ImagePlayground

ImagePlayground provides image manipulation APIs for .NET and matching PowerShell commands. The primary engine uses SixLabors.ImageSharp, so the main package works without System.Drawing.

Choose the package that owns the job

Need	Package
Resize, crop, convert, compare, compose, watermark, draw text, edit metadata, create thumbnails, icons, mosaics, grids, avatars, or GIFs from .NET	ImagePlayground
Image manipulation, charts, topology diagrams, QR codes, and barcodes from PowerShell	ImagePlayground PowerShell module
Create charts or topology diagrams	ChartForgeX
Create or decode QR codes and barcodes	CodeGlyphX

The ImagePlayground .NET package does not wrap ChartForgeX or CodeGlyphX. C# callers reference the package that owns the capability. The ImagePlayground PowerShell module intentionally aggregates all three packages behind one command surface.

Install

For .NET:

dotnet add package ImagePlayground

For PowerShell 5.1 or PowerShell 7+:

Install-Module -Name ImagePlayground -Scope CurrentUser
Import-Module ImagePlayground

.NET examples

Resize an image while preserving its aspect ratio:

using ImagePlayground;

ImageHelper.Resize(
    filePath: "photo.jpg",
    outFilePath: "photo-small.jpg",
    width: 800,
    height: 800,
    keepAspectRatio: true);

Use the object API for several edits before one save:

using ImagePlayground;
using SixLabors.ImageSharp;

using var image = Image.Load("photo.jpg");
image.Resize(1200, 1200, keepAspectRatio: true);
image.Watermark(
    "Internal",
    WatermarkPlacement.BottomRight,
    Color.White,
    fontSize: 28);
image.Save("photo-watermarked.jpg");

The core package targets .NET Standard 2.0, .NET Framework 4.7.2, .NET 8, and .NET 10.

PowerShell examples

Resize-Image -FilePath '.\photo.jpg' -OutputPath '.\photo-small.jpg' -Width 800

Add-ImageWatermark `
    -FilePath '.\photo.jpg' `
    -OutputPath '.\photo-watermarked.jpg' `
    -WatermarkPath '.\logo.png' `
    -Placement BottomRight `
    -Opacity 0.7

Export-ImageMetadata -FilePath '.\photo.jpg' -OutputPath '.\metadata.json'

Create and decode QR codes and barcodes through the same PowerShell module:

New-ImageQRCode -Content 'https://evotec.xyz' -FilePath '.\qr-code.png'
$qrCode = Get-ImageQRCode -FilePath '.\qr-code.png'
$qrCode.Text

New-ImageBarCode -Type EAN -Value '5901234123457' -FilePath '.\barcode.png'
$barCode = Get-ImageBarCode -FilePath '.\barcode.png'
$barCode.Text

Render a ChartForgeX-backed chart without leaving the ImagePlayground PowerShell surface:

New-ImageChart {
    New-ImageChartBar -Name 'C#' -Value 5 -Color CornflowerBlue
    New-ImageChartBar -Name 'PowerShell' -Value 12 -Color MediumSeaGreen
} -FilePath '.\languages.png' -Width 720 -Height 420 -ShowGrid

The New-ImageChartBar, New-ImageChartLine, New-ImageChartDonut, and other chart-definition commands remain the normal PowerShell experience. Advanced scripts can also pass a native ChartForgeX.Core.Chart through -Chart or configure one through -ChartScript.

PowerShell commands have one execution path. Commands that can use asynchronous file APIs do so internally and honor pipeline cancellation; there is no -Async switch because a PowerShell command invocation still completes before returning control to the caller.

See the generated command reference and the focused scripts under Examples.

Breaking changes

ImagePlayground 3.0 removes the PowerShell -Async parameter and the Windows-only ImagePlayground.Gdi project. Invoke asynchronous-capable commands normally.

The PowerShell module keeps its chart-definition, topology, QR-code, and barcode commands. Those commands are thin adapters: ChartForgeX owns chart and topology rendering, CodeGlyphX owns code generation and decoding, and ImagePlayground keeps the PowerShell user experience. C# callers should use the owning packages directly.

Build and test

dotnet build .\Sources\ImagePlayground.sln --configuration Release
dotnet test .\Sources\ImagePlayground.Tests\ImagePlayground.Tests.csproj --configuration Release
pwsh -File .\ImagePlayground.Tests.ps1

The PowerShell module layout and command documentation are generated by PSPublishModule/PowerForge. Update C# XML documentation and build configuration rather than editing generated command pages by hand.

License

ImagePlayground is available under the MIT License.