Performance of image vs custom drawing in UIKit

Question

I have a UITableCell that has a few gradient layers and drop shadows in it. I'm wondering if it would be more performant to handle this with coreanimation layers or just use a a single background image for the cell?

In general is it more performant to use large images (with transparency) over core animation? What's the best way to test the difference? I'm guessing Instruments would be involved. Also I'm looking for a good resource on iOS performance testing and best practices. Sorry for the multiple questions.

possible duplicate of [Images vs. Core Graphics.](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6520320/images-vs-core-graphics) — Erik B, Jul 17 '11 at 23:26

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 16 '11 at 22:01

2

In my experience, using images is always faster than drawing manually.

answered Jul 16 '11 at 22:01

Erik B

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Is there a known reason for this or is it just what the results show? – Christian Schlensker Jul 17 '11 at 17:35
@Christian, I'm sorry, your question is actually a duplicate. I've given this answer before. The accepted answer of that question explains it pretty well: "CG is not terribly slow, just slower than filling a graphic buffer with a bitmap." – Erik B Jul 17 '11 at 23:26
Do you have a link to that question? – Christian Schlensker Jul 17 '11 at 23:28
Yes, it's the question I linked as a duplicate. Anyway, here's the link again: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6520320/images-vs-core-graphics – Erik B Jul 18 '11 at 09:05
My bad. I didn't see it up there. – Christian Schlensker Jul 18 '11 at 15:54

Performance of image vs custom drawing in UIKit

1 Answers1