Hi everyone!

So what is the Scatter feature and how should we use it? All of the information you need is right here!

The Scatter feature controls how randomly the tiles are filled across the same color areas. When using scatter, instead of placing the photo in the best possible placement, the software will take a certain percentage of the empty tiles (according to the defined scatter percentage) and randomly choose one of these tiles.

0% scatter will not randomize the placement of photos on the board and will place photos on the best possible location for them.

100% scatter value will completely randomize the placement of photos on the board, even if it’s not the best fit for them.

Here is our master photo with 0% Scatter activation vs. 100% Scatter activation results:

Master Photo:

The scatter value is a tradeoff between the best possible location and the randomness of placement. 

How does the Scatter Algorithm work?

The tiles' position depends on a scoring given to each photo by the software. Each tile on the board gets a sub-coloring scoring and any photo that is being imported to the "raw" folder gets a sub-coloring score. 

For example, if we have a 300 tiles board and the first photo is being imported to the "raw" folder, the software will run an algorithm that will give it a score. The best score will apply the minimal manipulations on the tile (if at all) in order to place it in the best position.

If the scatter value is 10%, the software will select 10% of the best tile positions and will randomly place the photo on one of them. 100% Scatter value will spare the scattering, and will simply select a random tile to place the photo on, and will apply colorization and alpha effect on it.

A colorful photo will not be as affected by the Scatter value as a 2-3 colors photo.

Here are two different master photos. One has  colors and the other one is colorful:

Here are both photos in the middle of activation, with 0% Scatter value. You can see the difference between the two photos, that although has 0 randomizations, the colorful photo is not being affected by it as much.