Spurious options: part 2

Create painted effect

This checkbox is off by default and the radius to paint around each pixel is set to zero. Checking it with a radius of about 5 produces an effect like an Impressionist painting. Checking it with a radius of about 50 will eat your CPU cycles like mad for ten minutes on a reasonably powerful machine. The maximum radius is 100, but you will need either a large machine or a lot of patience for that.

Solarise image

This checkbox is off by default and the factor is set to zero. Solarising is an effect first noticed in developing photographs from negatives. It results in a negative image with different colouring from that of the "inverted colours" option in the general preferences. A solarise factor of 5 will produce startling results, but the maximum factor is 100.

Spread image pixels

This checkbox is off by default and the factor is set to zero. The result of spreading the image pixels by a radius of about 5 is similar to looking through lightly frosted glass; for heavily-frosted glass, try 25. The maximum is 100.

Swirl pixels

This checkbox is off by default and the factor is set to zero. Swirling the pixels results in a distorted image similar to an imploded image except that it swirls around the central point rather than stretching to it. A radius of 20 produces an effect like a fairground distorting mirror, only not a mirror-image; 90 a much increased version (although text is still legible); at 180 the entire image is warped; and at the maximum of 360 a spiral effect is created.