Fast method for getting pixel color?

Question

I'm working on a Photoshop plugin using c# (with Adobe Photoshop Object Library). I'm trying to loop through all the pixels in my active document, but with the code I currently have it takes a very long time to even go through 1 row of pixels in a 256x256 file. I was wondering if there might be a better (faster) way than using ColorSampler for this? (c++ plugin?)

This is what I currently have: (http://forums.adobe.com/thread/290211) (C# Equivalent to this code)

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    ps.Application app = new ps.Application();
    app.Preferences.RulerUnits = ps.PsUnits.psPixels; 

    ps.Document activeDoc = app.ActiveDocument;

    double docWidth = activeDoc.Width;
    double docHeight = activeDoc.Height;
    double xPos = 0.0D;
    double yPos = 0.0D;             

    activeDoc.ColorSamplers.RemoveAll();
    var pixelLoc = new object[] { 0.0D, 0.0D };
    ps.ColorSampler myColorSampler = activeDoc.ColorSamplers.Add(pixelLoc);

    var stopwatch = Stopwatch.StartNew();

    ps.SolidColor myColor;
    double red;
    double green;
    double blue;

    for (xPos = 0.0D; xPos <=docWidth - 1; xPos++)
    {
        myColor = myColorSampler.Color;
        red = myColor.RGB.Red;
        green = myColor.RGB.Green;
        blue = myColor.RGB.Blue;
        pixelLoc[0] = xPos;
        myColorSampler.Move(pixelLoc);
    }

    Console.WriteLine(stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds); //11000 ms for 1 row of 256 pixels


    Console.ReadLine();
}

Answer 1

I have not worked with this API before, but I found this website: Adobe Photoshop CS5 Object Library.

I did some looking and there is a SaveAs method that can be used on the Document object. You can use this method to save the document as an image (let's say a BITMAP).

From there, you can use several sources online that show how to extract pixel information quickly from a BMP.

Here is one particular article: Work with Bitmaps faster in C#

I realize that I am not providing copy/pasteable code for you to use, but I hope this points you in the correct direction.