Upload an image to ripple
Accepted formats: JPG, PNG, WEBP, BMP, GIF (non-animated)
Paste (Ctrl/⌘+V) or drop an image — or import from a URL
A ripple (or “wave”) distortion bends an image along sine waves, turning straight lines into smooth, rolling curves — the look of a reflection on rippling water or a heat-haze shimmer. For every pixel in the output, the tool looks up a slightly shifted position in the original image, with the shift following a sine wave, and reads the colour there using bilinear interpolation so the result stays smooth rather than jagged. You control the Direction (horizontal waves sway pixels left-and-right, vertical waves push them up-and-down, and Both layers the two for a watery cross-ripple), the Amplitude (how many pixels the wave displaces things by), and the Wavelength (the spacing between crests — short wavelengths give tight, busy ripples while long ones give broad, gentle swells). Because the warp resamples and blends neighbouring pixels, it produces smooth gradients rather than a pure rearrangement; the image edges are clamped — stretched outward instead of wrapping — so the result never shows seams or transparent gaps. Everything runs locally on the HTML canvas: your image is never uploaded, the effect is fully deterministic, and there is no sign-up and no watermark.
How It Works
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Drag and drop your image and adjust the settings. It stays on your device.
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Why Image Machine?
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All processing runs locally in your browser. Your images are never uploaded to a server.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is a ripple or wave distortion?
It is a geometric effect that displaces an image's pixels along sine waves, so straight edges become smooth, rolling curves — like a reflection seen on rippling water or a heat-haze shimmer. Rather than changing the picture's content, it moves and resamples the pixels you already have, blending neighbours as it goes so the waves stay smooth instead of jagged.
What do the Amplitude and Wavelength controls do?
Amplitude is how far the wave pushes each pixel from its original position, measured in pixels — a larger amplitude makes deeper, more dramatic waves. Wavelength is the distance between one wave crest and the next: a short wavelength packs in many tight, busy ripples, while a long wavelength produces a few broad, gentle swells. Setting Amplitude to 0 leaves the image exactly as it was.
What is the difference between the Horizontal, Vertical and Both directions?
Horizontal sways pixels left and right by an amount that varies down the image, so vertical edges become wavy. Vertical pushes pixels up and down by an amount that varies across the image, so horizontal edges become wavy. Both applies the two together at once, giving a watery, cross-rippled surface.
Is my image uploaded anywhere?
No. The entire effect runs in your browser on the HTML canvas — your photo never leaves your device, nothing is sent to a server, and there is no sign-up and no watermark. The warp is fully deterministic, so the same image and settings always produce an identical result; the image edges are stretched rather than wrapped, so there are no seams, and the result can be downloaded as a PNG.