Ios – Adding a circle mask layer on an UIImageView

core-graphicsiosobjective c

I'm building a Photo filter app (like Instagram, Camera+ and many more..), may main screen is a UIImageView that presenting the image to the user, and a bottom bar with some filters and other options.
One of the option is blur, where the user can use his fingers to pinch or move a circle that represent the non-blur part (radius and position) – all the pixels outside of this circle will be blurred.

When the user touch the screen I want to add a semi transparent layer above my image that represent the blurred part, with a fully transparent circle that represent the non-blur part.

So my question is, how do I add this layer? I suppose I need to use some view above my image view, and to use some mask to get my circle shape? I would really appreciate a good tip here.

One More Thing
I need the circle will not be cut straight, but have a kind of gradient fade. something like Instagram:
enter image description here

And what's very important is to get this effect with good performance, I'd succeed getting this effect with drawRect: but the performance was very bad on old devices (iphone 4, iPod)

Best Answer

Sharp Mask

Whenever you want to draw a path that consists of a shape (or series of shapes) as a hole in another shape, the key is almost always using an 'even odd winding rule'.

From the Winding Rules section of the Cocoa Drawing Guide:

A winding rule is simply an algorithm that tracks information about each contiguous region that makes up the path's overall fill area. A ray is drawn from a point inside a given region to any point outside the path bounds. The total number of crossed path lines (including implicit lines) and the direction of each path line are then interpreted using rules which determine if the region should be filled.

I appreciate that description isn't really helpful without the rules as context and diagrams to make it easier to understand so I urge you to read the links I've provided above. For the sake of creating our circle mask layer the following diagrams depict what an even odd winding rule allows us to accomplish:

Non Zero Winding Rule

Even Odd Winding Rule

Now it's simply a matter of creating the translucent mask using a CAShapeLayer that can be repositioned and expanded and contracted through user interaction.

Code

#import <QuartzCore/QuartzCore.h>


@interface ViewController ()
@property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIImageView *imageView;
@property (strong) CAShapeLayer *blurFilterMask;
@property (assign) CGPoint blurFilterOrigin;
@property (assign) CGFloat blurFilterDiameter;
@end


@implementation ViewController

// begin the blur masking operation.
- (void)beginBlurMasking
{
    self.blurFilterOrigin = self.imageView.center;
    self.blurFilterDiameter = MIN(CGRectGetWidth(self.imageView.bounds), CGRectGetHeight(self.imageView.bounds));

    CAShapeLayer *blurFilterMask = [CAShapeLayer layer];
    // Disable implicit animations for the blur filter mask's path property.
    blurFilterMask.actions = [[NSDictionary alloc] initWithObjectsAndKeys:[NSNull null], @"path", nil];
    blurFilterMask.fillColor = [UIColor blackColor].CGColor;
    blurFilterMask.fillRule = kCAFillRuleEvenOdd;
    blurFilterMask.frame = self.imageView.bounds;
    blurFilterMask.opacity = 0.5f;
    self.blurFilterMask = blurFilterMask;
    [self refreshBlurMask];
    [self.imageView.layer addSublayer:blurFilterMask];

    UITapGestureRecognizer *tapGesture = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self action:@selector(handleTap:)];
    [self.imageView addGestureRecognizer:tapGesture];

    UIPinchGestureRecognizer *pinchGesture = [[UIPinchGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self action:@selector(handlePinch:)];
    [self.imageView addGestureRecognizer:pinchGesture];
}

// Move the origin of the blur mask to the location of the tap.
- (void)handleTap:(UITapGestureRecognizer *)sender
{
    self.blurFilterOrigin = [sender locationInView:self.imageView];
    [self refreshBlurMask];
}

// Expand and contract the clear region of the blur mask.
- (void)handlePinch:(UIPinchGestureRecognizer *)sender
{
    // Use some combination of sender.scale and sender.velocity to determine the rate at which you want the circle to expand/contract.
    self.blurFilterDiameter += sender.velocity;
    [self refreshBlurMask];
}

// Update the blur mask within the UI.
- (void)refreshBlurMask
{
    CGFloat blurFilterRadius = self.blurFilterDiameter * 0.5f;

    CGMutablePathRef blurRegionPath = CGPathCreateMutable();
    CGPathAddRect(blurRegionPath, NULL, self.imageView.bounds);
    CGPathAddEllipseInRect(blurRegionPath, NULL, CGRectMake(self.blurFilterOrigin.x - blurFilterRadius, self.blurFilterOrigin.y - blurFilterRadius, self.blurFilterDiameter, self.blurFilterDiameter));

    self.blurFilterMask.path = blurRegionPath;

    CGPathRelease(blurRegionPath);
}

...

