Save AVCaptureVideoDataOutput to movie file using AVAssetWriter in Swift

Question

I've been looking all over the web and can't seem to find a tutorial or help in what I need.

Using AVFoundation and the Dlib library I've created an app that can detect a face from real time video using the front camera on the phone. I'm doing this using Shape Predictor 68 Face Landmarks. For this to work I'm pretty sure I have to use AVCaptureVideoDataOutput as opposed to AVMovieFileOutput so that each frame can be analysed.

I now want to be able to save the video to file and from what I gather I need to use AVAssetWriter to do this. I just can't find much information anywhere about how to get started with this. I'm completely new to Swift and iOS programming and can't really understand much from looking at Apple's documentation.

If anyone could help me would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

I was able to find out how to use AVAssetWriter. In case anyone else needs help the code I used is as follows:

func setUpWriter() {

    do {
        outputFileLocation = videoFileLocation()
        videoWriter = try AVAssetWriter(outputURL: outputFileLocation!, fileType: AVFileType.mov)

        // add video input
        videoWriterInput = AVAssetWriterInput(mediaType: AVMediaType.video, outputSettings: [
            AVVideoCodecKey : AVVideoCodecType.h264,
            AVVideoWidthKey : 720,
            AVVideoHeightKey : 1280,
            AVVideoCompressionPropertiesKey : [
                AVVideoAverageBitRateKey : 2300000,
                ],
            ])

        videoWriterInput.expectsMediaDataInRealTime = true

        if videoWriter.canAdd(videoWriterInput) {
            videoWriter.add(videoWriterInput)
            print("video input added")
        } else {
            print("no input added")
        }

        // add audio input
        audioWriterInput = AVAssetWriterInput(mediaType: AVMediaType.audio, outputSettings: nil)

        audioWriterInput.expectsMediaDataInRealTime = true

        if videoWriter.canAdd(audioWriterInput!) {
            videoWriter.add(audioWriterInput!)
            print("audio input added")
        }


        videoWriter.startWriting()
    } catch let error {
        debugPrint(error.localizedDescription)
    }


}

func canWrite() -> Bool {
    return isRecording && videoWriter != nil && videoWriter?.status == .writing
}


 //video file location method
func videoFileLocation() -> URL {
    let documentsPath = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.documentDirectory, .userDomainMask, true)[0] as NSString
    let videoOutputUrl = URL(fileURLWithPath: documentsPath.appendingPathComponent("videoFile")).appendingPathExtension("mov")
    do {
    if FileManager.default.fileExists(atPath: videoOutputUrl.path) {
        try FileManager.default.removeItem(at: videoOutputUrl)
        print("file removed")
    }
    } catch {
        print(error)
    }

    return videoOutputUrl
}

// MARK: AVCaptureVideoDataOutputSampleBufferDelegate
func captureOutput(_ output: AVCaptureOutput, didOutput sampleBuffer: CMSampleBuffer, from connection: AVCaptureConnection) {

    let writable = canWrite()

    if writable,
        sessionAtSourceTime == nil {
        // start writing
        sessionAtSourceTime = CMSampleBufferGetPresentationTimeStamp(sampleBuffer)
        videoWriter.startSession(atSourceTime: sessionAtSourceTime!)
        //print("Writing")
    }

    if output == videoDataOutput {
        connection.videoOrientation = .portrait

        if connection.isVideoMirroringSupported {
            connection.isVideoMirrored = true
        }
    }

    if writable,
        output == videoDataOutput,
        (videoWriterInput.isReadyForMoreMediaData) {
        // write video buffer
        videoWriterInput.append(sampleBuffer)
        //print("video buffering")
    } else if writable,
        output == audioDataOutput,
        (audioWriterInput.isReadyForMoreMediaData) {
        // write audio buffer
        audioWriterInput?.append(sampleBuffer)
        //print("audio buffering")
    }

}

// MARK: Start recording
func start() {
    guard !isRecording else { return }
    isRecording = true
    sessionAtSourceTime = nil
    setUpWriter()
    print(isRecording)
    print(videoWriter)
    if videoWriter.status == .writing {
        print("status writing")
    } else if videoWriter.status == .failed {
        print("status failed")
    } else if videoWriter.status == .cancelled {
        print("status cancelled")
    } else if videoWriter.status == .unknown {
        print("status unknown")
    } else {
        print("status completed")
    }

}

// MARK: Stop recording
func stop() {
    guard isRecording else { return }
    isRecording = false
    videoWriterInput.markAsFinished()
    print("marked as finished")
    videoWriter.finishWriting { [weak self] in
        self?.sessionAtSourceTime = nil
    }
    //print("finished writing \(self.outputFileLocation)")
    captureSession.stopRunning()
    performSegue(withIdentifier: "videoPreview", sender: nil)
}

I now have another problem where this solution doesn't work when I'm using AVCaptureMetadataOutput, AVCaptureVideoDataOutput and AVCaptureAudioDataOutput together. The app crashes when I add AVCaptureAudioDataOutput.