https://github.com/ruarai/TSPPixelSort

This is the tool itself, but you need to do a lot of experimenting to get good results. It's basically a pixel sorter that takes a different approach to how everything gets sorted.

http://i.imgur.com/GXLJ1r2.png

There's a few basic functions:

• Iterations: This is only for the Genetic mode. It determines how many 'evolutions' the sort will go through.
• Passes: This is a bit less useful, it just keeps running the same sort on the same image.
• Chunks: This is a lot more useful. It splits the sort into a certain number of chunks.
• Move Scale: This is also important. The sorting algorithm takes the distance from the original location into account, so a higher number will result in lower distortion. Making this 0 will mean its not taken into account at all. http://gfycat.com/FastVibrantElk shows the difference it makes.
• Mode: There's two modes: Genetic and NearestNeighbour. Genetic makes more natural looking results, with lots of small gradients, but is very slow. NearestNeighbour just tries to make one big gradient, unless a move scale is present.

The program itself has a few functions to help speed up work, with rotate and scaling options in the right click menu.

As to how I made this image:

• Did a nearest neighbour sort on the full resolution image. Used a high move-scale to make sure there's some resemblance. Saved the result.
• Did two genetic sorts on a down scaled image for both vertical and horizontal, using lots of chunks. Saved this.
• Put all these into Photoshop and layered them on top of the original with the 'screen' effect. This creates the glowing effect, only allowing bright areas through.