Developers use Pixel Bender to help artists apply special effects to images.
Pixel Bender is a programming language developed by the Adobe company. Programmers use Pixel Bender to develop filters, which graphic artists can use when creating and editing images on a computer, to change their pictures’ appearance. People working on video projects can also use Pixel Bender filters to process video images.
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The Adobe Pixel Bender programming language enables you to use image-processing algorithms to make filters that are hardware-independent, for use in various graphics and video processing applications. This means that you can use Pixel Bender to develop a filter that will work on both Windows and Mac computers. Pixel Bender filters are files saved with the PBK extension.
A variety of Pixel Bender filters are available from Adobe through the Pixel Bender Exchange. Some filters are free, some are shareware, and others are commercial. For example, you can download the “Erode and Dilate” filter to make pristine stone buildings look like ancient and decaying ruins, or the Chilhuly Filter, which processes the lower portion of an image to turn it into tendrils that wave.
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Developers can create Pixel Bender filters that work on different applications. For example, one filter may work only in Adobe Photoshop, while another filter will work in Adobe’s Flash Player, After Effects and Photoshop applications. After the user installs a Pixel Bender filter, it is available to use from the application’s menu.
The Adobe Pixel Bender Toolkit and Pixel Bender Utility for Windows require a PC running Windows XP SP2 or greater, with a Pentium 4 or greater processor, 50 MB of hard drive space and 512 MB of memory. Adobe Pixel Bender for Macs requires a G4 or G5 Mac with an Intel processor running OS X 10.4.10 or greater, 80 MB of hard drive space and 512 MB of memory.
