The Adobe® Pixel Bender™ technology delivers a common image and video processing infrastructure which provides automatic runtime optimization on heterogeneous hardware. You can use the Pixel Bender kernel language to implement image processing algorithms (filters or effects) in a hardware-independent manner. The Pixel Bender graph language is an XML-based language for combining individual pixel-processing operations (kernels) into more complex Pixel Bender filters.
The Pixel Bender Toolkit includes the Pixel Bender kernel language and graph language, the Pixel Bender Toolkit IDE (an integrated development environment for Pixel Bender), sample filters, and documentation.
Pixel Bender development offers many advantages:
- Low learning curve — Pixel Bender offers a small number of tools that are sufficient to write complex image-processing algorithms. Learning Pixel Bender is easier than learning C/C++ and each application’s plug-in SDK. You do not need to know any graphics shading language or multi-threading APIs.
- Parallel processing — Pixel Bender allows the same filter to run efficiently on different GPU and CPU architectures, including multi-core and multiprocessor systems. It delivers excellent image processing performance in Adobe products.
- Supports all bit-depths — The same kernel runs in 8-bit/16-bit/32-bit within the application.
- Support by multiple Adobe applications — Pixel Bender is integrated with multiple Adobe applications. It allows you to develop filters that are portable among various Adobe products. There is an active Pixel Bender Exchange where developers share their filters.
Get the Pixel Bender Toolkit and the Pixel Bender Plug-in for Photoshop CS4
Discuss Pixel Bender in the Labs forumsPixel Bender is best suited for the kind of algorithms in which processing of any pixel has minimum dependence on the values of other pixels. For example, you can efficiently write a kernel to manipulate brightness of the image because brightness of each pixel can be changed independently. You would not want to use Pixel Bender to compute a histogram, because a histogram requires the values of all the pixels in an image.
For more details, please see the Pixel Bender Developer’s Guide and the Pixel Bender Reference included in the Pixel Bender Toolkit.
Adobe Pixel Bender prerelease 5 expands on previous releases with the addition of the Pixel Bender Plug-in for Adobe Photoshop® CS4 and the Pixel Bender Utility.
- The Pixel Bender Plug-in for Photoshop CS4 supports processing of Pixel Bender filters on images opened in Photoshop CS4. The plug-in supports both Pixel Bender kernel (.pbk) and graph (.pbg) programs.
- The Pixel Bender Utility is a command-line utility for converting a Pixel Bender kernel (.pbk) file into a byte-code (.pbj) file that can be used in Flash® Player 10. The utility is installed with the Pixel Bender Toolkit.
- This release contains expanded documentation in a Pixel Bender Developer’s Guide and a Pixel Bender Reference. The Reference now provides a complete specification for the Pixel Bender graph language in addition to the kernel language.
Prerelease 5 supports Pixel Bender filter processing in Adobe After Effects™ CS4, Flash Player 10 and Photoshop CS4.
Getting Started
Follow these steps to get started with Pixel Bender:
- Review the system requirements and supported graphics cards in the release notes
- Download the Pixel Bender Toolkit
- If you have Photoshop CS4 installed, download the Pixel Bender Plug-in
- Follow the installation and setup instructions in the release notes
- Learn more about Pixel Bender development and about Pixel Bender in other Adobe products via the links within the Community tab.
- Download filters created by other developers from the Pixel Bender Exchange
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Ask questions and share your feedback in the Pixel Bender forum
Please note that your submission of comments, ideas, feature requests and techniques on this and other Adobe maintained forums, as well as Adobe's right to use such materials, is governed by the Terms of Use.
Community
Below you'll find references and links to help you participate in the Pixel Bender community.
Online Forum
Ask questions, discuss, and share feedback with other Pixel Bender users and the development team in the online forums.
Please note that your submission of comments, ideas, feature requests and techniques on this and other Adobe maintained forums, as well as Adobe's right to use such materials, is governed by the Terms of Use.
