Make your own WPF Custom BitmapEffects
Custom WPF Bitmap Effects, authored in a Managed C++ assembly, complete with sample project to help you roll your own. It works, complete with live preview, in Expression Blend. Done by a guy called Rob who has a blog called Run To The Hills. ‘Nuff said.
p.s. My suggestion to Rob: turn this into a Visual Studio Project Starter Kit. The process is relatively painless and this would be very useful as a Starter Kit!
Update 15 Apr: Although this is a truly valiant attempt, I think at this point you need to heed the caveat Rob adds in his blog: “Although bitmap effects are very costly in terms of rendering in WPF since they force the whole stack to render your control hierarchy in software – the effects aren’t really all that slow and although the advice to avoid bitmap effects if possible still stands, I find judicious use of them acceptable, especially if used on something that is static.”