Code Conventions Diagram

(This diagram may help understand the naming conventions in the code)

Gradient Mask

The Gradients section of Apple's Quartz 2D Programming Guide details how to draw radial gradients which we can use to create a mask with a feathered edge. This involves drawing a CALayers content directly by subclassing it or implementing its drawing delegate. Here we subclass it to encapsulate the data related to it i.e. origin and diameter.

Code

BlurFilterMask.h

#import <QuartzCore/QuartzCore.h>

@interface BlurFilterMask : CALayer
@property (assign) CGPoint origin;      // The centre of the blur filter mask.
@property (assign) CGFloat diameter;    // the diameter of the clear region of the blur filter mask.
@end

BlurFilterMask.m

#import "BlurFilterMask.h"

// The width in points the gradated region of the blur filter mask will span over.
CGFloat const GRADIENT_WIDTH = 50.0f;

@implementation BlurFilterMask

- (void)drawInContext:(CGContextRef)context
{
    CGFloat clearRegionRadius = self.diameter * 0.5f;
    CGFloat blurRegionRadius = clearRegionRadius + GRADIENT_WIDTH;

    CGColorSpaceRef baseColorSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
    CGFloat colours[8] = { 0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f,     // Clear region colour.
                            0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 0.5f };   // Blur region colour.
    CGFloat colourLocations[2] = { 0.0f, 0.4f };
    CGGradientRef gradient = CGGradientCreateWithColorComponents (baseColorSpace, colours, colourLocations, 2);

    CGContextDrawRadialGradient(context, gradient, self.origin, clearRegionRadius, self.origin, blurRegionRadius, kCGGradientDrawsAfterEndLocation);

    CGColorSpaceRelease(baseColorSpace);
    CGGradientRelease(gradient);
}

@end

ViewController.m (Wherever you are implementing the blur filer masking functionality)

#import "ViewController.h"
#import "BlurFilterMask.h"
#import <QuartzCore/QuartzCore.h>

@interface ViewController ()
@property (strong, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIImageView *imageView;
@property (strong) BlurFilterMask *blurFilterMask;
@end


@implementation ViewController

// Begin the blur filter masking operation.
- (void)beginBlurMasking
{
    BlurFilterMask *blurFilterMask = [BlurFilterMask layer];
    blurFilterMask.diameter = MIN(CGRectGetWidth(self.imageView.bounds), CGRectGetHeight(self.imageView.bounds));
    blurFilterMask.frame = self.imageView.bounds;
    blurFilterMask.origin = self.imageView.center;
    blurFilterMask.shouldRasterize = YES;
    [self.imageView.layer addSublayer:blurFilterMask];
    [blurFilterMask setNeedsDisplay];

    self.blurFilterMask = blurFilterMask;

    UITapGestureRecognizer *tapGesture = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self action:@selector(handleTap:)];
    [self.imageView addGestureRecognizer:tapGesture];

    UIPinchGestureRecognizer *pinchGesture = [[UIPinchGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self action:@selector(handlePinch:)];
    [self.imageView addGestureRecognizer:pinchGesture];
}

// Move the origin of the blur mask to the location of the tap.
- (void)handleTap:(UITapGestureRecognizer *)sender
{
    self.blurFilterMask.origin = [sender locationInView:self.imageView];
    [self.blurFilterMask setNeedsDisplay];
}

// Expand and contract the clear region of the blur mask.
- (void)handlePinch:(UIPinchGestureRecognizer *)sender
{
    // Use some combination of sender.scale and sender.velocity to determine the rate at which you want the mask to expand/contract.
    self.blurFilterMask.diameter += sender.velocity;
    [self.blurFilterMask setNeedsDisplay];
}

...

Code Conventions Diagram

(This diagram may help understand the naming conventions in the code)

Note

Ensure the multipleTouchEnabled property of the UIImageView hosting your image is set to YES/true:

multipleTouchEnabled

Note

For sake of clarity in answering the OPs question this answer continues to use the naming conventions originally used. This may be slightly misleading to others. 'Mask' is this context does not refer to an image mask but mask in a more general sense. This answer doesn't use any image masking operations.

