How to get UIImage from EAGLView?

Question

I am trying to get a UIImage from what is displayed in my EAGLView. Any suggestions on how to do this?

Answer 1

I was unable to get the other answers here to work correctly for me.

After a few days I finally got a working solution to this. There is code provided by Apple which produces a UIImage from a EAGLView. Then you simply need to flip the image vertically since UIkit is upside down.

Apple Provided Method - Modified to be inside the view you want to make into an image.

    -(UIImage *) drawableToCGImage 
{
GLint backingWidth2, backingHeight2;
//Bind the color renderbuffer used to render the OpenGL ES view
// If your application only creates a single color renderbuffer which is already bound at this point,
// this call is redundant, but it is needed if you're dealing with multiple renderbuffers.
// Note, replace "_colorRenderbuffer" with the actual name of the renderbuffer object defined in your class.
glBindRenderbufferOES(GL_RENDERBUFFER_OES, viewRenderbuffer);

// Get the size of the backing CAEAGLLayer
glGetRenderbufferParameterivOES(GL_RENDERBUFFER_OES, GL_RENDERBUFFER_WIDTH_OES, &backingWidth2);
glGetRenderbufferParameterivOES(GL_RENDERBUFFER_OES, GL_RENDERBUFFER_HEIGHT_OES, &backingHeight2);

NSInteger x = 0, y = 0, width2 = backingWidth2, height2 = backingHeight2;
NSInteger dataLength = width2 * height2 * 4;
GLubyte *data = (GLubyte*)malloc(dataLength * sizeof(GLubyte));

// Read pixel data from the framebuffer
glPixelStorei(GL_PACK_ALIGNMENT, 4);
glReadPixels(x, y, width2, height2, GL_RGBA, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, data);

// Create a CGImage with the pixel data
// If your OpenGL ES content is opaque, use kCGImageAlphaNoneSkipLast to ignore the alpha channel
// otherwise, use kCGImageAlphaPremultipliedLast
CGDataProviderRef ref = CGDataProviderCreateWithData(NULL, data, dataLength, NULL);
CGColorSpaceRef colorspace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
CGImageRef iref = CGImageCreate(width2, height2, 8, 32, width2 * 4, colorspace, kCGBitmapByteOrder32Big | kCGImageAlphaPremultipliedLast,
                                ref, NULL, true, kCGRenderingIntentDefault);

// OpenGL ES measures data in PIXELS
// Create a graphics context with the target size measured in POINTS
NSInteger widthInPoints, heightInPoints;
if (NULL != UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions) {
    // On iOS 4 and later, use UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions to take the scale into consideration
    // Set the scale parameter to your OpenGL ES view's contentScaleFactor
    // so that you get a high-resolution snapshot when its value is greater than 1.0
    CGFloat scale = self.contentScaleFactor;
    widthInPoints = width2 / scale;
    heightInPoints = height2 / scale;
    UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions(CGSizeMake(widthInPoints, heightInPoints), NO, scale);
}
else {
    // On iOS prior to 4, fall back to use UIGraphicsBeginImageContext
    widthInPoints = width2;
    heightInPoints = height2;
    UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(CGSizeMake(widthInPoints, heightInPoints));
}

CGContextRef cgcontext = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();

// UIKit coordinate system is upside down to GL/Quartz coordinate system
// Flip the CGImage by rendering it to the flipped bitmap context
// The size of the destination area is measured in POINTS
CGContextSetBlendMode(cgcontext, kCGBlendModeCopy);
CGContextDrawImage(cgcontext, CGRectMake(0.0, 0.0, widthInPoints, heightInPoints), iref);

// Retrieve the UIImage from the current context
UIImage *image = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();

UIGraphicsEndImageContext();

// Clean up
free(data);
CFRelease(ref);
CFRelease(colorspace);
CGImageRelease(iref);

return image;

}

And heres a method to flip the image

- (UIImage *) flipImageVertically:(UIImage *)originalImage {
UIImageView *tempImageView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:originalImage];
UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(tempImageView.frame.size);
CGContextRef context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
CGAffineTransform flipVertical = CGAffineTransformMake(
                                                       1, 0, 0, -1, 0, tempImageView.frame.size.height
                                                       );
CGContextConcatCTM(context, flipVertical);

[tempImageView.layer renderInContext:context];

UIImage *flippedImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();
UIGraphicsEndImageContext();
//[tempImageView release];

return flippedImage;

}

And here's a link to the Apple dev page where I found the first method for reference. http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#qa/qa1704/_index.html

Answer 2

-(UIImage *) saveImageFromGLView
{
    NSInteger myDataLength = 320 * 480 * 4;
    // allocate array and read pixels into it.
    GLubyte *buffer = (GLubyte *) malloc(myDataLength);
    glReadPixels(0, 0, 320, 480, GL_RGBA, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, buffer);
    // gl renders "upside down" so swap top to bottom into new array.
    // there's gotta be a better way, but this works.
    GLubyte *buffer2 = (GLubyte *) malloc(myDataLength);
    for(int y = 0; y <480; y++)
    {
        for(int x = 0; x <320 * 4; x++)
        {
            buffer2[(479 - y) * 320 * 4 + x] = buffer[y * 4 * 320 + x];
        }
    }
    // make data provider with data.
    CGDataProviderRef provider = CGDataProviderCreateWithData(NULL, buffer2, myDataLength, NULL);
    // prep the ingredients
    int bitsPerComponent = 8;
    int bitsPerPixel = 32;
    int bytesPerRow = 4 * 320;
    CGColorSpaceRef colorSpaceRef = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
    CGBitmapInfo bitmapInfo = kCGBitmapByteOrderDefault;
    CGColorRenderingIntent renderingIntent = kCGRenderingIntentDefault;
    // make the cgimage
    CGImageRef imageRef = CGImageCreate(320, 480, bitsPerComponent, bitsPerPixel, bytesPerRow, colorSpaceRef, bitmapInfo, provider, NULL, NO, renderingIntent);
    // then make the uiimage from that
    UIImage *myImage = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:imageRef];

