pImage

PImage is a class in Processing that represents bitmap image data. An instance stores the image’s width, height, and the color data for each pixel, and it can be drawn to the screen or used as a texture in 2D or 3D rendering.

Images are obtained by loading from disk with loadImage() or created from scratch with createImage(width, height, format). A PImage can be drawn using image(img, x, y) and can also be rendered into off-screen buffers for more complex workflows.

Pixel access and manipulation are a central use of PImage. To modify the pixel data, call loadPixels(), work with the pixels[] array (where each element is a color value, typically in ARGB format), then call updatePixels() to apply changes. The PImage class also provides get(x, y) and set(x, y, color) for individual pixels.

Common operations supported by PImage include resize(), copy(), and various filters, as well as save(filename) to write the image to disk. The image’s dimensions are exposed via width and height, and the pixel format can influence how colors are stored and interpreted.

Notes and context: PImage is a core part of Processing’s image-processing capabilities and integrates with the platform’s drawing and rendering models. It is useful for tasks such as image analysis, texture creation, off-screen processing, and dynamic image generation within sketches.