I have been looking for the solution on the web for a long time. Most tutorials are fairly simple about adding shadow to a UIView. I also noticed that if we add a shadow to an UIImageView. The shadow shape could perfectly fit the shape of the content image if the image itself has alpha channel in it. Say for example, if the image is an animal with transparent background, the shadow shape is also the same as that animal (not a rectangle shadow as same as UIImageView frame).
But these are not enough. What I need to do is to add some changes to the shadow so it may have some rotation angle and compressed (squeezed or shift) effect so that looks like the sunlight comes from a certain spot.
To demonstrate what I need, I upload 2 images below, which I captured from the Google Map App created by Apple. You can imagine the Annotation Pin is an image which has the Pin shape, so the shadow is also "pin shaped", but it is not simply "offset" with a CGSize, you can see the top of the shadow is shifted right about 35 degrees and slightly squeezed the height.
When we tap and hold and pin, the shadow is also animated away from the pin, so I believe that such shadow can be made programmably.
The best shadow tutorial I can found so far is http://nachbaur.com/blog/fun-shadow-effects-using-custom-calayer-shadowpaths But unfortunately, that cannot make this effect.
If anyone know the answer or know any better words to search for, please let me know. Thank you.
(Please note that the shape of the image is dynamic in the App, so using any tool like Photoshop to pre-render the shadow is not an option.)
In order to create dynamic effects like this, you have to use Core Graphics. It's incredibly powerful once you know how to use it. Basically you need to set a skew transform on the context, set up a shadow and draw the image. You will probably have to use transparency layers as well.
It doesn't sound like you can use CALayer shadows, since that is meant to solve a specific use-case. The approach Apple takes with the pin marks on the map is to have two separate images that are created ahead of time (e.g. in Photoshop) and they position them within the map relative to a reference point.
If you really do need to do this at run-time, it should still be possible by using either Core Graphics or ImageKit. To get a blurred shadow appearance, you can use the kCICategoryBlur CIFilter. You can then convert the image to grayscale. And to get that compressed look you just need to resize and skew the image.
Once you have two separate images, you can either take the CGImageRef for the shadow image and can set that as the content of another sublayer, or you can add it as a separate view.
If you know what all the shapes are, you could just render a shadow image in Photoshop or something.
Related
I want to know if it's possible to use gradient colors in the launchscreen.storyboards if so where can I edit it. I'm not looking to add images because it can make the app to heavy but maybe a transition to change the gradient from a-colors to b-colors.
thanks in advance.
If you want to render gradients programmatically in a storyboard, you can generally define a UIView subclass to do that, but you cannot use custom classes in the launch screen. You’ll have to use an image.
If your gradient is a simple vertical or horizontal gradient, and you’re really concerned about asset size, you can define a very narrow image and then add an image view with “scale to fill” content mode.
But these images are so small anyway, the amount of space saved will be negligible, so I’m not sure it’s worth worrying about.
I am working on drag and drop activity for iPad. I have a rectangle PNG image (see the image named as obj2). When I drag obj1 only on the black portion of the rectangle then it should react.
if (CGRectIntersectsRect(obj1.frame, obj2.frame))
{
NSLog(#" hit test done!! ");
}
Right now, this piece of code takes hit test even on the transparent area. How to prevent that to happen?
For something as simple as your specific example (triangle and circle), the link that David Rönnqvist gives is very useful. You should definitely look at it to see some available tools. But for the general case, the best bet is clipping, drawing, and searching.
For some background, see Clipping a CGRRect to a CGPath.
First, create an alpha-only bitmap image. This is explained in the above link.
Next, clip your context to one of your images using CGContextClipToMask().
Now, draw your other image onto the context.
Finally, search the bitmap data for any colored pixels (see the above link for example code).
If any of the pixels colored, then there is some overlap.
Another, similar approach (which might actually be faster), is to draw each image into its own alpha-only CGBitmapContext. Then walk the pixels in each context and see if they ever are both >128 at the same time.
I've created a canvas within which I display an image that is clipped when it goes over the edges. I can do this fine with a square shaped frame, however the frame I want to use is the one below. Is there any way I can clip the image inside the frame without having to add a non transparent square border around the image, i.e. just using the black line that I've already drawn? (on iPad)
You'll need to use Core Graphics and Quartz to handle this sort of clipping/graphics manipulation.
