Reading entire image before processing effect dialog

[evanolds]

Is there a safe and easy way to read the entire image into memory before I display my effect dialog? I can use the render function and some tricks to pass the entire image to my dialog if it needs it, but this gets a little messy and involves some large allocated objects in the config token, which I take it is not desired.

Let's say I wanted to make an effect like Photoshop's "variations", where you see 9 or so different thumbnail previews at once (very helpful). Any suggestions for getting the active image to my config dialog?

[Rick Brewster]

Oh man, yeah what you're trying to do goes far beyond the scope of the current effect framework's design. Something like this would want to be built in to Paint.NET at this point whereby it could render multiple effects (or tokens) using the same src and dst buffers so as to save all tons of memory. This does give me some ideas though -- I'll have to get back to you. Nothing related to this will make it for v3.0, fyi.

[Ed Harvey]

Is there a safe and easy way to read the entire image into memory before I display my effect dialog?

The source surface is available from the EffectConfigDialog.EffectSourceSurface property after the OnLoad event.

This is how I got the info for the histogram in my 'Threshold' effect. But, as Rick pointed-out, this may not help much if you effect is complex.

If the effect is a pixel-op, you could extract a thumbnail image from the source surface and then duplicate the thumbnail once for each preview image, appply a different effect to each...

[evanolds]

The source surface is available from the EffectConfigDialog.EffectSourceSurface property after the OnLoad event.

Ah, I think I actually used this in one of my earlier effects that I didn't release, but I'd forgotten. Thanks.