Related Solutions

Ios – How to produce an effect similar to the iOS 7 blur view

Why bother replicating the effect? Just draw a UIToolbar behind your view.

myView.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
UIToolbar* bgToolbar = [[UIToolbar alloc] initWithFrame:myView.frame];
bgToolbar.barStyle = UIBarStyleDefault;
[myView.superview insertSubview:bgToolbar belowSubview:myView];

Ios – Draw a perfect circle from user’s touch

Sometimes it is really useful to spend some time reinventing the wheel. As you might have already noticed there are a lot of frameworks, but it is not that hard to implement a simple, but yet useful solution without introducing all that complexity. (Please don't get me wrong, for any serious purpose it is better to use some mature and proven to be stable framework).

I will present my results first and then explain the simple and straightforward idea behind them.

enter image description here

You'll see in my implementation there is no need to analyze every single point and do complex computations. The idea is to spot some valuable meta information. I will use tangent as an example:

enter image description here

Let's identify a simple and straightforward pattern, typical for the selected shape:

enter image description here

So it is not that hard to implement a circle detection mechanism based on that idea. See working demo below (Sorry, I'm using Java as the fastest way to provide this fast and a bit dirty example):

import java.awt.BasicStroke;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.HeadlessException;
import java.awt.Point;
import java.awt.RenderingHints;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.event.MouseListener;
import java.awt.event.MouseMotionListener;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;

public class CircleGestureDemo extends JFrame implements MouseListener, MouseMotionListener {

    enum Type {
        RIGHT_DOWN,
        LEFT_DOWN,
        LEFT_UP,
        RIGHT_UP,
        UNDEFINED
    }

    private static final Type[] circleShape = {
        Type.RIGHT_DOWN,
        Type.LEFT_DOWN,
        Type.LEFT_UP,
        Type.RIGHT_UP};

    private boolean editing = false;
    private Point[] bounds;
    private Point last = new Point(0, 0);
    private List<Point> points = new ArrayList<>();

    public CircleGestureDemo() throws HeadlessException {
        super("Detect Circle");

        addMouseListener(this);
        addMouseMotionListener(this);
        setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        setPreferredSize(new Dimension(800, 600));
        pack();
    }

    @Override
    public void paint(Graphics graphics) {
        Dimension d = getSize();
        Graphics2D g = (Graphics2D) graphics;

        super.paint(g);

        RenderingHints qualityHints = new RenderingHints(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING, RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
        qualityHints.put(RenderingHints.KEY_RENDERING, RenderingHints.VALUE_RENDER_QUALITY);
        g.setRenderingHints(qualityHints);

        g.setColor(Color.RED);
        if (cD == 0) {
            Point b = null;
            for (Point e : points) {
                if (null != b) {
                    g.drawLine(b.x, b.y, e.x, e.y);
                }
                b = e;
            }
        }else if (cD > 0){
            g.setColor(Color.BLUE);
            g.setStroke(new BasicStroke(3));
            g.drawOval(cX, cY, cD, cD);
        }else{
            g.drawString("Uknown",30,50);
        }
    }


    private Type getType(int dx, int dy) {
        Type result = Type.UNDEFINED;

        if (dx > 0 && dy < 0) {
            result = Type.RIGHT_DOWN;
        } else if (dx < 0 && dy < 0) {
            result = Type.LEFT_DOWN;
        } else if (dx < 0 && dy > 0) {
            result = Type.LEFT_UP;
        } else if (dx > 0 && dy > 0) {
            result = Type.RIGHT_UP;
        }

        return result;
    }

    private boolean isCircle(List<Point> points) {
        boolean result = false;
        Type[] shape = circleShape;
        Type[] detected = new Type[shape.length];
        bounds = new Point[shape.length];

        final int STEP = 5;

        int index = 0;        
        Point current = points.get(0);
        Type type = null;

        for (int i = STEP; i < points.size(); i += STEP) {
            Point next = points.get(i);
            int dx = next.x - current.x;
            int dy = -(next.y - current.y);

            if(dx == 0 || dy == 0) {
                continue;
            }

            Type newType = getType(dx, dy);
            if(type == null || type != newType) {
                if(newType != shape[index]) {
                    break;
                }
                bounds[index] = current;
                detected[index++] = newType;
            }
            type = newType;            
            current = next;

            if (index >= shape.length) {
                result = true;
                break;
            }
        }

        return result;
    }

    @Override
    public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) {
        cD = 0;
        points.clear();
        editing = true;
    }

    private int cX;
    private int cY;
    private int cD;

