WinMorph creates morphing animations with ease

WinMorph creates morphing animations with ease:

Morphing animation done with WinMorph

If you’ve seen one of those animations where one image turns into another (a young boy into an old man, Brad Pitt’s face transforming to Angelina’s, shown above) and would like to try your hand at creating a few of your own, this software is for you. WinMorph is a free program that can create an animation of one image morphing into another. It is different from other programs in it’s in the relative ease and user friendliness that will have you creating morphing animation very quickly.

How it works: you will need to specify two images first thing. Next, use the drawing tools in the left sidebar to draw shapes and outline elements in the first picture, and then identify where these elements ended up in the second. For example, you might draw a circle around an eye in the original image, and then take the same circle (which will be automatically drawn in the same location in the second image) and move it to where that same eye ended up (see screenshot above). Look for tutorials in your language on YouTube.

Why I like this system: I like that the user decides on which elements to draw and identify. I have seen other programs which fill the screen with ‘dots’ in the first image and ask the user to place them properly in the second, which is a whole lot of work and a somewhat daunting task. This seems much more intuitive and much more manageable (in any case, the user feels much more in control).

Tips for good morphs: use images that are of the same size (in pixels) to begin with. Eliminate superfluous elements (no need for that extra unrelated face in the background, edit it out or choose a different image), and outline and map out as many elements as you can, especially dark, important visual elements such as eyebrows, mouths, hair, etc. Just my /$.02

The verdict: if creating morphing animations sounds like fun to you, give this program a try. You will not be disappointed, and you should be able to get a fairly good result within an hour or two of playing with the program.

Version tested: 3.01

Compatibility: WinAll

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (4.37 megs).