Pixel Array to UIImage in Swift

Question

I\'ve been trying to figure out how to convert an array of rgb pixel data to a UIImage in Swift.

I\'m keeping the rgb data per pixel in a simple struct:

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Answer 1

Update for Swift 3

struct PixelData {
    var a: UInt8 = 0
    var r: UInt8 = 0
    var g: UInt8 = 0
    var b: UInt8 = 0
}

func imageFromBitmap(pixels: [PixelData], width: Int, height: Int) -> UIImage? {
    assert(width > 0)

    assert(height > 0)

    let pixelDataSize = MemoryLayout<PixelData>.size
    assert(pixelDataSize == 4)

    assert(pixels.count == Int(width * height))

    let data: Data = pixels.withUnsafeBufferPointer {
        return Data(buffer: $0)
    }

    let cfdata = NSData(data: data) as CFData
    let provider: CGDataProvider! = CGDataProvider(data: cfdata)
    if provider == nil {
        print("CGDataProvider is not supposed to be nil")
        return nil
    }
    let cgimage: CGImage! = CGImage(
        width: width,
        height: height,
        bitsPerComponent: 8,
        bitsPerPixel: 32,
        bytesPerRow: width * pixelDataSize,
        space: CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB(),
        bitmapInfo: CGBitmapInfo(rawValue: CGImageAlphaInfo.premultipliedFirst.rawValue),
        provider: provider,
        decode: nil,
        shouldInterpolate: true,
        intent: .defaultIntent
    )
    if cgimage == nil {
        print("CGImage is not supposed to be nil")
        return nil
    }
    return UIImage(cgImage: cgimage)
}

Answer 2

Note: This is a solution for iOS creating a UIImage. For a solution for macOS and NSImage, see this answer.

Your only problem is that the data types in your PixelData structure need to be UInt8. I created a test image in a Playground with the following:

public struct PixelData {
    var a: UInt8
    var r: UInt8
    var g: UInt8
    var b: UInt8
}

var pixels = [PixelData]()

let red = PixelData(a: 255, r: 255, g: 0, b: 0)
let green = PixelData(a: 255, r: 0, g: 255, b: 0)
let blue = PixelData(a: 255, r: 0, g: 0, b: 255)

for _ in 1...300 {
    pixels.append(red)
}
for _ in 1...300 {
    pixels.append(green)
}
for _ in 1...300 {
    pixels.append(blue)
}

let image = imageFromARGB32Bitmap(pixels: pixels, width: 30, height: 30)

---

Update for Swift 4:

I updated imageFromARGB32Bitmap to work with Swift 4. The function now returns a UIImage? and guard is used to return nil if anything goes wrong.

func imageFromARGB32Bitmap(pixels: [PixelData], width: Int, height: Int) -> UIImage? {
    guard width > 0 && height > 0 else { return nil }
    guard pixels.count == width * height else { return nil }

    let rgbColorSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB()
    let bitmapInfo = CGBitmapInfo(rawValue: CGImageAlphaInfo.premultipliedFirst.rawValue)
    let bitsPerComponent = 8
    let bitsPerPixel = 32

    var data = pixels // Copy to mutable []
    guard let providerRef = CGDataProvider(data: NSData(bytes: &data,
                            length: data.count * MemoryLayout<PixelData>.size)
        )
        else { return nil }

    guard let cgim = CGImage(
        width: width,
        height: height,
        bitsPerComponent: bitsPerComponent,
        bitsPerPixel: bitsPerPixel,
        bytesPerRow: width * MemoryLayout<PixelData>.size,
        space: rgbColorSpace,
        bitmapInfo: bitmapInfo,
        provider: providerRef,
        decode: nil,
        shouldInterpolate: true,
        intent: .defaultIntent
        )
        else { return nil }

    return UIImage(cgImage: cgim)
}

---

Making it a convenience initializer for UIImage:

This function works well as a convenience initializer for UIImage. Here is the implementation:

extension UIImage {
    convenience init?(pixels: [PixelData], width: Int, height: Int) {
        guard width > 0 && height > 0, pixels.count == width * height else { return nil }
        var data = pixels
        guard let providerRef = CGDataProvider(data: Data(bytes: &data, count: data.count * MemoryLayout<PixelData>.size) as CFData)
            else { return nil }
        guard let cgim = CGImage(
            width: width,
            height: height,
            bitsPerComponent: 8,
            bitsPerPixel: 32,
            bytesPerRow: width * MemoryLayout<PixelData>.size,
            space: CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB(),
            bitmapInfo: CGBitmapInfo(rawValue: CGImageAlphaInfo.premultipliedFirst.rawValue),
            provider: providerRef,
            decode: nil,
            shouldInterpolate: true,
            intent: .defaultIntent)
        else { return nil }
        self.init(cgImage: cgim)
    }
}

Here is an example of its usage:

// Generate a 500x500 image of randomly colored pixels

let height = 500
let width = 500

var pixels: [PixelData] = .init(repeating: .init(a: 0, r: 0, g: 0, b: 0), count: width * height)
for index in pixels.indices {
    pixels[index].a = 255
    pixels[index].r = .random(in: 0...255)
    pixels[index].g = .random(in: 0...255)
    pixels[index].b = .random(in: 0...255)
}
let image = UIImage(pixels: pixels, width: width, height: height)