How do I create blurred text in an iPhone view?

Question

I am building up a view with various text and image elements.

I want to display some text in the view with a blurry copy of the text behind it, but not just a text shadow.

How do I apply Gaussian blurred text onto a UIImage or layer?

Answer 1

Take a look at Apple's GLImageProcessing iPhone sample. It does some blurring, among other things.

The relevant code includes:

static void blur(V2fT2f *quad, float t) // t = 1
{
    GLint tex;
    V2fT2f tmpquad[4];
    float offw = t / Input.wide;
    float offh = t / Input.high;
    int i;

    glGetIntegerv(GL_TEXTURE_BINDING_2D, &tex);

    // Three pass small blur, using rotated pattern to sample 17 texels:
    //
    // .\/.. 
    // ./\\/ 
    // \/X/\   rotated samples filter across texel corners
    // /\\/. 
    // ../\. 

    // Pass one: center nearest sample
    glVertexPointer  (2, GL_FLOAT, sizeof(V2fT2f), &quad[0].x);
    glTexCoordPointer(2, GL_FLOAT, sizeof(V2fT2f), &quad[0].s);
    glTexEnvi(GL_TEXTURE_ENV, GL_TEXTURE_ENV_MODE, GL_MODULATE);
    glColor4f(1.0/5, 1.0/5, 1.0/5, 1.0);
    validateTexEnv();
    glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLE_STRIP, 0, 4);

    // Pass two: accumulate two rotated linear samples
    glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL_LINEAR);
    glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_LINEAR);
    glEnable(GL_BLEND);
    glBlendFunc(GL_SRC_ALPHA, GL_ONE);
    for (i = 0; i < 4; i++)
    {
        tmpquad[i].x = quad[i].s + 1.5 * offw;
        tmpquad[i].y = quad[i].t + 0.5 * offh;
        tmpquad[i].s = quad[i].s - 1.5 * offw;
        tmpquad[i].t = quad[i].t - 0.5 * offh;
    }
    glTexCoordPointer(2, GL_FLOAT, sizeof(V2fT2f), &tmpquad[0].x);
    glTexEnvi(GL_TEXTURE_ENV, GL_TEXTURE_ENV_MODE, GL_REPLACE);
    glActiveTexture(GL_TEXTURE1);
    glEnable(GL_TEXTURE_2D);
    glClientActiveTexture(GL_TEXTURE1);
    glTexCoordPointer(2, GL_FLOAT, sizeof(V2fT2f), &tmpquad[0].s);
    glEnableClientState(GL_TEXTURE_COORD_ARRAY);
    glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, tex);
    glTexEnvi(GL_TEXTURE_ENV, GL_TEXTURE_ENV_MODE, GL_COMBINE);
    glTexEnvi(GL_TEXTURE_ENV, GL_COMBINE_RGB,      GL_INTERPOLATE);
    glTexEnvi(GL_TEXTURE_ENV, GL_SRC0_RGB,         GL_TEXTURE);
    glTexEnvi(GL_TEXTURE_ENV, GL_SRC1_RGB,         GL_PREVIOUS);
    glTexEnvi(GL_TEXTURE_ENV, GL_SRC2_RGB,         GL_PRIMARY_COLOR);
    glTexEnvi(GL_TEXTURE_ENV, GL_OPERAND2_RGB,     GL_SRC_COLOR);
    glTexEnvi(GL_TEXTURE_ENV, GL_COMBINE_ALPHA,    GL_REPLACE);
    glTexEnvi(GL_TEXTURE_ENV, GL_SRC0_ALPHA,       GL_PRIMARY_COLOR);

    glColor4f(0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 2.0/5);
    validateTexEnv();
    glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLE_STRIP, 0, 4);

    // Pass three: accumulate two rotated linear samples
    for (i = 0; i < 4; i++)
    {
        tmpquad[i].x = quad[i].s - 0.5 * offw;
        tmpquad[i].y = quad[i].t + 1.5 * offh;
        tmpquad[i].s = quad[i].s + 0.5 * offw;
        tmpquad[i].t = quad[i].t - 1.5 * offh;
    }
    glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLE_STRIP, 0, 4);

    // Restore state
    glDisableClientState(GL_TEXTURE_COORD_ARRAY);
    glClientActiveTexture(GL_TEXTURE0);
    glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, Half.texID);
    glDisable(GL_TEXTURE_2D);
    glTexEnvi(GL_TEXTURE_ENV, GL_OPERAND2_RGB,     GL_SRC_ALPHA);
    glActiveTexture(GL_TEXTURE0);
    glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL_NEAREST);
    glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_NEAREST);
    glDisable(GL_BLEND);
}

Answer 2

iPhone OS doesn't provide any Core Image filters that I know of - otherwise, yes, a filtered CALayer would be the right way to do it. If NSBitmapImageRep were available, you could do a primitive blur by drawing the text to it, shrinking the image (downsampling), then enlarging the image again (upsampling) - unfortunately it seems to be missing as well. I've seen blurred text accomplished in Flash, which (last I checked) doesn't have pixel-level filtering; you might try looking for a tutorial on that and seeing what you can adapt to Cocoa Touch.

Answer 3

On the desktop, no question, you'd use CoreImage to do this.

On the phone though, I don't think there exists a way to do this using CoreGraphics. If it is absolutely critical OpenGLES may be able to help.

However, I would suggest rethinking your interface. I would think the blurred text would be distracting.

Edit: mledford points out in the comments that you could use CoreAnimation. I don't know if CA on the phone includes blur radius like on the desktop, but you could try it.

Answer 4

You will take a performance hit if you use alpha layers. Consider a different approach if possible (maybe even precompositing the text and flattening it into a graphic instead of multiple layers).

Try it, and use Instruments to check out the performance and see if it's acceptable. If you're doing it in a scrolling view, your scrolling will bog down a lot.