Overview
Introduction
This tool creates a smeared, marbled pixel-blending effect on a PNG, entirely in your browser, by randomly mixing each pixel's color with a nearby neighbor.
It sits alongside this category's other glitch/texture effects as a distinctly random, local-blending take rather than a uniform blur or an ordering-based sort.
What Is PNG Pixels Mixer?
A client-side pixel-effect tool that, for each pixel, rolls a probability based on a chosen strength percentage, and if it hits, blends that pixel's RGB 50/50 with a randomly chosen pixel somewhere within a chosen radius.
Every blend reads from the original, unmodified image, so one pixel's mix never cascades into or compounds with another's in the same pass.
How PNG Pixels Mixer Works
For each pixel, a random check against the strength percentage decides whether it gets mixed at all; if so, a random offset within plus-or-minus the radius (in both x and y, clamped to image bounds) picks its blend partner.
The pixel's RGB becomes the average of its own original color and its partner's original color; its own alpha is always preserved unchanged.
When To Use PNG Pixels Mixer
Use it to create a smeared, marbled, or watercolor-ish glitch-art texture from a photo or graphic.
It's also a fun way to generate abstract background textures or distressed-looking variants of a clean image.
Often used alongside PNG Pixels Sorter, PNG Blurrer and Glitch PNG Creator.
Features
Advantages
- Runs entirely client-side; nothing you upload leaves your device.
- Independently tunable radius and strength give a wide range of subtle-to-extreme results.
- Produces a genuinely different texture from blur or pixel-sorting effects already in this category.
Limitations
- Results are randomized (via `Math.random`), so running the tool twice on identical settings won't produce an identical output.
- At high strength and large radius, the effect can become so extreme that the original image is barely recognizable.
Examples
Best Practices & Notes
Best Practices
- Start with a small radius and moderate strength, then increase either independently to dial in how extreme the effect looks.
- Larger radii create longer-range color bleeding; smaller radii keep the smear tight and local.
Developer Notes
mixPngPixels reads every blend source from the original source buffer (never the output buffer being written), avoiding any cascading/compounding effect within a single pass; both the mix decision and the neighbor offset use plain Math.random, so output is not deterministic or seedable between runs, which is documented here rather than silently assumed.
PNG Pixels Mixer Use Cases
- Creating smeared or marbled glitch-art textures from a photo
- Generating abstract, distressed-looking background textures
- Producing a randomized, non-uniform alternative to a standard blur effect
Common Mistakes
- Expecting identical output between runs with the same settings: the effect is intentionally randomized, not seeded.
- Confusing this with a blur when a smooth, even softening (rather than a smeared, uneven texture) is actually what's wanted.
Tips
- If the result looks too subtle, raise strength before raising radius; strength affects how many pixels change at all.
- Combine with the PNG Noise Adder for an even grittier, more distressed final texture.