    @Override
    public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent e) {
        editing = false;
        if(points.size() > 0) {
            if(isCircle(points)) {
                cX = bounds[0].x + Math.abs((bounds[2].x - bounds[0].x)/2);
                cY = bounds[0].y;
                cD = bounds[2].y - bounds[0].y;
                cX = cX - cD/2;

                System.out.println("circle");
            }else{
                cD = -1;
                System.out.println("unknown");
            }
            repaint();
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void mouseDragged(MouseEvent e) {
        Point newPoint = e.getPoint();
        if (editing && !last.equals(newPoint)) {
            points.add(newPoint);
            last = newPoint;
            repaint();
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void mouseMoved(MouseEvent e) {
    }

    @Override
    public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent e) {
    }

    @Override
    public void mouseExited(MouseEvent e) {
    }

    @Override
    public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                CircleGestureDemo t = new CircleGestureDemo();
                t.setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }
}

It should not be a problem to implement similar behavior on iOS, since you just need several events and coordinates. Something like the following (see example):

- (void)touchesBegan:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event {
    UITouch* touch = [[event allTouches] anyObject];
}

- (void)handleTouch:(UIEvent *)event {
    UITouch* touch = [[event allTouches] anyObject];
    CGPoint location = [touch locationInView:self];

}

- (void)touchesMoved:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event {
    [self handleTouch: event];
}

- (void)touchesEnded:(NSSet *)touches withEvent:(UIEvent *)event {
    [self handleTouch: event];    
}

There are several enhancements possible.

Start at any point

Current requirement is to start drawing a circle from the top middle point due to the following simplification:

        if(type == null || type != newType) {
            if(newType != shape[index]) {
                break;
            }
            bounds[index] = current;
            detected[index++] = newType;
        }

Please notice the default value of index is used. A simple search through the available "parts" of the shape will remove that limitation. Please note you'll need to use a circular buffer in order to detect a full shape:

enter image description here

Clockwise and counterclockwise

In order to support both modes you will need to use the circular buffer from the previous enhancement and search in both directions:

enter image description here

Draw an ellipse

You have everything you need already in the bounds array.

enter image description here

Simply use that data:

cWidth = bounds[2].y - bounds[0].y;
cHeight = bounds[3].y - bounds[1].y;

Other gestures (optional)

Finally, you just need to properly handle a situation when dx (or dy) is equal to zero in order to support other gestures:

enter image description here

Update

This small PoC got quite a high attention, so I did update the code a bit in order to make it work smoothly and provide some drawing hints, highlight supporting points, etc:

Here is the code:

import java.awt.BasicStroke;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.HeadlessException;
import java.awt.Point;
import java.awt.RenderingHints;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.event.MouseListener;
import java.awt.event.MouseMotionListener;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;

public class CircleGestureDemo extends JFrame {

    enum Type {

        RIGHT_DOWN,
        LEFT_DOWN,
        LEFT_UP,
        RIGHT_UP,
        UNDEFINED
    }

    private static final Type[] circleShape = {
        Type.RIGHT_DOWN,
        Type.LEFT_DOWN,
        Type.LEFT_UP,
        Type.RIGHT_UP};

    public CircleGestureDemo() throws HeadlessException {
        super("Circle gesture");
        setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        add(BorderLayout.CENTER, new GesturePanel());
        setPreferredSize(new Dimension(800, 600));
        pack();
    }

    public static class GesturePanel extends JPanel implements MouseListener, MouseMotionListener {

        private boolean editing = false;
        private Point[] bounds;
        private Point last = new Point(0, 0);
        private final List<Point> points = new ArrayList<>();

        public GesturePanel() {
            super(true);
            addMouseListener(this);
            addMouseMotionListener(this);
        }

        @Override
        public void paint(Graphics graphics) {
            super.paint(graphics);

            Dimension d = getSize();
            Graphics2D g = (Graphics2D) graphics;

