Looking to produce some effects using particles bleeding into one another and slowly fading away, but I wanted to get a good perspective on doing it using BitmapData.
Thanks!
You should take a look at PixelBender
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/pixelbenderplugin/
Start by reading up on here here:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/pixel_bender_basics.html