Databending & Glitching Images
Part 1. Convert your image file to a .bmp (bitmap file).
- Go to photopea.com.
- Drag & drop your image file into the web page.
- Convert the image filetype by going to File → Export as → More → choose BMP → hit Save.
Make a copy of this .bmp to save as an original version, and duplicate this file each time you want to make a new glitched version.
Part 2. Edit the image as a text file.
- You can do this with most text editors (i.e. TextEdit on a Mac or Notepad on a Windows machine) but I recommend downloading Sublime Text for easy editing.
- Right-click on the .bmp file of your image and choose to open with Sublime (you may have to search for it).
- Once the image is open in Sublime, go to File → Reopen File as Text.
- Notice the two tabs open, one with the image visible and one with the image as a text file. To alter this image, try copy/pasting, rearranging, & deleting lines in the text file.
- Save the text file (File → Save) and toggle back to the image tab to see what changes you’ve made.
- Go back and forth to check your results as you keep making adjustments to the text file.
Avoid messing with the text at the very top and bottom of the document, as this is part of the file header and could cause the file to break.
Part 3. Edit the image as an audio file.
- Download Audacity on your computer.
- With Audacity open, choose File → Import → Raw Data… → select your .bmp file → Open.
- When prompted, select Encoding: A-Law and Byte order: Little-endian → Import.
- You can now alter this image by applying effects (from the Effects menu) to portions of the audio waveform.
- Save the file (File → Export Audio…) and choose Export to computer.
- Choose Format: Other uncompressed files, Header: RAW (header-less), and Encoding: A-Law → Export.
- Open the .raw file created to preview the image result.
Similar to text editing, try to leave the first and last 5 seconds alone, to avoid breaking the file. For the same reason, avoid effects that lengthen the audio file.
Resources!!! Explore more about Databending and Glitch Art
- glitch[dot]cool: Glitch Art Tutorial 01: Databending in Audacity
- A Vernacular of File Formats by artist Rosa Menkman (pdf here)
- Databending Introduction by Nick Briz