How to crop and flip CVPixelBuffer and return CVPixelBuffer?

Question

I am making an swift video app.

In my app, I need to crop and horizontally flip CVPixelBuffer and return result which type is also CVPixelBuffer.

I tried few things.

First, I used 'CVPixelBufferCreateWithBytes'

func resizePixelBuffer(_ pixelBuffer: CVPixelBuffer, destSize: CGSize) 
-> CVPixelBuffer? 
{

  CVPixelBufferLockAddress(pixelBuffer, CVPixelBufferLockFlags(rawValue: O))

  let baseAddress = CVPixelBufferGetBaseAddress(pixelBuffer)
  let bytesPerRow = CVPixelBufferGetBytesPerRow(pixelBuffer)
  let pixelFormat = CVPixelBufferGetPixelFormatType(pixelBuffer)
  let width = CVPixelBufferGetWidth(pixelBuffer)
  let height = CVPixelBufferGetHeight(pixelBuffer)

  var destPixelBuffer: CVPixelBuffer?

  let topMargin = (height - destsize.height) / 2
  let leftMargin = (width - destsize.width) / 2 * 4   // bytesPerPixel
  let offset = topMargin * bytesPerRow + leftMargin

  CVPixelBufferCreateWithBytes(kCFAllocatorDefault, 
                               destSize.width, 
                               destSize.height, 
                               pixelFormat, 
                               baseAddress.advanced(by: offset),
                               bytesPerRow, 
                               nil, nil, nil, 
                               &destPixelBuffer)

  CVPixelBufferUnlockBaseAddress(pixelBuffer, CVPixelBufferLockFlags(rawValue: O))

  return destPixelBuffer
)

With this code, I can crop CVPixelBuffer directly and return CVPixelBuffer. However, I couldn't figure out how to flip CVPlxelBuffer horizontally.

So I tried other solutions.

Seconds, I converted CVPixelBuffer to CIImage and then, return to CVPixelBuffer

func resizePixelBuffer(_ pixelBuffer, destSize: CGSize) 
-> CVPixelBuffer?
{
  let bufferWidth = CVPixelBufferGetWidth(pixelBuffer)
  let bufferHeight = CVPixelBufferGetHeight(pixelBuffer)

  let ciImage = CIImage(cvPixelBuffer: pixelBuffer)
  let rect = CGRect(x: (bufferWidth - destSize.width)/2, y: (bufferHeight - destSize.height)/2, width: destSize.width, height: destSize.height)
  let croppedImage = ciImage.cropped(to: rect)

  croppedImage.transformed(by: CGAffineTransform(translateX: -1, y: 0))

  var destPixelBuffer: CVPixelBuffer?
  CVPixelBufferCreate(kCFAllocatorDefault, destSize.width, destSize.height,
                      CVPixelBufferGetPixelFormatType(pixelBuffer), nil, 
                      &destPixelBuffer)

  CIContext().render(croppedImage, to: destPixelBuffer!, bounds: croppedImage.extent, croppedImage.colorSpace)

  return destPixelBuffer
}

But the result is not that I expected. some part of image is black, and I think CGAffineTransform doesn't work.

Finally, I tried to convert to CGImage

func resizePixelBuffer(_ pixelBuffer: CVPixelBuffer, destSize: CGSize)
-> CVPixelBuffer? 
{
  let ciImage = CIImage(cvPixelBuffer: pixelBuffer)
  let cgImage = CIContext().createCGImage(ciImage, from: ciImage.extent)
  let rect = CGRect(x: (bufferWidth - destSize.width)/2, y: (bufferHeight - destSize.height)/2, width: destSize.width, height: destSize.height)

  let croppedImage = cgImage.cropping(to: rect)

  let width = croppedImage.width
  let height = croppedImage.height
  let pixelFormat = CVPixelBufferGetPixelFormatType(pixelBuffer)

  var destPixelBuffer: CVPixelBuffer?
  CVPixelBufferCreate(kCFAllocatorDefault, width, height, pixelFormat, &destPixelBuffer)

