Adobe Pixel Bender, previously codenamed Hydra, is a

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Programming languages are described in terms of their Syntax (programming languages), syntax (form) and semantics (computer science), semantics (meaning), usually def ...

created by

Adobe Systems Adobe Inc. ( ), formerly Adobe Systems Incorporated, is an American software, computer software company based in San Jose, California. It offers a wide range of programs from web design tools, photo manipulation and vector creation, through to ...

for the description of

image processing An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be displayed through other media, including a pr ...

algorithms. The syntax is based on

GLSL OpenGL Shading Language (GLSL) is a high-level shading language with a syntax based on the C programming language. It was created by the OpenGL ARB (OpenGL Architecture Review Board) to give developers more direct control of the graphics pipe ...

, and a Pixel Bender program is analogous to an

OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a Language-independent specification, cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D computer graphics, 2D and 3D computer graphics, 3D vector graphics. The API is typic ...

fragment shader, and is intended to be a loosely typed version of C++. Adobe Systems' Adobe Pixel Bender Toolkit is the IDE for scripting with Pixel Bender. Pixel Bender programs are intended to be used in a number of Adobe products, and was supported by After Effects (through CS5) and Flash Player. The Pixel Bender Toolkit was bundled with Adobe's Creative Suite, and allowed programs to be created and tested. It is available as a free standalone from Adobe's website. In addition to its primary purpose of image processing, Pixel Bender can also be used for general mathematical operations which would benefit from the hardware acceleration that it provides. An example of this is audio processing.

References

Pixel Bender Pixel Bender {{Compu-lang-stub

See also

References