Changing CAEmitterCell properties of CAEmitterLayer after emission starts - ios

When I first set up the emitter I can do this:
self.cell = [CAEmitterCell emitterCell];
self.cell.yAcceleration = 20;
...
self.emitter.emitterCells = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:self.cell,nil];
But say I create a timer that fires 5 seconds later, and I do this:
- (void)timerFired
{
self.cell.yAcceleration = -10;
}
The timer fires, but the yAcceleration of the CAEmitterCell does not get changed. Or at least nothing changes in the particle emission on screen. How can I get a CAEmitterCell to respect changes I make to its properties?

This is not real obvious, but here's the solution:
[self.emitter setValue:[NSNumber numberWithFloat:-10.0]
forKeyPath:#"emitterCells.cell.yAcceleration"];
Where "cell" is the name given here:
[self.cell setName:#"cell"];

When you init the self.emitter with a new cell,the object will be retained,so ..when you change the cell.yAcceleration with a timer,the cell of self.emitter can not be changed,self.cell.yAcceleration has been changed already.So, you should use the key path of self.emitter.

Related

Sprite Kit - Objective c, move multiple SKNode at the same time

i have this method that makes the Lines
lineaGuida_Img = [SKTexture textureWithImageNamed:#"LineaGuida copia.jpeg"];
_Linea = [SKNode node];
_Linea.position = CGPointMake((self.frame.size.width / 7 ) * 2, self.frame.size.height / 2 );
_Linea.zPosition = -10;
SKSpriteNode * linea = [SKSpriteNode spriteNodeWithTexture:lineaGuida_Img];
linea.position = CGPointMake(0,0);
linea.physicsBody = [SKPhysicsBody bodyWithRectangleOfSize:linea.size];
linea.physicsBody.dynamic = FALSE;
linea.physicsBody.collisionBitMask = 0;
linea.physicsBody.categoryBitMask = CollisionEnemy;
[_Linea addChild:linea];
[self addChild:_Linea];
In the touchesBegan method when i touch the screen, the player is always on the center of screen, and those lines behind him have to move by -x.
[_Linea runAction:[SKAction moveByX: -(self.size.width/8) y:0 duration:0.1]];
[self spawn_Lines];
But this action is only executed by the last SKNode. I need to apply this to all Lines simultaneously. After that, when the line's position is less then the player's position, the line must be deleted.
SpriteKit uses a tree based model, so whatever the parent node does, the children fall suit. Create an SKNode to house all of your lines, add all of your lines to this SKNode, then apply the actions to the SKNode, not the lines.
Add them to NSMutableArray to keep the reference and use for each loop to make each one run the action. I would recommend you to use NSTimer to provide [SKAction moveByX: -1 y:0 duration:0]] with constant speed which will result in the same motion as you already used. Each time this NSTimer execute you will check all positions of object from your NSMutableArray and than delete it if it fits your conditions. Be careful when you want to lose the reference completely use [object removeFromParent]; and remove it also from your NSMutableArray to avoid lose of performance later on. For this I use rather forLoop with continue method

iOS 7 CAEmitterLayer spawning particles inappropriately

Strange issue I can't seem to resolve where on iOS 7 only, CAEmitterLayer will spawn particles on the screen incorrectly when birth rate is initially set to a nonzero value. It's as if it calculates the state the layer would be in the future.
// Create black image particle
CGRect rect = CGRectMake(0, 0, 20, 20);
UIGraphicsBeginImageContext(rect.size);
CGContextFillRect(UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext(), rect);
UIImage *img = UIGraphicsGetImageFromCurrentImageContext();
UIGraphicsEndImageContext();
// Create cell
CAEmitterCell *cell = [CAEmitterCell emitterCell];
cell.contents = (__bridge id)img.CGImage;
cell.birthRate = 100.0;
cell.lifetime = 10.0;
cell.velocity = 100.0;
// Create emitter with particles emitting from a line on the
// bottom of the screen
CAEmitterLayer *emitter = [CAEmitterLayer layer];
emitter.emitterShape = kCAEmitterLayerLine;
emitter.emitterSize = CGSizeMake(self.view.bounds.size.width,0);
emitter.emitterPosition = CGPointMake(self.view.bounds.size.width/2,
self.view.bounds.size.height);
emitter.emitterCells = #[cell];
[self.view.layer addSublayer:emitter];
I saw on the DevForums one post where a few people mentioned they had similar problems with iOS 7 and CAEmitterLayer, but no one had any ideas how to fix it. Now that iOS 7 is no longer beta, I figured I should ask here and see if anyone can crack it. I really hope this isn't just a bug that we have to wait for 7.0.1 or 7.1 to get fixed. Any ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks!
YES!
I spent hours on this problem myself.
To get the same kind of animation of the birthRate we had before we use a couple of strategies.
Firstly, if you want the layer to look like it begins emitting when added to the view you need to remember that CAEmitterLayer is a subclass of CALayer which conforms to the CAMediaTiming protocol. We have to set the whole emitter layer to begin at the current moment:
emitter.beginTime = CACurrentMediaTime();
[self.view.layer addSublayer:emitter];
It's as if it calculates the state the layer would be in the future.
You were eerily close, but actually its that the emitter was beginning in the past.
Secondly, to animate between a birthrate of 0 and n, with the effect that we had before we can manipulate the lifetime property instead:
if (shouldBeEmitting){
emitter.lifetime = 1.0;
}
else{
emitter.lifetime = 0;
}
Note that i set the lifetime on the emitter layer itself. This is because when emitting the emitter cell's version of this property gets multiplied by the value in the emitter layer. Setting the lifetime of the emitter layer sets a multiple of the lifetimes of all your emitter cells, allowing you to turn them all on and off with ease.
For me, the issue with my CAEmitterLayer, when moving to iOS7 was the following:
In iOS7 setting the CAEmitterLayerCell's duration resulted in the particle not showing at all!
The only thing I had to change was remove the cell.duration = XXX and then my particles began showing up again. I am going to eat an Apple over this unexpected, unexplained hassle.

