I previously described how to create a custom CIFilter which swapped the red and green channels of an input image. That filter had a single input parameter: the input image. But kernels are C functions, and they can have many parameters of many types.

Here’s an example with multiple inputs. It alpha-composes two images with a configurable alpha value. (It ignores the alpha components of the input images and returns an opaque image.) Its parameters are therefore the two images (samplers) and the alpha value for the top image (a float).

We don’t actually need to create CIFilter objects at all! A CIFilter just wraps a CIKernel object, and the CIKernel is more interesting.

import Foundation
import CoreImage
import AppKit
let kernels = CIKernel.kernels(with:
    "kernel vec4 alpha_compose(sampler image1, sampler image2, float image2_opacity) { " +
    "  vec4 i1_px = sample(image1, samplerCoord(image1)); " +
    "  vec4 i2_px = sample(image2, samplerCoord(image2)); " +
    "  vec4 out_px = (i1_px * (1.0 - image2_opacity)) + (i2_px * image2_opacity); " +
    "  out_px.a = 1.0; " +
    "  return out_px;" +
    "}")!
let myKernel = kernels[0]
func ciImageFromPath(path: String) -> CIImage {
    let nsImage = NSImage(contentsOfFile: path)!
    let cgImage = nsImage.cgImage(forProposedRect: nil, context: nil, hints: [:])!
    return CIImage(cgImage: cgImage)
}
let inputImage1 = ciImageFromPath(path: "/Users/jim/shapes.png")
let inputImage2 = ciImageFromPath(path: "/Users/jim/Lenna.png")
let outputRect = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: inputImage1.cgImage!.width, height: inputImage2.cgImage!.width)
let outputImage = myKernel.apply(
    withExtent: outputRect,
    roiCallback: { (Int32, CGRect) -> CGRect in return outputRect },
    arguments: [inputImage1, inputImage2, 0.2]
)!
let rep = NSBitmapImageRep(ciImage: outputImage.cropping(to: outputRect))
let imageData = rep.representation(using: NSBitmapImageFileType.PNG, properties: [:])!
try! imageData.write(to: URL.init(string: "file:/Users/jim/output.png")!, options: NSData.WritingOptions.atomic)

Notice that our kernel has normal typed parameters, but since we compile it at runtime in Swift, we don’t have access to that type-safety. Instead, we pass arguments to our filter using .apply, with an array of arguments which are checked for compatibility at call-time.

I wrote this because Vidrio will be using `CIKernel`s with multiple inputs. This post is my own, and not associated with my employer.

CIKernel with multiple inputs

`CIKernel` with multiple inputs