How do I get the RGB Value of a pixel using CGContext?

Question

I'm trying to edit images by changing the pixels.

I have the following code:

    let imageRect = CGRectMake(0, 0, self.image.image!.size.width, self.image.image!.size.height)

    UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(self.image.image!.size)
    let context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext()

    CGContextSaveGState(context)
    CGContextDrawImage(context, imageRect, self.image.image!.CGImage)

    for x in 0...Int(self.image.image!.size.width) {
        for y in 0...Int(self.image.image!.size.height) {
            var red = 0
            if y % 2 == 0 {
                red = 255
            }

            CGContextSetRGBFillColor(context, CGFloat(red/255), 0.5, 0.5, 1)
            CGContextFillRect(context, CGRectMake(CGFloat(x), CGFloat(y), 1, 1))
        }
    }
    CGContextRestoreGState(context)
    self.image.image = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext()

I'm looping through all the pixels and changing the value of the each pixel, then converting it back to an image. Want I want to do is somehow get the value of the current pixel (in the y-for-loop) and do something with that data. I have not found anything on the internet about this particular problem.

Answer 1

Ok, I think I have a solution that should work for you in Swift 2.

Credit goes to this answer for the UIColor extension below.

Since I needed an image to test this on I chose a slice (50 x 50 - top left corner) of your gravatar...

So the code below converts this:

To this:

This works for me in a playground - all you should have to do is copy and paste into a playground to see the result:

//: Playground - noun: a place where people can play

import UIKit
import XCPlayground

extension CALayer {

    func colorOfPoint(point:CGPoint) -> UIColor
    {
        var pixel:[CUnsignedChar] = [0,0,0,0]

        let colorSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB()
        let bitmapInfo = CGBitmapInfo(rawValue: CGImageAlphaInfo.PremultipliedLast.rawValue)

        let context = CGBitmapContextCreate(&pixel, 1, 1, 8, 4, colorSpace,bitmapInfo.rawValue)

        CGContextTranslateCTM(context, -point.x, -point.y)

        self.renderInContext(context!)

        let red:CGFloat = CGFloat(pixel[0])/255.0
        let green:CGFloat = CGFloat(pixel[1])/255.0
        let blue:CGFloat = CGFloat(pixel[2])/255.0
        let alpha:CGFloat = CGFloat(pixel[3])/255.0

        //println("point color - red:\(red) green:\(green) blue:\(blue)")

        let color = UIColor(red:red, green: green, blue:blue, alpha:alpha)

        return color
    }
}

extension UIColor {
    var components:(red: CGFloat, green: CGFloat, blue: CGFloat, alpha: CGFloat) {
        var r:CGFloat = 0
        var g:CGFloat = 0
        var b:CGFloat = 0
        var a:CGFloat = 0
        getRed(&r, green: &g, blue: &b, alpha: &a)
        return (r,g,b,a)
    }
}


//get an image we can work on
var imageFromURL = UIImage(data: NSData(contentsOfURL: NSURL(string:"https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/ba4178644a33a51e928ffd820269347c?s=328&d=identicon&r=PG&f=1")!)!)
//only use a small area of that image - 50 x 50 square
let imageSliceArea = CGRectMake(0, 0, 50, 50);
let imageSlice  = CGImageCreateWithImageInRect(imageFromURL?.CGImage, imageSliceArea);
//we'll work on this image
var image = UIImage(CGImage: imageSlice!)


let imageView = UIImageView(image: image)
//test out the extension above on the point (0,0) - returns r 0.541 g 0.78 b 0.227 a 1.0
var pointColor = imageView.layer.colorOfPoint(CGPoint(x: 0, y: 0))



let imageRect = CGRectMake(0, 0, image.size.width, image.size.height)

UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(image.size)
let context = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext()

CGContextSaveGState(context)
CGContextDrawImage(context, imageRect, image.CGImage)

for x in 0...Int(image.size.width) {
    for y in 0...Int(image.size.height) {
        var pointColor = imageView.layer.colorOfPoint(CGPoint(x: x, y: y))
        //I used my own creativity here - change this to whatever logic you want
        if y % 2 == 0 {
            CGContextSetRGBFillColor(context, pointColor.components.red , 0.5, 0.5, 1)
        }
        else {
            CGContextSetRGBFillColor(context, 255, 0.5, 0.5, 1)
        }

        CGContextFillRect(context, CGRectMake(CGFloat(x), CGFloat(y), 1, 1))
    }
}
CGContextRestoreGState(context)
image = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext()

I hope this works for you. I had fun playing around with this!