cocoacocoa-touchcore-graphics

How to get pixel data from a UIImage (Cocoa Touch) or CGImage (Core Graphics)?


I have a UIImage (Cocoa Touch). From that, I'm happy to get a CGImage or anything else you'd like that's available. I'd like to write this function:

- (int)getRGBAFromImage:(UIImage *)image atX:(int)xx andY:(int)yy {
  // [...]
  // What do I want to read about to help
  // me fill in this bit, here?
  // [...]

  int result = (red << 24) | (green << 16) | (blue << 8) | alpha;
  return result;
}

Solution

  • FYI, I combined Keremk's answer with my original outline, cleaned-up the typos, generalized it to return an array of colors and got the whole thing to compile. Here is the result:

    + (NSArray*)getRGBAsFromImage:(UIImage*)image atX:(int)x andY:(int)y count:(int)count
    {
        NSMutableArray *result = [NSMutableArray arrayWithCapacity:count];
    
        // First get the image into your data buffer
        CGImageRef imageRef = [image CGImage];
        NSUInteger width = CGImageGetWidth(imageRef);
        NSUInteger height = CGImageGetHeight(imageRef);
        CGColorSpaceRef colorSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
        unsigned char *rawData = (unsigned char*) calloc(height * width * 4, sizeof(unsigned char));
        NSUInteger bytesPerPixel = 4;
        NSUInteger bytesPerRow = bytesPerPixel * width;
        NSUInteger bitsPerComponent = 8;
        CGContextRef context = CGBitmapContextCreate(rawData, width, height,
                        bitsPerComponent, bytesPerRow, colorSpace,
                        kCGImageAlphaPremultipliedLast | kCGBitmapByteOrder32Big);
        CGColorSpaceRelease(colorSpace);
    
        CGContextDrawImage(context, CGRectMake(0, 0, width, height), imageRef);
        CGContextRelease(context);
    
        // Now your rawData contains the image data in the RGBA8888 pixel format.
        NSUInteger byteIndex = (bytesPerRow * y) + x * bytesPerPixel;
        for (int i = 0 ; i < count ; ++i)
        {
            CGFloat alpha = ((CGFloat) rawData[byteIndex + 3] ) / 255.0f;
            CGFloat red   = ((CGFloat) rawData[byteIndex]     ) / alpha;
            CGFloat green = ((CGFloat) rawData[byteIndex + 1] ) / alpha;
            CGFloat blue  = ((CGFloat) rawData[byteIndex + 2] ) / alpha;
            byteIndex += bytesPerPixel;
    
            UIColor *acolor = [UIColor colorWithRed:red green:green blue:blue alpha:alpha];
            [result addObject:acolor];
        }
    
      free(rawData);
    
      return result;
    }