Perforating any metal object adds both visual interest and texture. A new offering from A. Zahner Company allows architects and designers to detail metal panels for facades, walls, signage, and other building applications with a perforation style that renders a painting-like appearance.

ImageLines converts any visual—whether a pattern, portrait, or photograph—into an artful rendition of the input graphics. Perforations are generated in a “curvilinear” arrangement with the individual holes varying in width and length depending on the lines, light, shadows, and colors of the input imagery.

“We’ve been pioneering and working with perforated metal panels for 20 years and ImageLines is an innovation that originated from research and development done by our internal Labs group,” Tom Zahner, president of A. Zahner company told AN. “The team experimented with rendering images using curved lines and rectangular perforations and we found an effect that we just hadn’t seen before in our industry, so we decided to bring it to market.”

This curved output renders a style that the company has likened to that of “brushstrokes.” While creating something that is visually compelling the technology also “has practical applications in accentuating sightlines, doors, windows, and other building design elements,” Zahner explained. “The curved lines that make up the images create a more painterly effect for architects and their clients,” he added. 

In a test run for the technology Zahner input an image of the late architect Zaha Hadid. The perforated portrait appears on a large sheet of metal and captures the details of the architect’s face as well as the shadows of the photograph.

The ImageLines visualizer is free to use online. After uploading any image, designers can customize the contrast, number of sampling points per square foot, rotation angle of the lines, size of the metal sheet, and can specify a metal.