VariableBlurImageView

Add variable blur to images in UIKit, AppKit, and SwiftUI. Works on Apple platforms using Metal.

Left image has a horizontal variable blur from the leading edge to the middle. Right image has a vertical variable blur from the top edge to the middle.

Demo apps for SwiftUI, UIKit and AppKit are available under Documentation.

Table of contents

• Possible kinds
• Requirements
• Installation
• Usage
  • Working with UIKit and AppKit
  • Working with SwiftUI
  • Working with CGImages
• Roadmap
• Project Organization
• Implementing new blur types
  • Steps to implement a new blur type
  • Supplying tests
  • Generate images to use in the test
• Contributing to VariableBlurImageView

Possible kinds

Vertical	Horizontal	Between two points	Gradient	Multiple blurs

Requirements

• Swift 5.9
• iOS 13.0
• macOS 11.0
• tvOS 13.0
• macCatalyst 13.0

Installation

To use this package in a SwiftPM project, you need to set it up as a package dependency:

// swift-tools-version:5.9
import PackageDescription

let package = Package(
  name: "MyPackage",
  dependencies: [
    .package(
      url: "https://github.com/Eskils/VariableBlurImageView", 
      .upToNextMinor(from: "1.1.2") // or `.upToNextMajor
    )
  ],
  targets: [
    .target(
      name: "MyTarget",
      dependencies: [
        .product(name: "VariableBlurImageView", package: "VariableBlurImageView")
      ]
    )
  ]
)

Usage

This frameworks provides subclasses for UIImageView, and NSImageView, in addition to SwiftUI views and modifiers to apply variable blur to images.

There is also a class to apply variable blur to CGImages.

Working with UIKit and AppKit

VariableBlurImageView is a subclass of UIImageView / NSImageView which asynchronously applies the wanted progressive blur.

You provide an image, start point, end point, and their respective blur radiuses.

Example

let imageView = VariableBlurImageView()
imageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFill
let backgroundImage = UIImage(resource: .onboardingBackground)
imageView.verticalVariableBlur(
    image: backgroundImage, 
    startPoint: 0, 
    endPoint: backgroundImage.size.height / 4, 
    startRadius: 15, 
    endRadius: 0
)

Available methods

/// Adds a vertical variable blur to your image.
VariableBlurImageView.verticalVariableBlur(image:startPoint:endPoint:startRadius:endRadius:)

/// Adds a horizontal variable blur to your image.
VariableBlurImageView.horizontalVariableBlur(image:startPoint:endPoint:startRadius:endRadius:)

// Adds a variable blur between two points to your image.
VariableBlurImageView.variableBlur(image:startPoint:endPoint:startRadius:endRadius:)

/// Adds a variable blur following the lightness in the provided gradient image.
VariableBlurImageView.gradientBlur(image:gradient:maxRadius:)

/// Adds multiple variable blurs
VariableBlurImageView.mutlipleBlurs(image:descriptions:)

Working with SwiftUI

Views and View Modifiers on Image are available to asynchronously apply the wanted progressive blur.

You provide an image, start point, end point, and their respective blur radiuses.

NOTE: The ViewModifiers are only available from iOS 16.0 and macOS 13.0, and do not support image variations (e.g. dark mode images)

Example

let backgroundImage = UIImage(resource: .onboardingBackground)

var body: some View {
    VStack {
        VerticalVariableBlurImage(
            image: backgroundImage, 
            startPoint: 0, 
            endPoint: backgroundImage.size.height / 4, 
            startRadius: 15, 
            endRadius: 0
        )
    }
}

Available Views

/// Adds a vertical variable blur to your image.
VerticalVariableBlurImage(image:startPoint:endPoint:startRadius:endRadius:)

/// Adds a horizontal variable blur to your image.
HorizontalVariableBlurImage(image:startPoint:endPoint:startRadius:endRadius:)

// Adds a variable blur between two points to your image.
VariableBlurImage(image:startPoint:endPoint:startRadius:endRadius:)

/// Adds a variable blur following the lightness in the provided gradient image.
GradientBlurImage(image:gradient:maxRadius:)

/// Adds multiple variable blurs
MultipleBlursImage(image:descriptions:)

Available Image ViewModifiers

/// Adds a vertical variable blur to your image.
Image.verticalVariableBlur(startPoint:endPoint:startRadius:endRadius:)

/// Adds a horizontal variable blur to your image.
Image.horizontalVariableBlur(startPoint:endPoint:startRadius:endRadius:)

// Adds a variable blur between two points to your image.
Image.variableBlur(startPoint:endPoint:startRadius:endRadius:)

/// Adds a variable blur following the lightness in the provided gradient image.
Image.gradientBlur(gradient:maxRadius:)

/// Adds multiple variable blurs
Image.mutlipleBlurs(descriptions:)

Working with CGImages

VariableBlurEngine is an object used to apply progressive blur to CGImages.

You provide a CGImage, start point, end point, and their respective blur radiuses. A new CGImage is returned with the variable blur effect.

