Adobe Pixel Bender Plug-in for Adobe Photoshop CS5

To install the Pixel Bender Plug-in for Photoshop CS5 in Windows and Mac OS:

1. Download the Pixel Bender Plug-in for Photoshop CS5

2. Navigate to the download location and double-click on the MXP file. Extension Manager CS5 is launched and the Pixel Bender Plug-in is installed once you accept the licensing terms.

   Note: The Pixel Bender Plug-in requires Extension Manager CS5. If Extension Manager CS4 is launched when you double-click the MXP file, you need to launch Extension Manager CS5 from the Start > All Programs menu on Windows and Applications/Adobe Extension Manager CS5 on the Mac OS and manually "Install Extension" from within Adobe Extension Manager CS5.

3. Select the File > Install Extension menu and navigate to the location of the MXP file.

   Important: If you are installing on Windows Vista or Windows 7, you'll need to run the Extension Manager as an Administrator by right-clicking on the Extension Manager application and selecting the Run as administrator item.

4. Launch Photoshop CS5.
5. Open an image.
6. Choose Filter > Pixel Bender > Pixel Bender Gallery. The Pixel Bender Gallery is initially populated with Pixel Bender filters that are installed with the Plug-in. If you would like to add other filters, close the plug-in dialog and copy the filters into the "Pixel Bender Files" folder within the "Adobe Photoshop CS5" folder. The new filters will then appear in the Pixel Bender Gallery the next time the Plug-in is opened in Photoshop.
7. Download more filters in the Pixel Bender Exchange

8. Ask questions or 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 Adobe.com Terms of Use.

Below you'll find references and links to help you participate in the Pixel Bender community.

Online Forum

Ask questions and discuss ideas with other Pixel Bender Plug-in for Photoshop CS5 users in the forums.

• Visit 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 Adobe.com Terms of Use.

Adobe Developer Connection

Learn more about Pixel Bender in the Adobe Developer Connection.

• Visit the Pixel Bender Technology Center

Adobe Exchange

Find and download Pixel Bender filters for use in Photoshop CS5 on the Adobe Exchange.

• Download Pixel Bender filters from the Adobe Exchange

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.

• Find a user group
• Find an Adobe Community Expert

• FAQ
• System Requirements
• Release Notes

FAQ

What is the Pixel Bender Plug-in for Photoshop CS5?

The Pixel Bender Plug-in for Adobe Photoshop CS5 supports processing of Pixel Bender filters on images opened in Photoshop CS5. These filters can be executed on the graphics card (GPU) or CPU of a computer. Pixel Bender customers as well as members of the Adobe Pixel Bender team have authored the filters that are included in this download.

What is the Pixel Bender technology?

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. Visit the Pixel Bender technology Center for more information.

What has changed between the Photoshop CS4 Pixel Bender Plug-in and the one for Photoshop CS5?

The CS5 Plug-in now includes an OilPaint filter (similar to the Cartoon effect found in After Effects CS5) as well as support for both 32- and 64-bit Macintosh and Windows operating systems. The OilPaint filter included in the Photoshop CS5 Pixel Bender Plug-in enables parameters to create oil paint-like effects on your images.

What is included in the latest update?

This update addresses many bug fixes especially those that resulted in a number of seemingly random bug crashes.

What are the GPU requirements?

For more information, see the system requirements section on this page.

Does the Pixel Bender Plug-in work with Photoshop CS5 on Windows and Mac 64-bit?

Yes. The Plug-in works on both 32- and 64-bit Windows and Macintosh systems.

Why is this technology on Adobe Labs and not in the Pixel Bender Technology Center?

This version of the Plug-in is still in development; therefore, there are some known issues that we are currently fixing. See the release notes for more information.

Where can I find more Pixel Bender filters?

You can find Pixel Bender filter creations from other developers on the Pixel Bender Exchange on Adobe.com.

System Requirements

The Pixel Bender Plug-in for Photoshop CS5 adheres to the same system requirements as Photoshop CS5 on Mac OS and Windows.

The Pixel Bender Plug-in for Photoshop CS5 installer is provided as an Extension Manager CS5 installer; Extension Manager CS5 is required for proper installation.

Video Cards that Support Processing of Pixel Bender Filters

The following table lists the video cards supported by the Pixel Bender Plug-in for Photoshop CS5. The Plug-in supports filter execution on the GPU and the CPU. For correct GPU processing, check the NVidia or ATI website for the latest graphics card drivers.

