SKSpriteNode with UIImage from URL

Question

I'm trying to stream images to GPU, and using SKSpriteNode. The images are not in my bundle, and I was wondering if there is some way to work with UIImage instead of imageNamed:

My current idea is

URL -> NSData -> UIImage -> addToFile: -> imageNamed:

Can I add to path and call the image that way, or what would be the best way (is it possible) to reference UIImage by name dynamically when it is not included in bundle?

Answer 1

So, apparantly SKTexture can accomodate UIImage, and I ended up something along the lines of

NSString* urlString = @"http://superawesomeimage.com.jpg";
NSData* imageData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL URLWithString:urlString]];
UIImage* theImage = [UIImage imageWithData:imageData];

SKView* theView = [[SKView alloc] initWithFrame:self.view.frame];
[self.view addSubview:theView];

SKScene* theScene = [SKScene sceneWithSize:theView.frame.size];

SKSpriteNode* theSprite = [SKSpriteNode spriteNodeWithTexture:[SKTexture textureWithImage:theImage]];
[theScene addChild:theSprite];

Answer 2

Swift Answer

    let url = NSURL(string: imageURL)
    let data = NSData(contentsOfURL: url!) //make sure your image in this url does exist, otherwise unwrap in a if let check
    let theImage = UIImage(data: data!)
    let Texture = SKTexture(image: theImage!)


    let mySprite = SKSpriteNode(texture: Texture)
    self.addChild(mySprite)