Less Blur with `Visual Effect View with Blur`?

Question

Title pretty much asks it all...

I\'m playing with the iOS8 Visual Effect View with Blur. It\'s over a UIImageView that shows a user choosa

Answer 1

I use UIVisualEffectView like this to get adjustable blur circles. The blur level is controlled by a slider that controls the alpha. I'll include the slider handler below too. The blur circle size is adjustable with pinch spread action. I will include that too. And you can drag around the blur circles. I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader. If you want a blur rectangle, just don't round the corners. To see this blur circle design in action, load the MemeSoEasy app (free), add a photo (that you can put a blur circle on top of), then add a blur circle.

UIVisualEffectView *blurVisualEffectView;

UIVisualEffect *blurEffect;
blurEffect = [UIBlurEffect effectWithStyle:UIBlurEffectStyleLight];
blurVisualEffectView = [[UIVisualEffectView alloc] initWithEffect:blurEffect];
blurVisualEffectView.frame = lastChosenBlurCircleRect;
blurVisualEffectView.center = CGPointMake(halfScreenX, halfScreenY);
[self.view addSubview:blurVisualEffectView];
CGFloat blurCornerRadius = blurVisualEffectView.bounds.size.width/2;
[[blurVisualEffectView layer]setCornerRadius:blurCornerRadius];
[[blurVisualEffectView layer]setMasksToBounds:YES];
[[blurVisualEffectView layer] setBorderWidth:4.0f];
[[blurVisualEffectView layer] setBorderColor:[UIColor blueColor].CGColor];
blurVisualEffectView.userInteractionEnabled = NO;
blurVisualEffectView.alpha = 0.97;
[blurArray addObject:blurVisualEffectView];

Slider handler :

Note that I store my blur objects in an array, so I can let users create as many as desired. The slider handler works on the last object in the array. The slider min and max values are 0.0 and 1.0

UISlider *slider_ = (UISlider *)sender;
CGFloat ourSliderValue = slider_.value;
UIVisualEffectView *currentBlurObject =
[blurArray objectAtIndex:blurArray.count - 1];
currentBlurObject.alpha = ourSliderValue;

Size change handler for pinch spread

int changeInWidth = 0; // one pixel at a time

if (pinchGesture.scale > 1.0) {
    changeInWidth++;
}
if (pinchGesture.scale < 1.0) {
    changeInWidth--;
}

UIVisualEffectView *currentBlurObject =
[blurArray objectAtIndex:blurArray.count - 1];

CGPoint oldCenter = currentBlurObject.center;

currentBlurObject.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, currentBlurObject.frame.size.width + changeInWidth, currentBlurObject.frame.size.width + changeInWidth);

currentBlurObject.center = oldCenter;

lastChosenBlurCircleRect = currentBlurObject.frame;

CGFloat blurCornerRadius = currentBlurObject.frame.size.width/2;
[[currentBlurObject layer]setCornerRadius:blurCornerRadius];