Cropping CIImage

Question

I have a class that takes an UIImage, initializes a CIImage with it like so:

workingImage = CIImage.init(image: baseImage!)

Then the image is used to cut out 9 neighbouring squares in a 3x3 pattern out of it - in a loop:

for x in 0..<3
    {
        for y in 0..<3
        {

            croppingRect = CGRect(x: CGFloat(Double(x) * sideLength + startPointX),
                                  y: CGFloat(Double(y) * sideLength + startPointY),
                                  width: CGFloat(sideLength),
                                  height: CGFloat(sideLength))
            let tmpImg = (workingImage?.cropping(to: croppingRect))!
        }
    }

Those tmpImgs are inserted into a table and later used, but thats besides the point.

This code works on IOS 9, and on IOS 10 simulators, but not on an actual IOS 10 device. The images produced are either all empty, or one of them is like a half of what its supposed to be, with the rest being, again, empty.

Is this not how its supposed to be done in IOS 10?

Answer 1

The heart of the matter is that passing through CIImage is not the way to crop a UIImage. For one thing, coming back from CIImage to UIImage is a complicated business. For another, the whole round-trip is unnecessary.

How To Crop

To crop an image, make an image graphics context of the desired cropped size and call draw(at:) on the UIImage to draw it at the desired point relative to the graphics context, so that the desired portion of the image falls into the context. Now extract the resulting new image and close the context.

To demonstrate, I'll crop to one of the thirds you are trying to crop to, namely the lower right third:

let sz = baseImage.size
UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions(
    CGSize(width:sz.width/3.0, height:sz.height/3.0), 
    false, 0)
baseImage.draw(at:CGPoint(x: -sz.width/3.0*2.0, y: -sz.height/3.0*2.0))
let tmpImg = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext()
UIGraphicsEndImageContext()

Original image (baseImage):

Cropped image (tmpImg):

The other sections are completely parallel.