Get instant value of a CABasicAnimation

While i'm implementing a game, i'm just front of a matter, whose really easy i think, but don't know how to fix it. I'm a bit new in objective-c as you could see with my reputation :(
The problem is, i have an animation, which works correctly. Here is the code :
CABasicAnimation * bordgauche = [CABasicAnimation animationWithKeyPath:#"transform.translation.x"];
bordgauche.fromValue = [NSNumber numberWithFloat:0.0f];
bordgauche.toValue = [NSNumber numberWithFloat:749.0f];
bordgauche.duration = t;
bordgauche.repeatCount = 1;
[ImageSuivante.layer addAnimation:bordgauche forKey:#"bordgauche"];
And i want to get the current position of my image. So i use :
CALayer *currentLayer = (CALayer *)[ImageSuivante.layer presentationLayer];
currentX = [(NSNumber *)[currentLayer valueForKeyPath:#"transform.translation.x"] floatValue];
But i don't get it instantly. I get one time "Current = 0.0000", which is the starting value, when i use a nslog to print it, but not the others after.
I don't know how to get the instant position of my image, currentX, all the time.
I expect i was understable.
Thanks for your help :)
You can get the value from your layer's presentation layer.
CGPoint currentPos = [ImageSuivante.layer.presentationLayer position];
NSLog(#"%f %f",currentPos.x,currentPos.y);
I think you have 3 options here (pls comment if more exist):
option1: split your first animation into two and when the first half ends start the second half of the animation plus the other animation
...
bordgauche.toValue = [NSNumber numberWithFloat:749.0f / 2];
bordgauche.duration = t/2;
bordgauche.delegate = self // necessary to catch end of anim
[bordgauche setValue:#"bordgauche_1" forKey: #"animname"]; // to identify anim if more exist
...
- (void)animationDidStop:(CAAnimation *)theAnimation finished:(BOOL)flag {
if ([theAnimation valueForKey: #"animname"]==#"bordgauche_1") {
CABasicAnimation * bordgauche = [CABasicAnimation
animationWithKeyPath:#"transform.translation.x"];
bordgauche.fromValue = [NSNumber numberWithFloat:749.0f / 2];
bordgauche.toValue = [NSNumber numberWithFloat:749.0f];
bordgauche.duration = t/2;
bordgauche.repeatCount = 1;
[ImageSuivante.layer addAnimation:bordgauche forKey:#"bordgauche_2"];
// plus start your second anim
}
option2: setup a NSTimer or a CADisplayLink (this is better) callback and check continuously the parameters of your animating layer. Test the parameters for the required value to trigger the second anim.
displayLink = [NSClassFromString(#"CADisplayLink") displayLinkWithTarget:self selector:#selector(check_ca_anim)];
[displayLink setFrameInterval:1];
[displayLink addToRunLoop:[NSRunLoop currentRunLoop] forMode:NSRunLoopCommonModes];
... or
animationTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:(NSTimeInterval)(1.0 / 60.0) target:self selector:#selector(check_ca_anim) userInfo:nil repeats:TRUE];
[[NSRunLoop mainRunLoop] addTimer:animationTimer forMode:NSRunLoopCommonModes];
- (void) check_ca_anim {
...
CGPoint currentPosition = [[ImageSuivante.layer presentationLayer] position];
// test it and conditionally start something
...
}
option3: setup a CADisplayLink (can be called now as "gameloop") and manage the animation yourself by calculating and setting the proper parameters of the animating object. Not knowing what kind of game you would like to create I would say game loop might be useful for other game specific reasons. Also here I mention Cocos2d which is a great framework for game development.
You can try getting the value from your layer's presentation layer, which should be close to what is being presented on screen:
[ [ ImageSuivante.layer presentationLayer ] valueForKeyPath:#"transform.translation.x" ] ;
I would add one option to what #codedad pointed out. What's interesting, it gives a possibility of getting instant values of your animating layer precisely (you can see CALayer's list of animatable properties) and it's very simple.
If you override method
- (void)drawLayer:(CALayer *)layer inContext:(CGContextRef)ctx;
in your UIView class (yep, you'd need to implement a custom class derived from UIView for your "ImageSuivante" view), then the parameter layer which is passed there would give you exactly what you need. It contains precise values used for drawing.
E.g. in this method you could update a proper instant variable (to work with later) and then call super if you don't do drawing with you hands:
- (void)drawLayer:(CALayer *)layer inContext:(CGContextRef)context {
self.instantOpacity = layer.opacity;
self.instantTransform = layer.transform;
[super drawLayer:layer inContext:context];
}
Note that layer here is generally not the same object as self.layer (where self is your custom UIView), so e.g. self.layer.opacity will give you the target opacity, but not the instant one, whereas self.instantOpacity after the code above will contain the instant value you want.
Just be aware that this is a drawing method and it may be called very frequently, so no unnecessary calculations or any heavy operations there.
The source of this idea is Apple's Custom Animatable Property project.

