rdg::bitmap::convert2planes
This utility converts a bitmap to grayscale and displays its pixels as planes. The planes are rotated depending on their grayscale value. There is a option to animate the rotation to fade in the image.
This is a macroscript. To use it - go to Maxscript / Run Script and pick this file. Now go to Customize / Customize User Interface and you'll be able to assign the script to a quadmenu - shortcut key - etc. Change the category to 'rdg::preset' and look for the script titled 'bmp2planes'. Assign a shortcut and voila - you're done!