Sqirlz Morph is a free application I use to create stunning morphs for personal use, and on the web. In my opinion, it is the best freeware morphing software available. 

Sqirlz Morph has an interface similar to other morphing programs so, if you’ve ever dabbled in it before, you will have no problem picking up this one.  If your new to the scene, Sqirlz Morph is an excellent place to start.  In a nutshell, the user opens two similar images that they want to morph, defines control points, and renders the image.

When choosing your images, keep in mind that they do not have to be the same size; Sqirlz Morph has a built in function allowing you to equalize the sizes. It is a good idea to choose images that have similar characteristics. For example, make sure the two objects you are morphing are facing the same way and avoid using images where the first is a close-up of a face, and the second is a full body shot.

Once you have the images you want to morph loaded, you will define control points.  Control points are the heart and soul of any morphing program.  They allow you to communicate with the software telling it how to render the image. These points show up in Sqirlz Morph as tiny circles placed over the image. The basic idea of this is that you want to add control points to key features on one image, and then move them on the second image to correspond with the first. For instance, I would add a control point to the left, right, top, bottom, and center of the tigers eye.  The control points would also be added on the second image (my face), and would need to be moved to the same positions on my eye.

Aside from the standard picture to picture morph, Sqirlz Morph 1.3 has multi-morphing capabilities allowing you to morph up to 200 image files simultaneously! The software also provides you with a preview window, enabling you to see a 50/50 real time blend of the images before rendering.  Output files can be created in AVI, Animated Gif, Flash SWF, and be rendered in one way, reverse, or back and forth morph.

As if morphing wasn’t enough, you could select “warp mode” to warp a single image using the same control points.  In this case, you would place a control point on an area in the image, and then move the point on the image to where you want that area to end up in the warp. For example, I may place a control point on the left, center, and right side of my mouth, and move the left and right control points down an inch. In rendering, this would create an animation of me frowning.

The possibilities in this software are endless, and will take you as far as your imagination will go.  Sqirlz Morph is also available via Download.Com.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, November 21st, 2006 at 1:22 pm under Internet.

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