The short answer
Why use Swirl?
A clean swirl needs the twist to fade out smoothly toward the edge of the circle, which is hard to paint by hand. Here the falloff is built in, and the area outside the circle is untouched.
Strength runs from -100 to 100 and starts at 50. At 50 the center of the circle turns by about 160 degrees, and at 100 by about 320 degrees. The twist falls off with distance, so it fades to nothing at the edge of the circle. Radius starts at 45% of the shorter side of the image and can go from 5 to 100%.
Center X and Center Y start in the middle at 50%. You can drag them, or tap and drag on the preview to move the center straight onto a face, a flower, or a drain. Fine detail like text gets smeared quickly, so lower the strength if you still want something to be recognizable inside the swirl.
Bulge and Pinch uses the same circle and center controls but pushes pixels outward or inward instead of turning them. Warp adds a wavy ripple. For a twist that you paint by hand rather than one perfect spiral, try Liquify and drag the brush in a curve.
Where Swirl fits
Hypnotic posters
Twist the middle of a pattern into a spiral for a psychedelic poster.
Coffee art
Swirl the foam in a latte photo for a stirred look.
Meme edits
Twist a face slightly for a dizzy reaction image.
Start to finish
How to use Swirl
- 01Tap Choose image and open the photo you want to twist.
- 02Tap the preview where the swirl should center, then set Strength (starts at 50) and Radius (starts at 45%).
- 03Tap Apply changes to render the twist at full size and grab the PNG with Download result.
What to expect from Swirl
| Check | What it means here |
|---|---|
| Supported input | JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, SVG and browser-supported AVIF images |
| Main controls | Angle, strength, center, radius, or inset, depending on the tool |
| Output | A PNG image with the change applied |
| Working limit | 50 MB and 50 megapixels per image |
Swirl tips
- Strength 100 turns the center by roughly 320 degrees.
- A Radius of 15% to 25% keeps the twist on one small subject.
- Negative Strength reverses the direction of the spiral.
- Text inside the circle smears fast, so keep words outside the Radius.
Swirl FAQ
Something missing? Ask us.
How do I change the swirl direction?
Why is only a round area twisted?
Does Swirl upload my file?
Is Swirl free to use?
Why did Swirl fail or look wrong?
Related tools
More in Transform & Distort.