How to fade a UIVisualEffectView and/or UIBlurEffect in and out?

Question

I want to fade a UIVisualEffectsView with a UIBlurEffect in and out:

var blurEffectView = UIVisualEffectView()
blurEffectView = UIVisualEffectView(effect: UI         


        

Answer 1

You can take a snapshot of a static underlying view, and fade it in and out without touching the opacity of the blur view. Assuming an ivar of blurView:

func addBlur() {
    guard let blurEffectView = blurEffectView else { return }

    //snapShot = UIScreen.mainScreen().snapshotViewAfterScreenUpdates(false)
    let snapShot = self.view.snapshotViewAfterScreenUpdates(false)
    view.addSubview(blurEffectView)
    view.addSubview(snapShot)

    UIView.animateWithDuration(0.25, animations: {
        snapShot.alpha = 0.0
    }, completion: { (finished: Bool) -> Void in
        snapShot.removeFromSuperview()
    } )
}

func removeBlur() {
    guard let blurEffectView = blurEffectView else { return }

    let snapShot = self.view.snapshotViewAfterScreenUpdates(false)
    snapShot.alpha = 0.0
    view.addSubview(snapShot)

    UIView.animateWithDuration(0.25, animations: {
        snapShot.alpha = 1.0
    }, completion: { (finished: Bool) -> Void in
        blurEffectView.removeFromSuperview()
        snapShot.removeFromSuperview()
    } )
}