Image transform in a plugin How can I trigger an image transform in a Craft plugin?
Yes, it's possible.

It essentially works just like it does in twig...you just call getURL with the valid name of a transform

$criteria = craft()-&gt;elements-&gt;getCriteria(ElementType::Asset);
$criteria-&gt;id = 1;
$asset = $criteria-&gt;first();

if ($asset)
{
    $url = $asset-&gt;getUrl('myTransform');
}

$imgUrl = $image-&gt;getUrl('tranformHandle);


...as I understand it that triggers the  image to be transformed on-demand if the transform does not already exist.