The Pixel Melt effect treats each image pixel independently. It simulates a process where a velocity and a spreading amount are assigned to each pixel in a given direction according to its brightness. Effect similarly filters the image via processing individual scanlines as in Pixel Stretch, but with a significant difference, as pixels overlap each other while moving independently via their velocities and are not processed sequentially in a cumulative manner.
You have a usual set of curves to map pixel brightness into velocity and spread amount. The melting process is achieved by animating the master intensity or melt step parameter. Stretched pixels are drawn in a solid color or with additional shading.
You can also control the step at which pixels are processed over the scanlines or modulate the starting position, allowing other stylizing qualities. Extras include removing gaps in the output (as this effect is tearing the image), performing additional stretching of the melted image back to its original screen area, or fading the start/end of scanlines.