  CVPixelBufferLockBaseAddress(destPixelBuffer, CVPixelBufferLockFlags(rawValue: 0))

  let destBaseAddress = CVPixelBufferGetBaseAddress(destPixelBuffer)
  let destBytesPerRow = CVPixelBufferGetBytesPerRow(destPixelBuffer)

  let context = CGContext(data: destBaseAddress, 
                          width: width, 
                          height: height, 
                          bitsPerComponent: 8, 
                          bytesPerRow: destBytesPerRow, 
                          space: croppedImage.colorSpace, 
                          bitmapInfo: CGImageAlphaInfo.premultipliedFirst.rawValue | CGBitmapInfo.byteOrder32Little.rawValue)

  context?.concatenate(__CGAffineTransformMake( 1, 0, 0, -1, 0, CGFloat(height)))

  context?.draw(croppedCgImage, in: CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: CGFloat(width), height: CGFloat(height)))

  CVPixelBufferUnlockBaseAddress(srcPixelBuffer, CVPixelBufferLockFlags(rawValue: 0))

  return destPixelBuffer
}

In this time, the output pixelbuffer is totally black.

I can't figure out how to crop and flip CVPixelBuffer and return CVPixelBuffer.

I think converting CIImage or CGImage is better way because there are lots of things I can do with those format.

But I don't know how to covert those formats back to CVPixelBuffer.

Please let me know how to do this.

Shopwindow

I am not an expert. (Similar to IANAL.) Having said that, here's my thoughts - and just that, thoughts. (1) Unless you absolutely have to stick with CoreImage. Why introduce complexity? (2) It sounds like you have half of this figured out - cropping. And unless you have any performance concerns, stick with it. (3) That leaves "flipping", which if I understand you have working but with "partly black" image. So working with that? Start with a square image. Do it remove the black? If so, then work with a non-square image. I think you;'re close... and really think you are overthinking something. – Suspense

Check out https://mcmap.net/q/804897/-how-to-directly-rotate-cvimagebuffer-image-in-ios-4-without-converting-to-uiimage and https://mcmap.net/q/481171/-ios-scale-and-crop-cmsamplebufferref-cvimagebufferref – Sabaean

Were you able to solve this? – Lumpkin

did you find a solution? – Legation

Answer 1

This is a flow in CVPixelBuffer using vImage.

1. Check iOS - Scale and crop CMSampleBufferRef/CVImageBufferRef for how crop works for buffer
2. Check https://developer.apple.com/documentation/accelerate/reading_from_and_writing_to_core_video_pixel_buffers for basic usage on vImage. Basically, you need to create source and destination buffer and apply transformation on it.
3. vImageBuffer to CVPixelBuffer part is referenced from https://github.com/tensorflow/examples/blob/master/lite/examples/object_detection/ios/ObjectDetection/Extensions/CVPixelBufferExtension.swift

import Cocoa
import Accelerate

extension CVPixelBuffer {
    func crop(to rect: CGRect) -> CVPixelBuffer? {
        CVPixelBufferLockBaseAddress(self, .readOnly)
        defer { CVPixelBufferUnlockBaseAddress(self, .readOnly) }

        guard let baseAddress = CVPixelBufferGetBaseAddress(self) else {
            return nil
        }

        let inputImageRowBytes = CVPixelBufferGetBytesPerRow(self)

        let imageChannels = 4
        let startPos = Int(rect.origin.y) * inputImageRowBytes + imageChannels * Int(rect.origin.x)
        let outWidth = UInt(rect.width)
        let outHeight = UInt(rect.height)
        let croppedImageRowBytes = Int(outWidth) * imageChannels

        var inBuffer = vImage_Buffer()
        inBuffer.height = outHeight
        inBuffer.width = outWidth
        inBuffer.rowBytes = inputImageRowBytes

