DitherT software with Processing. 2017

One day I came across some interesting articles on dither algorithms and consequently became interested in implementing some simple sketches with Processing. What ensued from that initial spark of curiosity became an on-going exploration into dithering applied to letter form. One of my intentions for this project will be to organise some workshops with this tool, developing on ideas that came to the surface during my alphaGraph experiments.

Project type : Workshop | Research
Tools used : DitherT, Processing, fonts
Code Repository : DitherT Repo

Dithering is a digital technique for displaying images with a limited colour palette. Also known as colour quantization, dithering algorithms are used to reduce colour banding, where large colour zones of one particular shade build up in the image. Dithering therefore helps in distributing the limited colour palette in a more visually pleasing manner, avoiding these blocks of mono shades and other visual artefacts. It does this by approximating the colour of pixels based on neighbouring pixel values. A basic algorithm for dithering is to run through each pixel of an image and compare its brightness to a fixed threshold - usually 50% grey level. If the pixel is darker, we plot a black pixel, if it is lighter, we plot a white pixel.

Due to the nature of these algorithms, dithering tends to introduce patterns into the image. Whereas this technique has been used to optimise images for printing and displaying on screens, I am looking to accentuate these patterns as a purely aesthetic means for image making.