UIImage from CIImage - Data length is zero? - objective-c

Question

I'm using an AVCaptureVideoDataOutput along with its delegate method to manipulate video frames. In the delegate method, I am using the sampleBuffer to create a CIImage, and from here I crop the CIImage, convert it to a UIImage and display it. Unfortunately, I need to determine the file-size of this new UIImage, but it's returning 0. The code works, the image is cropped beautifully, everything. I just don't see why it has no data!
Why might this be? Relevant code follows:
//In delegate method, given sampleBuffer...
CVPixelBufferRef pixelBuffer = CMSampleBufferGetImageBuffer(sampleBuffer);
CFDictionaryRef attachments = CMCopyDictionaryOfAttachments(kCFAllocatorDefault,
sampleBuffer, kCMAttachmentMode_ShouldPropagate);
CIImage *ciImage = [[CIImage alloc] initWithCVPixelBuffer:pixelBuffer
options:(NSDictionary *)attachments];
...
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^(void) {
CGRect rect = [self drawFaceBoxesForFeatures:features forVideoBox:clap
orientation:curDeviceOrientation];
CIImage *cropped = [ciImage imageByCroppingToRect:rect];
UIImage *image = [[UIImage alloc] initWithCIImage:cropped];
NSData *data = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(image, 1);
NSLog(#"Image size is %d", data.length); //returns 0???
[imageView setImage:image];
[image release];
});

Answer 1

I had the same Problem, but with simple filtered images.
I stumbled upon this and it solved the issue. After this, I was able to save my image.
CGSize size = self.originalImage.size;
CGRect rect;
rect.origin = CGPointZero;
rect.size = size;
UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(size);
[[UIImage imageWithCIImage:self.filteredImage] drawInRect:rect];
UIImage * image = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();
UIGraphicsEndImageContext();
NSData * jpegData = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(image, 1.0);
But I only needed this two lines in the "ImageContext"