AndreaMosaic is a free mosaic creation progam that will turn a source image into a tiled mosaic emulating the source image. The program is easy to download for Windows, Linux and in a legacy version for OS X. You may also extract images from video or movie files to use as tiles.

The program makes a tiled mosaic in three simple steps.

First, you choose a source image from your files (the green plus sign). This will open the image in the main window (screenshot 1 below). The image is overlaid with the tiling pattern. If you like, change the settings on the left side of the program window to improve output.

Next, create a list of (up to 20,000) images to be used as tiles. Here, you have to choose the folder(s) containing the images you wish to include in the list of tiles. The paths to these folders then appear in the main window (screenshot 2). Click “Save List” and the program will analyze the images and insert them into the list. It takes about three minutes to analyze some 2,000 images.

You’re ready to go! Click on the create button (the miniature van Gogh Starry Night image). Presto! The program automatically places the images on your list into the source as tiles.

Here’s a comparison of the source image and a tiled mosaic with over 1,600 images that took 00:01:12 to render.

You may improve your mosaic by tweaking many different settings. For instance, adapt the size and resolution of the mosaic or choose the number of tiles.

Navigating through the program for the first time is a bit tricky. You can get help, however: Consult the useful tutorial that comes with the program download or this tutorial. If you encounter intractable problems, you can even open a ticket with the AndreaMosaic helpdesk! 

The mosaics may you may well be able to produce some nice material to use for making styles.