Tinting an image

Question

I have an image which is a black ring:

black ring http://imageshack.us/a/img51/2029/blackcb.png

In my view, I need to display it as a white ring. So, to tint the image, I have written the below method:

- (UIImage *)getRingImage
{
    UIImage *ringImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"ring"];

    CGFloat scale = [[UIScreen mainScreen] scale];

    UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(CGSizeMake(ringImage.size.width * scale, ringImage.size.height * scale));

    CGContextRef ctx = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
    CGRect rect = CGRectMake(0, 0, ringImage.size.width * scale, ringImage.size.height * scale);

    // Converting a UIImage to a CGImage flips the image,
    // so apply a upside-down translation
    CGContextScaleCTM(ctx, 1, -1);
    CGContextTranslateCTM(ctx, 0, -rect.size.height);

    // Set the fill color space
    CGColorSpaceRef colorSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
    CGContextSetFillColorSpace(ctx, colorSpace);

    // Set the mask to only tint non-transparent pixels
    CGContextClipToMask(ctx, rect, ringImage.CGImage);

    // Set the fill color
    CGContextSetFillColorWithColor(ctx, [UIColor colorWithRed:1.0f green:1.0f blue:1.0f alpha:1].CGColor);

    UIRectFillUsingBlendMode(rect, kCGBlendModeColor);

    ringImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();

    CGColorSpaceRelease(colorSpace);
    UIGraphicsEndImageContext();

    return ringImage;
}

This code works fine. I want to know if there is a better way to do this.

Answer 1

Try this function that I adapted. It creates a mono-color "mask" from an input image. If you use white, it turns every non-transparent pixel to white:

- (UIImage*)convertToMask: (UIImage *) image
{
    UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions(image.size, NO, image.scale);
    CGRect imageRect = CGRectMake(0.0f, 0.0f, image.size.width, image.size.height);

    CGContextRef ctx = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();

    // Draw a white background (for white mask)
    CGContextSetRGBFillColor(ctx, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f);
    CGContextFillRect(ctx, imageRect);

    // Apply the source image's alpha
    [image drawInRect:imageRect blendMode:kCGBlendModeDestinationIn alpha:1.0f];

    UIImage* outImage = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();

    UIGraphicsEndImageContext();

    return outImage;
}

Used like this:

self.imageView.image = [self convertToMask:self.imageView.image];