The Paint.NET 500 Plugin Pack is a collection of sample effects and plugins that demonstrate various techniques in writing pixel shaders, distortion effects, and other innovative features using the new GPU plugin system in PDN 5.0. These examples are invaluable in getting developers up to speed with creating their own plugins for Paint.NET.

One notable example is the Zone Plate Shader, which showcases how to write an output-only pixel shader effect. Another interesting effect is the Wavey Transform, which demonstrates how to create a distortion effect using SampleMapRenderer and multisample subpixel antialiasing. The Square Blur plugin illustrates how to use a custom pixel shader and transform mapper in an effect.

Other notable effects include Shadow Around Selection, Ripple, Random Noise, Rainbow, Polarized Mandelleaves, Outlined Text with Shadow, Night Circuit Shader, Hue Rotate, Gaussian Bokeh, Drop Shadow, and Channel Blur. Each of these examples provides insight into how to write specific types of effects using Direct2D and DirectWrite.

The plugin pack also includes samples that demonstrate how to combine existing Direct2D effects in a custom plugin. For instance, the Gaussian Bokeh example combines Paint.NET's Bokeh blur with Direct2D's Gaussian Blur. The app's built-in Drop Shadow effect is also showcased, along with a sample that shows how to implement it.

To install the Paint.NET 500 Plugin Pack, simply extract the ZIP file to your effect plugin folder. With these samples, developers can get started with writing their own effects and plugins for Paint.NET.

Overall, the Paint.NET 500 Plugin Pack provides an excellent resource for developers looking to expand their knowledge of pixel shaders, distortion effects, and GPU-based plugins in Paint.NET.

Paint.net 500 plugin pack