16-bit per channel image processing?

Loadus

Is it possible to throw 16-bits/channel image data back and forth to a shader and then save it as a 48-bit PNG in Processing? Has anyone done anything like this?

Loadus

For the adventurers who find their way to this question, looking for an answer, this should theoretically work.

In your shader, pack the result

vec4 pack (float depth)
    {
        const vec4 bitSh = vec4(256 * 256 * 256,
                                256 * 256,
                                256,
                                1.0);
        const vec4 bitMsk = vec4(0,
                                 1.0 / 256.0,
                                 1.0 / 256.0,
                                 1.0 / 256.0);
        vec4 comp = fract(depth * bitSh);
        comp -= comp.xxyz * bitMsk;
        return comp;
    }

And in your sketch, unpack it

    float unpack (vec4 colour)
    {
        const vec4 bitShifts = vec4(1.0 / (256.0 * 256.0 * 256.0),
                                    1.0 / (256.0 * 256.0),
                                    1.0 / 256.0,
                                    1);
        return dot(colour , bitShifts);
    }

Credit for this goes to stackoverflow (I .. think), I lost the original source. : (