How to generate SKTexture from a modified SKSpriteNode? - ios

Question

So I have an SKSpriteNode which has undergone two SKActions which modify it's shape and coloring however I want to return the modified SKSpriteNode as an SKTexture which I can apply to another SKSpriteNode. This is what I'm currently using.
1) Generate the "modified" laserNode and store it as a property
-(void)generateLaserSprite
{
SKSpriteNode *laserNode = [SKSpriteNode spriteNodeWithTexture:[SKTexture textureWithImageNamed:#"Laser.png"]];
[laserNode runAction:[SKAction group:#[[SKAction colorizeWithColor:[SKColor redColor] colorBlendFactor:100 duration:0.0],
[SKAction scaleXBy:0.4 y:0.7 duration:0.0],
]]];
_laserSprite = laserNode
}
2) Then a method from the SKScene calls this method to retrieve a copy of the property
-(SKSpriteNode*)retrieveLaserSprite
{
SKSpriteNode *laserNode = [_laserSprite copy];
laserNode.physicsBody = [SKPhysicsBody bodyWithRectangleOfSize:CGSizeMake(laserNode.size.width*0.8, laserNode.size.height*0.8)];
//other laserNode.physicsBody modifications
return laserNode;
The problem with this currently is that when I call the second method (retrieveLaserSprite), the returned LaserNode then shows up on screen as the original image (pre-SKAction), and then you can visibly see the SKActions take place on-screen.

Answer 1

It should actually be possible to create a texture from a sprite whose rendering properties have been modified using the -(SKTexture *)textureFromNode: method of the SKView class.
Your code would go like this:
-(SKSpriteNode*)retrieveLaserSprite {
SKTexture *tempTexture = [self.view textureFromNode:_laserSprite];
SKSpriteNode *laserNode = [SKSpriteNode spriteNodeWithTexture:tempTexture];
laserNode.physicsBody = [SKPhysicsBody bodyWithRectangleOfSize:CGSizeMake(laserNode.size.width*0.8, laserNode.size.height*0.8)];
//other laserNode.physicsBody modifications
return laserNode;
}

Answer 2

You should be able to accomplish this task using something like:
-(SKSpriteNode*)retrieveLaserSprite
{
SKTexture *texture = [self.view textureFromNode:[_laserSprite copy]];
SKSpriteNode *laserNode = [SKSpriteNode spriteNodeWithTexture:texture];
laserNode.physicsBody = [SKPhysicsBody bodyWithRectangleOfSize:CGSizeMake(laserNode.size.width*0.8, laserNode.size.height*0.8)];
//other laserNode.physicsBody modifications
return laserNode;
}