MacOSaiX is a confusing name for a procedure that use to take hours to perform and need a huge amount of computer grunt. And now it’s as easy as 1, 2 and 3.

1. Choose the image from which to make a Mosaic. For my example I chose my youngest daughter Mia, scowling.
2. Choose the shape and the number of tiles in the mosaic (more on this later).
3. Choose the sources of images for filling in the tiles. I chose to use my iPhoto library and with a degree of irony asked the programme to search Google and Flickr for images of a person smiling!

And off it goes.

Ok choosing the shape and number of tiles. Too few and the image will not look good, too many and you lose the idea of a photo-mosaic, that is to actually see that it is made up of 100s of images! The more tiles you use the more source images you’ll need as well. However, you might like the idea of a smooth image using loads of tiles. In which case have a magnifying glass handy. If you’re going to print a large scale copy of your new mosaic this can also be a determining factor. The developer has answered the question here.

I suppose at the end of the day you’ll need to experiment. It does make fascinating watching though. Maybe I ought to make a screencast! And the best bit of all – the programme is free.

Mia Mosaic