            RenderingHints qualityHints = new RenderingHints(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING,
                    RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
            qualityHints.put(RenderingHints.KEY_RENDERING, RenderingHints.VALUE_RENDER_QUALITY);

            g.setRenderingHints(qualityHints);

            if (!points.isEmpty() && cD == 0) {
                isCircle(points, g);
                g.setColor(HINT_COLOR);
                if (bounds[2] != null) {
                    int r = (bounds[2].y - bounds[0].y) / 2;
                    g.setStroke(new BasicStroke(r / 3 + 1));
                    g.drawOval(bounds[0].x - r, bounds[0].y, 2 * r, 2 * r);
                } else if (bounds[1] != null) {
                    int r = bounds[1].x - bounds[0].x;
                    g.setStroke(new BasicStroke(r / 3 + 1));
                    g.drawOval(bounds[0].x - r, bounds[0].y, 2 * r, 2 * r);
                }
            }

            g.setStroke(new BasicStroke(2));
            g.setColor(Color.RED);

            if (cD == 0) {
                Point b = null;
                for (Point e : points) {
                    if (null != b) {
                        g.drawLine(b.x, b.y, e.x, e.y);
                    }
                    b = e;
                }

            } else if (cD > 0) {
                g.setColor(Color.BLUE);
                g.setStroke(new BasicStroke(3));
                g.drawOval(cX, cY, cD, cD);
            } else {
                g.drawString("Uknown", 30, 50);
            }
        }

        private Type getType(int dx, int dy) {
            Type result = Type.UNDEFINED;

            if (dx > 0 && dy < 0) {
                result = Type.RIGHT_DOWN;
            } else if (dx < 0 && dy < 0) {
                result = Type.LEFT_DOWN;
            } else if (dx < 0 && dy > 0) {
                result = Type.LEFT_UP;
            } else if (dx > 0 && dy > 0) {
                result = Type.RIGHT_UP;
            }

            return result;
        }

        private boolean isCircle(List<Point> points, Graphics2D g) {
            boolean result = false;
            Type[] shape = circleShape;
            bounds = new Point[shape.length];

            final int STEP = 5;
            int index = 0;
            int initial = 0;
            Point current = points.get(0);
            Type type = null;

            for (int i = STEP; i < points.size(); i += STEP) {
                final Point next = points.get(i);
                final int dx = next.x - current.x;
                final int dy = -(next.y - current.y);

                if (dx == 0 || dy == 0) {
                    continue;
                }

                final int marker = 8;
                if (null != g) {
                    g.setColor(Color.BLACK);
                    g.setStroke(new BasicStroke(2));
                    g.drawOval(current.x - marker/2, 
                               current.y - marker/2, 
                               marker, marker);
                }

                Type newType = getType(dx, dy);
                if (type == null || type != newType) {
                    if (newType != shape[index]) {
                        break;
                    }
                    bounds[index++] = current;
                }

                type = newType;
                current = next;
                initial = i;

                if (index >= shape.length) {
                    result = true;
                    break;
                }
            }
            return result;
        }

        @Override
        public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e) {
            cD = 0;
            points.clear();
            editing = true;
        }

        private int cX;
        private int cY;
        private int cD;

        @Override
        public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent e) {
            editing = false;
            if (points.size() > 0) {
                if (isCircle(points, null)) {
                    int r = Math.abs((bounds[2].y - bounds[0].y) / 2);
                    cX = bounds[0].x - r;
                    cY = bounds[0].y;
                    cD = 2 * r;
                } else {
                    cD = -1;
                }
                repaint();
            }
        }

        @Override
        public void mouseDragged(MouseEvent e) {
            Point newPoint = e.getPoint();
            if (editing && !last.equals(newPoint)) {
                points.add(newPoint);
                last = newPoint;
                repaint();
            }
        }

        @Override
        public void mouseMoved(MouseEvent e) {
        }

        @Override
        public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent e) {
        }

        @Override
        public void mouseExited(MouseEvent e) {
        }

        @Override
        public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                CircleGestureDemo t = new CircleGestureDemo();
                t.setVisible(true);
            }
        });
    }

    final static Color HINT_COLOR = new Color(0x55888888, true);
}

Best Answer

Sharp Mask

Non Zero Winding Rule

Even Odd Winding Rule

Code

Gradient Mask

Code

Note

Note

Related Solutions

Ios – How to produce an effect similar to the iOS 7 blur view

Ios – Draw a perfect circle from user’s touch

Related Topic