Manufacturer	Series	Model Numbers
AMD/ATI	Radeon HD 5000 Series	HD 5970, HD 5870, HD 5850, HD 5770, HD 5750, HD 5670, HD 5570, HD 5450
	Radeon HD 4000 Series	HD 4890, HD 4870 X2, HD 4870, HD 4850, HD 4830, HD 4770, HD 4670, HD 4650, HD 4550, HD 4350, HD 4200
	Radeon HD 3000 Series	HD 3870 X2, HD 3870, HD 3850, HD 3650, HD 3470, HD 3450
	Radeon HD 2000 Series	HD 2900 XT, HD 2900, HD 2600 X2, HD 2600 XT, HD 2600 PRO, HD 2600, HD 2400 XT, HD 2400 PRO, HD 2400
	Radeon X1000 Series	X1950, X1900, X800, X1650, X1600, X1300, "All In Wonder" X1900 (X1900 GPU), "All In Wonder" 2006 PCI Express cards (Based on X1300 GPU)
	FireGL Series	Avivo PCI Express, V8650, V8600, V7700, V7600, V7350, V7300, V7200, V5600, V5200, V3600, V3300, V3400
	FirePro Series	V8750, V8700, V7750, V5700, V3750, V3700
NVIDIA	Quadro FX 5000 Series	FX 5800, FX 5600, FX 5500 SDI, FX 4500 SDI, FX 5600, FX 5500
	Quadro FX 4000 Series	FX 4800, FX 4600, FX 4500 X2, FX 4500, FX 4000 SDI
	Quadro FX 3000 Series	FX 3800, FX3700, FX 3500, FX 3450
	Quadro FX 1000 Series	FX 1800, FX 1700, FX 1500, FX GO 1400, FX 1400, FX 1300
	Quadro FX 500	FX 580, FX 570, FX 560, FX 550, FX 540
	Quadro FX 300 Series	FX 380, FX 380 LP, FX 370, FX 370 LP, FX 350
	GeForce 300 Series	GT 340, GT 330, GT 320, GT 315, 310
	GeForce 200 Series	GTX 295, GTX 285, GTX 280, GTX 275, GTX 260, GTS 250, 240 (All models), GT 220, 210, 205
	GeForce 100 Series	GTS 150, GT 130, GT 120, G100
	GeForce 9 Series	9800 (All Models), 9600 (All Models), 9500 GT, 9400 GT, 9400M, 9300
	GeForce 8 Series	8800 (All Models), 8600 (All Models), 8500 GT, 8400 GS
	GeForce 7 Series	7950 GT/GS, 7900, 7800, 7600, 7300, 7200 GS, 7100
	GeForce 6 Series	6800 Ultra, 6800 GT, 6800 GS, 6800, 6800 XT, 6600, 6500, 6200, 6200 Turbo Cache, 6200 LE, 6100, 6150

Release Notes

This release of the Pixel Bender Plug-in for Photoshop CS5 is a technology preview. You can find the full release notes in the Read Me within the download package.

To uninstall the Pixel Bender Plug-in for Photoshop CS5:

1. Launch Extension Manager CS5 from Start > All Programs on Windows and Applications/Adobe Extension Manager CS5 on Mac OS.
2. Select Remove button next to Pixel Bender Plug-in for Photoshop CS5.
3. Select Yes to continue with uninstall or No to cancel.
4. Close Extension Manager CS5 once the un-installation is completed.

Important: If you have any custom Pixel Bender filters (.pbk files) installed within the “Pixel Bender Files” folder, we recommend moving them to a new temporary location when removing or replacing the Pixel Bender Plug-in for Photoshop CS5 via Extension Manager. If you do not move the custom filters, they will be deleted when you uninstall or update the Pixel Bender plug-in through the Extension Manager interface. Default locations for the “Pixel Bender Files” folder are as follows:

• Mac: /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CS5/Pixel Bender Files/…
• Win 64: \Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS5 (64 Bit)/Pixel Bender Files/…
• Win 32: \Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS5/Pixel Bender Files/…

Known Issues

The full list of known issues can be found in the Read Me within the download package. Below is a list of the known higher priority bugs:

• On Windows Vista, if a filter takes too long to process, the Pixel Bender Plug-in may crash.

• The Zoom pop-up menu is disabled on both Windows and Mac. You can use the + and - modifier keys, as well as the + and - controls in the Pixel Bender plug-in, to zoom in and out of your preview image.

• The Pixel Bender Plug-in does not currently support filters containing three channel output images and does not currently support filters containing three channel input images combined with a four channel output image. Note that this works in the Pixel Bender Toolkit.

• If a user clicks Cancel when a Pixel Bender compilation error message is shown while loading the Pixel Bender Plug-in, the Plug-in continues to load instead of canceling. This behavior has changed from the Pixel Bender Plug-in for Photoshop CS4.

• Filter parameters may be reset to their default values before the user is prompted that a filter is taking too long to execute. We recommend that users cancel processing of the current filter at this point.

• Areas outside the generated region are painted opaque, instead of transparent black when rendering some filters on the CPU; when rendering on the GPU the display is correct. This behavior has changed from the Pixel Bender Plug-in for Photoshop CS4.

• After encountering a runtime error in the Pixel Bender Plug-in, menu tracking performance degrades. Selecting a new filter from the filter dropdown menu will resolve the issue.