VFX Atlas
M 121 / 18305 Video & Glitchalgorithm output

Screen Tearing

video & glitch

Typeface · Rubik Lines

Atlas demonstration: the free source photo and the computed Screen Tearing. A coastal landscape featuring lush cliffs, a waterfall, and blue flowers in the foreground. The scenery is fractured into three distinct horizontal zones with significant lateral shifts that sever the flow of the terrain and water.
Atlas demonstration: the free source photo and the computed Screen Tearing. A coastal landscape featuring lush cliffs, a waterfall, and blue flowers in the foreground. The scenery is fractured into three distinct horizontal zones with significant lateral shifts that sever the flow of the terrain and water.Image: Tiago Aguiar tiagoaguiar · CC0 (via Wikimedia Commons), processed for the AtlasView source ↗

Prompt

Apply Screen Tearing, splitting the photograph into several horizontal bands with abrupt sideways offsets. Create sharply misaligned object edges at each tear, retaining crisp pixels, original colors, and intact detail inside each band. Avoid wavy distortion or generalized noise. Keep the original subject and composition.

Paste it into LetzAI with your own image to apply the effect ↗

Identify

You see an image split horizontally into two or more misaligned sections, making objects look disjointed or fractured.

Principle

The algorithm shifts pixel rows1 left or right starting from a specific horizontal line. This mimics a display updating its frame buffer2 while the screen is still drawing the previous frame.

Try it out

Adjust the height of the tear line and the amount of horizontal shift.

Classification

Calculated image processing result.

Further examples · 9 images

Screen Tearing, applied to “Portrait of an Ape (Unsplash)”
02 Screen Tearing, applied to “Portrait of an Ape (Unsplash)”The portrait of a large gorilla resting its head is captured in a close-up view. The subject’s face is sliced into multiple layers, causing the eyes, nose, and hand to become completely misaligned in a jarring digital stutter.Rob Schreckhise robschreckhise (photo); processed for the Atlas · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Screen Tearing, applied to “Staying up all night to watch the sunrise (Unsplash)”
03 Screen Tearing, applied to “Staying up all night to watch the sunrise (Unsplash)”A wooden boardwalk leads through sand dunes toward a soft sunset over the ocean. The path is abruptly broken into three offset segments, making the walkway appear impossible to traverse due to the horizontal displacement.Senor Sosa senor_sosa (photo); processed for the Atlas · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Screen Tearing, applied to “Bird in Hand (Unsplash)”
04 Screen Tearing, applied to “Bird in Hand (Unsplash)”A small bird is shown landing on an outstretched hand to feed on seeds against a blurred forest backdrop. The bird’s body and the person's blue sleeve are severed into several misaligned tiers, illustrating a sharp timing error in the image processing.Bonnie Kittle bonniekdesign (photo); processed for the Atlas · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Screen Tearing, applied to “Man with wrinkles and cap (Unsplash)”
05 Screen Tearing, applied to “Man with wrinkles and cap (Unsplash)”A close-up portrait of an elderly man wearing a straw hat is presented in four distinct segments. The subject's facial features are starkly misaligned, with his eyes and mouth shifting sharply to the right and left against a dark background.Kahar Saidyhalam kahar (photo); processed for the Atlas · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Screen Tearing, applied to “My mom's swedish bird house. (Unsplash)”
06 Screen Tearing, applied to “My mom's swedish bird house. (Unsplash)”A small red birdhouse hangs amidst green foliage and garden ornaments. The central birdhouse is fractured into multiple horizontal slices that are laterally displaced, creating a disjointed architectural form.JelleHarmen van Mourik jelleharmen (photo); processed for the Atlas · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Screen Tearing, applied to “Andrew Branch 2016-08-22 (Unsplash npCECWX6-d0)”
07 Screen Tearing, applied to “Andrew Branch 2016-08-22 (Unsplash npCECWX6-d0)”A black cat and a brown dog appear to be resting near each other on a flat surface. The bodies of the animals are divided into distinct bands that have been slid horizontally, causing the dog's head to be severed from its torso.Andrew Branch denae_andrew (photo); processed for the Atlas · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Screen Tearing, applied to “Coffee mug and biscuit (Unsplash)”
08 Screen Tearing, applied to “Coffee mug and biscuit (Unsplash)”A cup of coffee and a stack of cookies sit on a wooden table next to a notepad and pen. The round shapes of the cup and the cookies are broken into three offset sections, destroying the physical continuity of the objects.Daria Nepriakhina epicantus (photo); processed for the Atlas · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Screen Tearing, applied to “Muscat desert sunset (Unsplash)”
09 Screen Tearing, applied to “Muscat desert sunset (Unsplash)”Sunlight illuminates a vast desert landscape marked by ripples in the sand and scattered footprints. A large rectangular section of the sky and horizon is shifted to the left, creating a blocky, unnatural interruption in the clouds.Giorgio Parravicini parradesign (photo); processed for the Atlas · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

Sources