Animation Snaps back when the UIImage is changed

I have an UIImageView that runs across the screen when a button is pressed and held. When the button is pressed is changes the UIImage of the UIImageView and when the button is let go I change it to its original UIImage. When ever the image changes back it snaps back to the location that the image started.
This Timer is called when the button is pressed:
//This is the image that changes when the button is pressed.
imView.image = image2;
runTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:0.04
target:self
selector:#selector(perform)
userInfo:nil
repeats:YES];
This is called When the button stops being held:
- (IBAction)stopPerform:(id)sender{
[runTimer invalidate];
//THIS IS WHAT SNAPS THE ANIMATION BACK:
//Without this the animation does not snap back
imView.image = image1;
}
- (void)performRight{
CGPoint point0 = imView.layer.position;
CGPoint point1 = { point0.x + 4, point0.y };
CABasicAnimation *anim = [CABasicAnimation animationWithKeyPath:#"position.x"];
anim.fromValue = #(point0.x);
anim.toValue = #(point1.x);
anim.duration = 0.2f;
anim.timingFunction = [CAMediaTimingFunction functionWithName:kCAMediaTimingFunctionEaseIn];
// First we update the model layer's property.
imView.layer.position = point1;
// Now we attach the animation.
[imView.layer addAnimation:anim forKey:#"position.x"];
}
Do I need to add the change in images to the animation? If so how? Im really confused.
Core Animation uses different sets of properties to represent an object:
From Core Animation Programming Guide:
model layer tree (or simply “layer tree”) are the ones your app interacts with the most. The objects in this tree are the model objects that store the target values for any animations. Whenever you change the property of a layer, you use one of these objects.
presentation tree contain the in-flight values for any running animations. Whereas the layer tree objects contain the target values for an animation, the objects in the presentation tree reflect the current values as they appear onscreen. You should never modify the objects in this tree. Instead, you use these objects to read current animation values, perhaps to create a new animation starting at those values.
So when you animate the properties you change the presentation layer, but once the animation is finished the object reverts back to its model property values.
What you need to do to fix this is use the [CAAnimation animationDidStop:finished:] delegate method to set the final property value and anything else you would like to do. I think you could use this to dump that horrible NSTimer code you are using and one small part of the world will be that much better.

CAEmitterLayer negative beginTime possible?

I'm trying to get CAEmitterLayers and CAEmitterCells to start their animation from somewhere in the middle of their parent's duration. Is this possible at all? I tried playing with the beginTime and timeOffset properties but I can't seem to get this working.
Added some code for posterity: (lets say I want the emitter to start at the 5th second)
CAEmitterLayer *emitter = [CAEmitterLayer new];
// emitter.beginTime = -5.0f; // I tried this
// emitter.timeOffset = 5.0f; // I also tried this, with beginTime = 0.0, and with beginTime = AVCoreAnimationBeginTimeAtZero
/* set some other CAEmitterLayer properties */
CAEmitterCell *cell = [CAEmitterCell new];
// cell.beginTime = -5.0f; // Then I saw that CAEmitterCell implements CAMediaTiming protocol so I tried this
// cell.timeOffset = 5.0f; // and this
/* set some other CAEmitterCell properties */
emitter.emitterCells = #[cell];
[viewLayer addSubLayer:emitter];
But still the animation starts from where the emitter generates the particles.
Edited again to explain what I'm trying to do:
Lets say I have a CAEmitterLayer that animates rain, so I setup the cells to do a "falling" animation that starts from the top of the screen. During the start of rendering, I don't want to start in a state that's "not raining yet". I want to start where the screen is already covered with rain.
The beginTime isn't relative to now. You need to grab the current time relative to the current layer time space, which you can get by using the CACurrentMediaTime() function. So in your case, you'd do something like this:
emitter.beginTime = CACurrentMediaTime() + 5.f;

Resources