Hide/Show iPhone Camera Iris/Shutter animation

Question

I am not able to Hide the iphone Camera shutter opening animation for my app. I am using UIImagePickerController to access iphone camera and using my own overlay controllers. Is there a way to remove the initial shutter(also known as Iris) animation as the camera starts. Thank You

[EDIT]

For those who wants to know the way to change the camera iris animation.

The below function is called before the camera iris animation starts.

- (void)navigationController:(UINavigationController *)navigationController willShowViewController:(UIViewController *)viewController animated:(BOOL)animated
{
    // Here is were I make the camera preview fit the entire screen. 
    // This might violate the "don't change the view hierarchy"-rule. 
    // So I am not sure if it is valid for App Store commitment.
    // However, the NSLogs are used to
    // figure out which subview is the actual Camera Preview which turns out 
    // to be the PLPreviewView. (uncomment to se the printouts).
    // Change it's size to fit the entire screen (and scale it accordingly
    // to avoid distorted image

    NSLog(@"WillShowViewController called...");

    NSLog(@"VC:view:subviews\n %@\n\n", [[viewController view] subviews]);

    NSLog(@"VC:view:PLCameraView:subviews\n %@\n\n", [[[[viewController view] subviews] objectAtIndex: 0] subviews]);

    NSLog(@"VC:view:PLCameraView:PLPreviewView:subviews\n %@\n\n", [[[[[[viewController view] subviews] objectAtIndex: 0] subviews] objectAtIndex: 0] subviews]);
    NSLog(@"VC:view:PLCameraView:PLCropOverLay:subviews\n %@\n\n", [[[[[[viewController view] subviews] objectAtIndex: 0] subviews] objectAtIndex: 1] subviews]);
    NSLog(@"VC:view:PLCameraView:UIImageView:subviews\n %@\n\n", [[[[[[viewController view] subviews] objectAtIndex: 0] subviews] objectAtIndex: 2] subviews]);

}

In the above function you can go through each layer by using the normal NSMuatableArray syntax like objectAtIndex

hope this might help you.

Regards,

Ankur

Answer 1

Using this answer as a starting point, I've finally solved this problem:

NOTE: This is obviously not 3.3.1-compliant.

1. Listen for the UINavigationControllerDidShowViewControllerNotification on your UIImagePickerController, and the PLCameraViewIrisAnimationDidEndNotification globally.

2. Traverse the view hierarchy (starting at the main UIWindow) looking for the PLCameraView. Save the index of the view against the main UIWindow, as you'll need it later.

3. Remove the PLCameraView from its superView. If desired, insert your own view at global index 0.

4. When the iris animation is finished, remove your view and re-add the PLCameraView at its original index.

Answer 2

Came across a similar: I wanted to have the shutter appear when I take the picture triggered by a button in a self.cameraOverlayView of a UIImagePickerController. Arrived to this page, did some extra research and came to this solution.

Synopsis:

@interface MyController : UIImagePickerController
...    
- (id) init {
...
    self.cameraOverlayView = _my_overlay_;
    self.showsCameraControls = NO;
...
}
... 
- (void) onMyShutterButton {
    [self takePicture]; 
        // You want the shutter animation to happen now.
        // .. but it does not.
}

Solution:

// Some constants for the iris view and selector
NSString* kIrisViewClassName = @"PLCameraIrisAnimationView";
SEL kIrisSelector = NSSelectorFromString(@"animateIrisOpen");

@implementation MyController {
...
    UIView* iris_;
}
- (void) viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated {
    [super viewDidAppear:animated];
    // Find the iris view in the siblings of your overlay view
    for (UIView* view in self.cameraOverlayView.superview.subviews) {
        if ([kIrisViewClassName isEqualToString:[[view class] description]]) {
            // It will be hidden by 'self.showsCameraControls = NO'.
            view.hidden = false;   
            // Extra precautions - as this is undocumented.  
            if ([view respondsToSelector:kIrisSelector]) {
                iris_ = view;
            }
            break;
        }
    }
}
- (void) animateIrisOpen {
    if (iris_) {
        [iris_ performSelector:kIrisSelector];
    }
}
...
- (void) onMyShutterButton {
    [self takePicture]; 
    [self animateIrisOpen];   // Voila - the shutter happens
}