Example

let variableBlurEngine = VariableBlurEngine()
let leavesImage = UIImage(resource: .leaves)
let blurredImage = variableBlurEngine.applyVerticalVariableBlur(
    toImage: leavesImage, 
    startPoint: 0, 
    endPoint: leavesImage.size.height / 4, 
    startRadius: 15, 
    endRadius: 0
)

Available methods

/// Adds a vertical variable blur to your image.
VariableBlurEngine.applyVerticalVariableBlur(image:startPoint:endPoint:startRadius:endRadius:)

/// Adds a horizontal variable blur to your image.
VariableBlurEngine.applyHorizontalVariableBlur(image:startPoint:endPoint:startRadius:endRadius:)

// Adds a variable blur between two points to your image.
VariableBlurEngine.applyVariableBlur(image:startPoint:endPoint:startRadius:endRadius:)

/// Adds a variable blur following the lightness in the provided gradient image.
VariableBlurEngine.applyGradientVariableBlur(image:gradient:maxRadius:)

/// Adds multiple variable blurs
VariableBlurEngine.applyMultipleVariableBlurs(image:descriptions:)

Roadmap

• Separable Gaussian Blur (Performance optimization)
• Looking into applying variable blur to other UIViews

Project Organization

This framework is written in Swift and Metal.

VariableBlurImageView is the primary framework.
GenerateTestImages is a small executable used to produce images to test against.

The tests for VariableBlurImageView check if the current state of the code produce the same set of images as has previously been generated by GenerateTestImages.

When implementing altering the look of an existing blur type, expect the tests to fail. Running GenerateTestImages from Xcode will produce new images and make the tests succeed.

When working on performance improvements, the tests should ideally not fail.

Implementing new blur types

When implementing a new blur type, new tests and generating methods need to be provided.

Steps to implement a new blur type

• Write a new kernel function in Metal
• Provide a new method in VariableBlurMetal.swift to dispatch metal function
  • Functions are precompiled lazily
  • Buffers are made lazily, to be reused
  • A kernel function has an input texture and an output texture.
  • You may use variableBlurGeneric(_:image:bufferConfigurationHandler:).
• Write a new method in VariableBlurEngine.swift
• Write a new method in VariableBlurImageView.swift
  • Write a X-variableBlurImpl method in the extension for both iOS and macOS
  • You may use the transformAllVariations(ofImage:variationTransformMode:applyingTransform:) method.
  • Write a new method in the UIImageView subclass using UIImage.
  • Write a new method in the NSImageView subclass using NSImage.
    • Set the originalImage and blurOperation properties.
• Add a new case to VariableBlurOperation.swift
• Add a new View in SwiftUI/VariableBlurImage.swift
  • Provide separate initializers for UIImage and NSImage.
• Add a new Image modifier to SwiftUI/Image+Extension.swift
• Write new generating methods in GenerateTestImages. See Generate images to use in test
• Write new tests. See Supplying tests
• Update docc documentation with new images, and method overview
• Update README with new images, and method overview

Supplying tests

Generally, at least two tests are written for each blur type — one to check if the images produced are as expected, and one to measure performance.

Checking similarity can be done with the ìsEqual(inputImageName:expectedImageName:afterPerformingImageOperations:) method, like so:

func testVerticalVariableBlur() throws {
    XCTAssertTrue(
        try isEqual(
            inputImageName: inputImageName,
            expectedImageName: "\(inputImageName)-VerticalBlur...",
            afterPerformingImageOperations: { input in
                try variableBlurEngine.applyVerticalVariableBlur(
                    toImage: input,
                    startPoint: 0,
                    endPoint: CGFloat(input.height / 2),
                    startRadius: 20,
                    endRadius: 0
                )
            }
        )
    )
}

Measuring performance can be done with the provideInputImage(inputImageName:) and measure methods, like so:

func testPerformanceOfVerticalVariableBlur() throws {
    let inputImage = try provideInputImage(inputImageName: inputImageName)
    measure {
        _ = try! variableBlurEngine.applyVerticalVariableBlur(
            toImage: inputImage,
            startPoint: 0,
            endPoint: CGFloat(inputImage.height / 2),
            startRadius: 20,
            endRadius: 0
        )
    }
}

Generate images to use in the test

The GenerateImages.swift file in GenerateTestImages provides the implementation to generate images.

Use the from(image:named:performingOperations:) method on OutputImage, and add the result to the outputImages array. The entries in this array are written to the ExpectedOutputs directory under Tests.

// Vertical blur
OutputImage
    .from(image: inputImage, named: "\(name)-Vertical...") { input in
        try variableBlurEngine.applyVerticalVariableBlur(
            toImage: input,
            startPoint: 0,
            endPoint: CGFloat(input.height / 2),
            startRadius: 20,
            endRadius: 0
        )
    }?
    .adding(to: &outputImages)

Contributing to VariableBlurImageView

Contributions are welcome and encouraged. Feel free to check out the project, submit issues and code patches.