rec.photo.digital" as a crosspost.
So I'll separately ask them (and bring over here any good suggestions).

[Sjouke Burry]

http://www.pcorner.com/PCorner/UPLOAD/CMORPH.ZIP

Is a morphing program for DOS, might work under XP dos window.

[Mr. Man-wai Chang]

It could also be used to scare people so as to cast a dark magical spell? :)

[s|b]

All that crossposting and you still didn't get it right. Try
alt.comp.freeware.

--
s|b

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <5842d2f3$0$2180$e4fe...@textnews.kpn.nl>, Sjouke Burry

It sort of does; on my hardware, much frantic alt-tabbing to get my
desktop back, and so on, but yes, it works - at least, the demo worked,
producing 30 frames from one image to the other, and quite well I
thought - certainly amazing for something less than a meg in size
[zipped, anyway]! (It doesn't make them into a movie, though the text
suggests another utility that would.) I only skimmed it and ran the
demo, but it looks as if it might be quite versatile (especially for its
size!).

I CBA to try it on my 7 machine; I suspect it might not, though worth a
try if you want.

--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

in the kingdom of the bland, the one idea is king. - Rory Bremner (on
politics), RT 2015/1/31-2/6

[Sjouke Burry]

On 03.12.16 18:48, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
> In message <5842d2f3$0$2180$e4fe...@textnews.kpn.nl>, Sjouke Burry
> <burrynu...@ppllaanneett.nnll> writes:
>> On 02.12.16 4:38, Martin Chuzzlewit II wrote:
>>> Do you know of any photo-morphing freeware that is designed top meld two
>>> portraits into one?
>>>
>>> I need this just once to make a birthday card, where I wish to morph a
>>> portrait with someone's family members when printing the card.
>>>
>> http://www.pcorner.com/PCorner/UPLOAD/CMORPH.ZIP
>>
>> Is a morphing program for DOS, might work under XP dos window.
>
> It sort of does; on my hardware, much frantic alt-tabbing to get my
> desktop back, and so on, but yes, it works - at least, the demo worked,
> producing 30 frames from one image to the other, and quite well I
> thought - certainly amazing for something less than a meg in size
> [zipped, anyway]! (It doesn't make them into a movie, though the text
> suggests another utility that would.) I only skimmed it and ran the
> demo, but it looks as if it might be quite versatile (especially for its
> size!).
>
> I CBA to try it on my 7 machine; I suspect it might not, though worth a
> try if you want.
>

I used this pack to make an avi or fli movie:link:
> http://home.planet.nl/~burry004/tga2fli.zip

This will stay there for only a few days.
Hope you can use it.

[David Taylor]

On 02/12/2016 10:29, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
[]

> What, you're trying to show how the person resembles his relatives?
> You're going to put the half-way-in-between stage(s) on the card?

He's trying to achieve what trolls normally try.

--
Cheers,
David
Web: http://www.satsignal.eu

[Martin Chuzzlewit II]

On Sat, 3 Dec 2016 18:43:17 +0000, David Taylor wrote:

> He's trying to achieve what trolls normally try.

David Taylor,

That you are a moron and a troll is obvious to all.
That you have zero on-topic value to add is just as obvious.

But why do you persist in shouting out to the entire world that you (a) have
a third-grade intellect, and (b) you have no on-topic value to add?

It just amazes me, these David Taylor trolls, what they write, when they
can't comprehend any technical topic whatsoever!

Anyway, to keep this thread on track so that everyone benefits from the
effort, I'm going to test the Windows freeware first.

To that end, and so that others benefit, the following Windows freeware is
the order I will test and report back to the Windows team.

1. Abrosoft FantaMorph Trial (useless output due to watermark)
http://www.fantamorph.com/index.html
2. Morpheus Photo Morpher Trial (useful output, unknown trial period)
http://www.morpheussoftware.net/
3. Sqirls Morph (next in line to be tested & reported upon)
http://www.xiberpix.net/SqirlzMorph.html
4. Face Morpher
http://www.facemorpher.com/
5. Etinysoft Magic Morph
http://www.effectmatrix.com/morphing/
6. MorphThing
http://www.morphthing.com/
7. Stoik MorphMan
http://www.stoik.com/products/old/stoik-morphman.php

Only if the windows freeware fails, will I be testing the Android and iOS
freeware (since nobody seems to have any experience, all the work is up to
me to come to the conclusion to benefit everyone else.)

Since the testing will be performed first on Windows, this is the last post
in this thread where I will respond to the iOS and Android newsgroups. The
answer as to the best morphing freeware will be on the Windows newsgroup if
anyone needs it.