Exchange
Share your own Pixel Bender filter creations by posting them to the Pixel Bender Exchange on Adobe.com.
Visit the Pixel Bender Exchange
Tutorials
Several tutorials are available to help the community become successful with Pixel Bender.
- Watch the Introduction to Pixel Bender videos on gotoAndLearn()
- Learn about leveraging Pixel Bender in Adobe After Effects CS4
For additional information on using Pixel Bender in Flash CS4 Professional, see the Programming ActionScript 3.0 chapter titled Working with Pixel Bender shaders and the ActionScript Component and Language Reference section titled Shader class. This documentation contains a detailed description of the objects you can use with Pixel Bender in Flash CS4 Professional. You can also find a Pixel Bender introductory article on the Flash Developer Center.
Weblogs
Read what the Pixel Bender development team is saying in their weblogs.
- Read Kevin Goldsmith's Adobe Blog
- Read Brian Ronan's Adobe Blog
- Read Lee Brimelow’s blog
- Read Mike Chamber’s blog
- Read Tinic Uro’s blog
Resources
If you want to learn more about releases on Labs as well as other Adobe technologies, visiting a user group or connecting with an Adobe Community Expert is a great place to start.
Product Details
FAQ
- What exactly are you providing?
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This new technology preview release provides an update to the Pixel Bender Toolkit that was released with After Effects CS4 and Flash Professional CS4, and it introduces some new tools and resources. The additions in this preview release are:
- The Pixel Bender Plug-in for Photoshop CS4 — a Plug-in for processing Pixel Bender filters on images opened in Photoshop CS4. It supports both Pixel Bender kernel (.pbk) and graph (.pbg) programs.
- The Pixel Bender Utility — a command-line utility for converting a Pixel Bender kernel (.pbk) file into a byte-code (.pbj) file that can be used in Flash® Player 10. The utility is installed with the Pixel Bender Toolkit.
- Expanded documentation — a Pixel Bender Developer’s Guide and a Pixel Bender Reference. The Reference now provides a complete specification for the Pixel Bender graph language in addition to the kernel language.
- What hardware is required to run Pixel Bender filters?
- The Pixel Bender Toolkit and the Pixel Bender Plug-in support filter execution on the graphics card (GPU) and the CPU. To run filters on the GPU, your system must have one of the supported graphics cards. For correct GPU processing, check the NVidia or ATI website for the latest graphics card drivers.
- What Adobe applications support Pixel Bender filters?
- Pixel Bender filters are now supported by After Effects CS4, Flash Player 10, and Photoshop CS4. For Pixel Bender support in Photoshop CS4, you need to download and install the Pixel Bender Plug-in.
- Does the Pixel Bender Plug-in work with Photoshop CS4 on Windows 64-bit?
- Yes. You will find two versions of the Pixel Bender Plug-in within the downloads section. One version of the Plug-in will work with the 64-bit version of Photoshop CS4 on Windows. The other version will work with the 32-bit versions of Photoshop CS4 on Macintosh and Windows.
- Where can I find some sample Pixel Bender filters?
- You can find Pixel Bender filter creations from other developers on the Pixel Bender Exchange on Adobe.com.
System Requirements
The minimum system requirements for the Pixel Bender Toolkit and the Pixel Bender Utility are:
Windows
- Pentium 4 or greater Processor
- 512 MB of Memory
- 50 MB of Disk Space
- Windows XP SP2 or greater
Mac OS
- G4/G5/Intel Processor
- 512 MB of Memory
- 80 MB of Disk Space
- OS X 10.4.10 or greater
The Pixel Bender Plug-in adheres to the same system requirements as Photoshop CS4 on Mac OS and Windows.
See the release notes for additional system requirements and supported graphics cards
Release Notes
This release of Pixel Bender is prerelease software and is designed for evaluation purposes only. The software contained within each download is not final; but, many portions of the technology are fully implemented and ready for you to try and discuss.
