PSFilterHost

PSFilterHost is a library designed to help developers build applications that can run 3rd party 8fb filters. According to the developer, the applications created need to also be built with .NET 2.0 or later. The reason for this stems from the fact that the aforementioned .NET version relies on GDI+ or otherwise known as System.Drawing.

Since the GDI+ does not support the processing of 16 bit images, it automatically converts the data to 8 bit per channel formats. In fact, the library works equally well with 8 and 16 bits per channel grayscale and RGB images. However, it is important to note that 16 bit per channel processing can solely be done with builds that pack the BitmapSource class, which is specific to .NET 3.0 or later.

Developers who are working with .NET 3.0, 3.5 and 4.5.2 can take advantage of a specific component here, namely the System.Windows.Media.Imaging. The component can process both 8 and 16 bit per channel images and the data can be converted into an appropriate mode before processing. Other noteworthy features of the library include the batch processing filters and the fact that it can expose the image XMP and EXIF metadata to the filters.