[Joerg Lorenz]

Am 03.12.2016 um 22:26 schrieb Martin Chuzzlewit II:
> On Sat, 3 Dec 2016 18:43:17 +0000, David Taylor wrote:
>
>> He's trying to achieve what trolls normally try.
>
> David Taylor,
>
> That you are a moron and a troll is obvious to all.

You too:
Path: news.albasani.net!news.mixmin.net!aioe.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
^^^^^^^^
This is one of the most "famous" troll servers on this planet. In
addition you are crossposting. I would advise you to stop this immediately.


--
Reclaim your inbox! Thunderbird makes emailing safer, faster, and easier
than ever before with the industry's best implementations of features
such as intelligent spam filters, built-in RSS reader, quick search, and
much more. http://www.mozilla-europe.org

[John Corliss]

Here are the freeware morphing programs I have archived:

Fotomorph: http://www.diphso.no/FotoMorph.html
Smartmorph (now replaced by Popims Animator):
http://meesoft.logicnet.dk/PopimsAnimator
Winmorph: http://www.debugmode.com/winmorph

I'm sure there are others, eg. Sqirlz Morph:
http://www.xiberpix.net/SqirlzMorph.html

--
John Corliss

[Martin Chuzzlewit II]

On Sun, 4 Dec 2016 00:21:41 -0800, John Corliss wrote:

> Here are the freeware morphing programs I have archived:
>
> Fotomorph: http://www.diphso.no/FotoMorph.html
> Smartmorph (now replaced by Popims Animator):
> http://meesoft.logicnet.dk/PopimsAnimator
> Winmorph: http://www.debugmode.com/winmorph
>
> I'm sure there are others, eg. Sqirlz Morph:
> http://www.xiberpix.net/SqirlzMorph.html

Thanks John for your suggestions, as you've been reliable for years.
I also have an archive of the best freeware, dating back two decades.

Adding your suggestions to the already growing list to test, I agree that
the Michael Vinther "SmartMorph" was changed to "MeeSoft Popims Animator";
but I can't find the download link for Popims Animator, so I listed it last
in the freeware listing to test.

It's good that you've archived it, as I have been archiving freeware for
decades, where I often find that the older freeware does the same job faster
and must less intrusively (far fewer phoning home events, for example) than
the newer versions.

I'm so glad it's just as easy to archive mobile-phone zip files, as I also
maintain a sister hierararchy of Android APKs on my Windows hard drives,
which allows me to reinstall everything on my mobile phone (where again, the
older versions of the freeware are far less intrusive than newer versions).

While I have already successfully created the morphing card, further tests
are in progress where all responses will only be in a.w7.g because there was
so much morphing freeware to look at on Windows alone that there's no need
to use the mobile platforms for morphing freeware.

So that everyone benefits from every action, as always, here's a summary
list of the current tools in the testing sequence (where you never get to
the payware unless the freeware fails; and the freeware rarely fails):

FREEWARE:
1. WinMorph freeware
http://www.debugmode.com/winmorph/
2. Etinysoft Magic Morph freeware
http://www.effectmatrix.com/morphing/
http://downloads.tomsguide.com/magic-morph,0301-6817.html
3. Complete Morph Freeware by Paul Nettle.
http://www.pcorner.com/PCorner/UPLOAD/CMORPH.ZIP
4. Fotomorph ffreware
http://www.diphso.no/FotoMorph.html
5. Sqirls Morph freeware
http://www.xiberpix.net/SqirlzMorph.html
http://www.tucows.com/preview/365265
x. Popims Animator freeware
(previously http://meesoft.logicnet.dk/SmartMorph/ )
http://meesoft.logicnet.dk/PopimsAnimator <== download URL is bad?

FREE ONLINE UTILITY:
1. MorphThing
http://www.morphthing.com/

TRIALWARE:
1. Abrosoft FantaMorph Trial (see detailed post by Krypto)

http://www.fantamorph.com/index.html
2. Morpheus Photo Morpher Trial (useful output, unknown trial period)
http://www.morpheussoftware.net/

3. Face Morpher Trial
http://www.facemorpher.com/
4. Stoik MorphMan
http://www.stoik.com/products/video/STOIK-Morph-Man-2016/
http://www.stoik.com/products/old/stoik-morphman.php

[Bert]

In news:o1vdau$1g1r$2...@gioia.aioe.org Martin Chuzzlewit II

<MartinChu...@savageduck.net> wrote:

> That you are a moron and a troll is obvious to all.

If you honestly believe this person is trolling, you really shouldn't be
responding to him, should you?

--
be...@iphouse.com St. Paul, MN