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/GraphicsImaging/Conceptual/drawingwithquartz2d/Introduction/Introduction.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30001066
If you're using UIBezierPath, you may be able to achieve the clipping you're after using the following process
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/GraphicsImaging/Conceptual/drawingwithquartz2d/dq_paths/dq_paths.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30001066-CH211-TPXREF101
Convert your UIBezierPath to a CGPath
Get your image into a CGContext
Add your CGPath to the context via CGContextAddPath
Clip your context using CGContextClip
Alternatively, if you don't want to be messing with paths (and depending on whether this technique is suitable for your situation, your description of the issue makes it hard to tell), it might be worth using image masking to achieve the effect you're after. See the first link and look under "Bitmap Images and Image Masks".
I am a coder but not a graphic maker. I can decently produce graphics that meet the quality standards visually although I cannot produce graphics that will technically "work." This is what I mean:
I am using CGRectIntersectsRect for colliding images. My image has SOME extra space which I have made completely transparent using Adobe PhotoShop but even if this extra transparent space is not visible, when the two images collide, it will look like you will be hitting nothing as this extra invisible transparent space is PART of the image and when CGRectIntersectsRect is called it detects touch between two images. So if the other image touches the transparent space, CGRectIntersectsRect is called and my code is executed. I only want my code to be executed if it hits the actual COLOR space of the image. Here is two things that could help me through that, they follow through with questions.
Learn how to make NO EXTRA SPACE on an image in photoshop. How could I do this, tutorials?
CGRectIntersectsRect only called when touching a color part of an image. A way to do this?
Thank you guys!
Regarding your question #1, it depends. All images are rectangular, all. So, if your sprite is rectangular, you can crop it in Photoshop to just the rectangular area. But if you want to handle, say, a circle ball, then you can't do such thing as "remove extra space". Your circle ball will always be stored in a rectangular image, with transparent space on the corners.
Learn how to make NO EXTRA SPACE on an image in photoshop. How could I do this, tutorials?
You can manually select an area using the Rectangular Marquee Tool and Image > Crop or automatically trim the image based on an edge pixel color using Image > Trim.
CGRectIntersectsRect only called when touching a color part of an image. A way to do this?
You can use pixel-perfect collisions or create better bounding shapes for your game objects. For example, instead of using pixel-perfect collision for a spaceship like this one, you could use a triangle for the wings, a rectangle for the body, and a triangle for the head.
Pixel-perfect collision
One way you could implement it would be to
Have an blank image in memory.
Draw visible pixels from one image in blue (#0000ff).
Draw visible pixels from the other image in red (#ff0000).
If there's any purple pixels in the image (#ff00ff), then there's an intersection.
Alternative collision detection solution
If your game is physics-based, then you can use a physics engine like Box2D. You can use circles, rectangles, and polygons to represent all of your game objects and it'll give you accurate results without unnecessary overhead.
For collision detection for non-rectangular shapes, you should look into one of the many game and/or physics libraries available for iOS. Cocos2d coupled with Box2d or chipmunk are popular choices.
If you want to do it yourself, you'll need to start with something like a custom CGPath tracing the actual shape of each object, then use a function like CGPathContainsPoint (that's from memory, it may be wrong). But it is not a simple job. Angry birds uses box2d, AFAIK.
I know similar questions have been asked before, so don't get snarky and link to previous answers. The reason I am repeating this is that none of the answers have worked.
I have a UIWebView, and I want to draw a pretty drop-shadow behind it. I have tried subclassing and using some CoreGraphics goodness in drawRect:, but to no avail. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks.
You could place a UIImageView under the UIScrollView with a slight offset, and give the image view a shadowy-looking image.
In this case, it would be convenient to use the stretchableImageWithLeftCapWidth:topCapHeight: method of UIImage to get a shadow image that can have nicely blurred edges and corners without distorting if you alter its size.
I think the usual quartz shadows are hard to apply to a UIWebView since you don't really have access to the raw drawing code, which would be the best place to plug that in.
Addendum Here's a sample drop shadow image:
. It has 4 pixel cap size all around, for use with the above stretchableImage method, and an alpha of 80% (so it's 20% transparent in the middle, tapering out at the edges). Feel free to use it. They're easy to make with a selection + feathering in your favorite graphics app.