    CGImageRelease( imageRef );
    CGDataProviderRelease(provider);
    CGColorSpaceRelease(colorSpaceRef);
    free(buffer2);

    return myImage;
}

Answer 3

CGDataProviderCreateWithData comes with a release callback to release the data, where you should do the release:

void releaseBufferData(void *info, const void *data, size_t size)
{
    free((void*)data);
}

Then do this like other examples, but NOT to free data here:

GLubyte *bufferData = (GLubyte *) malloc(bufferDataSize);
CGDataProviderRef provider = CGDataProviderCreateWithData(NULL, bufferData, bufferDataSize, releaseBufferData);
....
CGDataProviderRelease(provider);

---

Or simply use CGDataProviderCreateWithCFData without release callback stuff instead:

GLubyte *bufferData = (GLubyte *) malloc(bufferDataSize);
NSData *data = [NSData dataWithBytes:bufferData length:bufferDataSize];
CGDataProviderRef provider = CGDataProviderCreateWithCFData((CFDataRef)data);
....
CGDataProviderRelease(provider);
free(bufferData); // Remember to free it

For more information, please check this discuss:

What's the right memory management pattern for buffer->CGImageRef->UIImage?

Answer 4

EDIT: as demianturner notes below, you no longer need to render the layer, you can (and should) now use the higher-level [UIView drawViewHierarchyInRect:]. Other than that; this should work the same.

An EAGLView is just a kind of view, and its underlying CAEAGLLayer is just a kind of layer. That means, that the standard approach for converting a view/layer into a UIImage will work. (The fact that the linked question is UIWebview doesn't matter; that's just yet another kind of view.)

Answer 5

With this above code of Brad Larson, you have to edit your EAGLView.m

- (id)initWithCoder:(NSCoder*)coder{
    self = [super initWithCoder:coder];
    if (self) {
        CAEAGLLayer *eaglLayer = (CAEAGLLayer *)self.layer;
        eaglLayer.opaque = TRUE;
        eaglLayer.drawableProperties = 
            [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys: 
                [NSNumber numberWithBool:YES],  kEAGLDrawablePropertyRetainedBacking, 
                kEAGLColorFormatRGBA8, kEAGLDrawablePropertyColorFormat, nil];
    }
    return self;
}

You have to change numberWithBool value YES

Answer 6

Here is a cleaned up version of Quakeboy's code. I tested it on iPad, and works just fine. The improvements include:

• works with any size EAGLView
• works with retina display (point scale 2)
• replaced nested loop with memcpy
• cleaned up memory leaks
• saves the UIImage in the photoalbum as a bonus.

Use this as a method in your EAGLView:

-(void)snapUIImage
{
    int s = 1;
    UIScreen* screen = [ UIScreen mainScreen ];
    if ( [ screen respondsToSelector:@selector(scale) ] )
        s = (int) [ screen scale ];

    const int w = self.frame.size.width;
    const int h = self.frame.size.height;
    const NSInteger myDataLength = w * h * 4 * s * s;
    // allocate array and read pixels into it.
    GLubyte *buffer = (GLubyte *) malloc(myDataLength);
    glReadPixels(0, 0, w*s, h*s, GL_RGBA, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, buffer);
    // gl renders "upside down" so swap top to bottom into new array.
    // there's gotta be a better way, but this works.
    GLubyte *buffer2 = (GLubyte *) malloc(myDataLength);
    for(int y = 0; y < h*s; y++)
    {
        memcpy( buffer2 + (h*s - 1 - y) * w * 4 * s, buffer + (y * 4 * w * s), w * 4 * s );
    }
    free(buffer); // work with the flipped buffer, so get rid of the original one.

    // make data provider with data.
    CGDataProviderRef provider = CGDataProviderCreateWithData(NULL, buffer2, myDataLength, NULL);
    // prep the ingredients
    int bitsPerComponent = 8;
    int bitsPerPixel = 32;
    int bytesPerRow = 4 * w * s;
    CGColorSpaceRef colorSpaceRef = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
    CGBitmapInfo bitmapInfo = kCGBitmapByteOrderDefault;
    CGColorRenderingIntent renderingIntent = kCGRenderingIntentDefault;
    // make the cgimage
    CGImageRef imageRef = CGImageCreate(w*s, h*s, bitsPerComponent, bitsPerPixel, bytesPerRow, colorSpaceRef, bitmapInfo, provider, NULL, NO, renderingIntent);
    // then make the uiimage from that
    UIImage *myImage = [ UIImage imageWithCGImage:imageRef scale:s orientation:UIImageOrientationUp ];
    UIImageWriteToSavedPhotosAlbum( myImage, nil, nil, nil );
    CGImageRelease( imageRef );
    CGDataProviderRelease(provider);
    CGColorSpaceRelease(colorSpaceRef);
    free(buffer2);
}