in compressed files, each bit is important, so even a tiny glitch in the wrong place can have a major effect. this is because the wordpad effect is highly destructive-it often adds lots of glitches-and file compression tends to make files fragile-difficult to glitch without breaking. if you try to use the wordpad effect on a compressed image file, such as a JPG or PNG file, the file will most likely break. specifically, it only tends to work on uncompressed bitmap files-the formats i use are BMP, TIF, and my favorite, photoshop RAW. The catch is this: the wordpad effect generally only works on certain types of image files. if you're thinking there has to be a catch, you're right, but it's not a big one. Pretty dramatic results, eh? is it really that simple? well, almost. here's how it works: you take a digital photo like this: The wordpad effect is a simple glitch effect i discovered a couple years back, with the help of my readers. let's talk about creating glitches on purpose-using databending techniques to create glitch art.
hardware and software fail all the time, occasionally creating glitch art. (there's some debate over this, but for our discussions, we won't include art that simply "looks glitchy" it has to involve real glitches.) not all glitch art is databent sometimes it occurs naturally. Glitch art is visual art that involves or is caused by digital glitches or errors.
incorrect editing-editing a file using software/hardware intended for a different form of data say, editing non-text files in a text editor.forced errors-forcing an application or piece of hardware to fail in the hopes that it will behave unexpectedly or the data will corrupt.sonification-the reinterpretation of non-audio data into audio data-probably the most common form of databending.reinterpretation-converting a file from one medium to another (say, converting an executable file into an image file) or from one file format to a dissimilar format).The most common types of databending are: the term is used most frequently in the context of electronic music (primarily glitch music). the term is inspired by the similar art of circuit bending you could say that databending is like circuit bending with no circuits. but first, let's define a few terms.ĭatabending is, in essence, the artistic misuse of digital information.
i'm starting off with this effect because it's so easy that any windows user should be able to do it (note: i haven't tried it in vista), but it's complex enough under-the-hood that it allows me to discuss several important principles of glitch art. If you are using a Photoshop RAW file then you have the option to make it headerless when you save it.Welcome to my databending and glitch art primer! in part 1, we're going to talk about one of my favorite glitch art effects-the wordpad effect. If information in the header is changed it will break the image. A file header stores information like image size, resolution and color space. Photoshop RAW, BMP and TIFF files rarely break for me but you have to still worry about the file header. This means that changing the file too much will break the image and you won’t be able to open it back up as an image. Some file types are more fragile than others as well.
JPEGs tend to produce small glitches that require a lot changes to the file’s plain text to get the results I’m looking for. Each file type will produce different results. To begin, you want to use the right image file format. Opening an image file in a HEX editor allows me to view the file in plain text and this is where I insert text from climate reports, news stories, or politicians’ quotes. Glitching images using a HEX editor is how I make the majority of my glitches.