        inBuffer.data = baseAddress + UnsafeMutableRawPointer.Stride(startPos)

        guard let croppedImageBytes = malloc(Int(outHeight) * croppedImageRowBytes) else {
            return nil
        }

        var outBuffer = vImage_Buffer(data: croppedImageBytes, height: outHeight, width: outWidth, rowBytes: croppedImageRowBytes)

        let scaleError = vImageScale_ARGB8888(&inBuffer, &outBuffer, nil, vImage_Flags(0))

        guard scaleError == kvImageNoError else {
            free(croppedImageBytes)
            return nil
        }

        return croppedImageBytes.toCVPixelBuffer(pixelBuffer: self, targetWith: Int(outWidth), targetHeight: Int(outHeight), targetImageRowBytes: croppedImageRowBytes)
    }
    
    func flip() -> CVPixelBuffer? {
        CVPixelBufferLockBaseAddress(self, .readOnly)
        defer { CVPixelBufferUnlockBaseAddress(self, .readOnly) }

        guard let baseAddress = CVPixelBufferGetBaseAddress(self) else {
            return nil
        }
        
        let width = UInt(CVPixelBufferGetWidth(self))
        let height = UInt(CVPixelBufferGetHeight(self))
        let inputImageRowBytes = CVPixelBufferGetBytesPerRow(self)
        let outputImageRowBytes = inputImageRowBytes
        
        var inBuffer = vImage_Buffer(
            data: baseAddress,
            height: height,
            width: width,
            rowBytes: inputImageRowBytes)
        
        guard let targetImageBytes = malloc(Int(height) * outputImageRowBytes) else {
            return nil
        }
        var outBuffer = vImage_Buffer(data: targetImageBytes, height: height, width: width, rowBytes: outputImageRowBytes)
        
        // See https://developer.apple.com/documentation/accelerate/vimage/vimage_operations/image_reflection for other transformations
        let reflectError = vImageHorizontalReflect_ARGB8888(&inBuffer, &outBuffer, vImage_Flags(0))
        // let reflectError = vImageVerticalReflect_ARGB8888(&inBuffer, &outBuffer, vImage_Flags(0))
        
        guard reflectError == kvImageNoError else {
            free(targetImageBytes)
            return nil
        }

        return targetImageBytes.toCVPixelBuffer(pixelBuffer: self, targetWith: Int(width), targetHeight: Int(height), targetImageRowBytes: outputImageRowBytes)
    }
}

extension UnsafeMutableRawPointer {
    // Converts the vImage buffer to CVPixelBuffer
    func toCVPixelBuffer(pixelBuffer: CVPixelBuffer, targetWith: Int, targetHeight: Int, targetImageRowBytes: Int) -> CVPixelBuffer? {
        let pixelBufferType = CVPixelBufferGetPixelFormatType(pixelBuffer)
        let releaseCallBack: CVPixelBufferReleaseBytesCallback = {mutablePointer, pointer in
            if let pointer = pointer {
                free(UnsafeMutableRawPointer(mutating: pointer))
            }
        }

        var targetPixelBuffer: CVPixelBuffer?
        let conversionStatus = CVPixelBufferCreateWithBytes(nil, targetWith, targetHeight, pixelBufferType, self, targetImageRowBytes, releaseCallBack, nil, nil, &targetPixelBuffer)

        guard conversionStatus == kCVReturnSuccess else {
            free(self)
            return nil
        }

        return targetPixelBuffer
    }
}

// Change this to your input pixelBuffer
var pixelBuffer: CVPixelBuffer?

// The result would be stored in resultPixelBuffer
let resultPixelBuffer = pixelBuffer?.crop(to: CGRect(x: 50, y: 50, width: 100, height: 100))?.flip()

Trinitrotoluene

Seems to be a macOS only solution, not iOS :( – Talbert