Fading out any content which approaches edges of UIScollView

Question

As the title says, I am trying to give to some UIImageViews a fading out effect as they get closer and closer to any of the four edges of my UIScrollView. Since the user can dra

Answer 1

Similar to what was done in the Cocoanetics post you link to, you can create a CAGradientLayer to cover your scroll view. Make it fade out to the left, right, top and bottom edges, using the background color of your scroll view (in my example, white):

   CGColorRef innerColor = [UIColor colorWithWhite:1.0 alpha:0.0].CGColor;
   CGColorRef outerColor = [UIColor colorWithWhite:1.0 alpha:1.0].CGColor;

   // first, define a horizontal gradient (left/right edges)
   CAGradientLayer* hMaskLayer = [CAGradientLayer layer];
   hMaskLayer.opacity = .7;
   hMaskLayer.colors = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:(id)outerColor,
                        (id)innerColor, (id)innerColor, (id)outerColor, nil];
   hMaskLayer.locations = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:[NSNumber numberWithFloat:0.0],
                           [NSNumber numberWithFloat:0.15],
                           [NSNumber numberWithFloat:0.85],
                           [NSNumber numberWithFloat:1.0], nil];
   hMaskLayer.startPoint = CGPointMake(0, 0.5);
   hMaskLayer.endPoint = CGPointMake(1.0, 0.5);
   hMaskLayer.bounds = self.scrollView.bounds;
   hMaskLayer.anchorPoint = CGPointZero;

   CAGradientLayer* vMaskLayer = [CAGradientLayer layer];
   // without specifying startPoint and endPoint, we get a vertical gradient
   vMaskLayer.opacity = hMaskLayer.opacity;
   vMaskLayer.colors = hMaskLayer.colors;
   vMaskLayer.locations = hMaskLayer.locations;
   vMaskLayer.bounds = self.scrollView.bounds;
   vMaskLayer.anchorPoint = CGPointZero;

   // you must add the masks to the root view, not the scrollView, otherwise
   //  the masks will move as the user scrolls!
   [self.view.layer addSublayer: hMaskLayer];
   [self.view.layer addSublayer: vMaskLayer];

Disclaimer: this does sort of double-up the gradient/fade at the four corners. You can take a look at the results and decide whether they're good enough for you. If not, you could also try drawing a transparent image in something like Photoshop, and adding a UIImageView subview on top as the mask, using the image you drew.

Youtube screen capture

Answer 2

Couple of postings on this issue here:

Changing the alpha inside UIScrollView

setting Alpha for UIView that is a subview of UIScrollVIew very slow

and some sample code here:

https://gist.github.com/MaximKeegan/2478842

---

If you want to go your own way then first get the visible part of the UIScrollView:

Getting the visible rect of an UIScrollView's content

and then fade the UIView:

UIView border with fade or blur effect

Answer 3

Swift version of Nate answer, but only for top and bottom:

        let innerColor = UIColor(white: 1.0, alpha: 0.0).CGColor
        let outerColor = UIColor(white: 1.0, alpha: 1.0).CGColor;

        // define a vertical gradient (up/bottom edges)
        let colors = [outerColor, innerColor,innerColor,outerColor]
        let locations = [0.0, 0.15,0.85,1.0]

        var vMaskLayer : CAGradientLayer = CAGradientLayer()// layer];
        // without specifying startPoint and endPoint, we get a vertical gradient
        vMaskLayer.opacity = 0.7
        vMaskLayer.colors = colors;
        vMaskLayer.locations = locations;
        vMaskLayer.bounds = self.scrollView.bounds;
        vMaskLayer.anchorPoint = CGPointZero;

        // you must add the mask to the root view, not the scrollView, otherwise
        //  the masks will move as the user scrolls!
        self.view.layer.addSublayer(vMaskLayer)