Effects / Art

Kuwahara

The Kuwahara effect creates a painterly, oil-painting look by smoothing areas of similar color while preserving edges. This anisotropic variant follows the local image structure for more natural brush-stroke appearance.

art-kuwaharaPro

Effect ID: art-kuwahara

Example Configuration

art-kuwahara.json
{
  "effectId": "art-kuwahara",
  "kuwahara": {
    "radius": 8,
    "sharpness": 1,
    "saturation": 1,
    "quantize": 0
  }
}

Settings

PropertyTypeDefaultDescription
radiusnumber4Filter radius (brush stroke size)
sharpnessnumber8Edge sharpness control
hardnessnumber1.0Brush stroke hardness (0-1)

How It Works

The Kuwahara filter works by:

  • Dividing regions around each pixel into sectors
  • Computing the mean and variance for each sector
  • Selecting the sector with lowest variance (most uniform)
  • Using that sector's mean as the output color

Artistic Styles

  • Oil painting - Large radius, soft edges
  • Watercolor - Medium radius, high sharpness
  • Impressionist - Variable radius, visible strokes
  • Posterized - Small radius, hard edges

Tips

  • Larger radius creates more painterly, abstract results
  • Works beautifully with landscapes and portraits
  • Combine with vignette for classic painting aesthetic
  • Lower sharpness for softer, dreamier look