Introduction

RustSynth is a safe Rust wrapper for VapourSynth, a powerful video processing framework. This book provides an in-depth exploration of how RustSynth works internally, how to write efficient filters, and how to integrate the library into different types of applications.

What is RustSynth?

RustSynth is a fork of vapoursynth-rs designed to support the latest VapourSynth API versions while maintaining safety and performance. The library provides:

• Safe abstractions over VapourSynth's C API
• Zero-cost wrappers that maintain performance
• Modern procedural macros for filter development
• Comprehensive error handling with descriptive messages
• Memory safety through Rust's ownership system

Why This Book?

Unlike typical user documentation, this book focuses on understanding the library's internals and architecture. You'll learn:

• How RustSynth translates VapourSynth concepts into safe Rust
• The filter development lifecycle and performance implications
• Integration patterns for different application types
• Advanced techniques for building high-performance video processing pipelines

Who Should Read This?

This book is intended for:

• Filter developers who want to write VapourSynth plugins in Rust
• Application developers integrating video processing capabilities
• Contributors to the RustSynth project
• Advanced users wanting to understand VapourSynth's Rust ecosystem

Prerequisites

Readers should have:

• Solid understanding of Rust ownership, lifetimes, and unsafe code
• Basic knowledge of video processing concepts
• Familiarity with C FFI in Rust (helpful but not required)

Book Structure

This book is organized into parts:

1. Core Concepts - Understanding RustSynth's architecture and design
2. Filter Development - Building video and audio processing filters
3. Integration and Tools - Working with RSPipe and VPY Scripts
4. Advanced Topics - Performance optimization and debugging

Each chapter includes detailed examples and links to the API documentation and VapourSynth documentation.

Getting Started

To follow along with the examples, you'll need:

[dependencies]
rustsynth = "0.5"

For plugin development, also add:

[lib]
crate-type = ["cdylib"]