.net - Is there a faster alternative to GDI GetPixel()?

Question

I'm using GetPixel() from gdi32.dll in a .NET app to sample the colour of a pixel anywhere on the screen. It works ok but it is a major performance bottleneck for me.

Is there a faster way of doing it?

Answer 1

Fast access to pixels are possible using LockBits() method of the Bitmap. This will return to you an object containing a pointer to the start of the pixel data and you can use unsafe code to access the memory.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150330113356/http://bobpowell.net/lockingbits.aspx