The document discusses various techniques for working with time-based media like video and audio using the AV Foundation framework in iOS and macOS. It provides an overview of common tasks like playback, capture, and editing using classes like AVPlayer, AVCaptureSession, and AVComposition. It then demonstrates more advanced tricks like animating an AVPlayerLayer and processing video frames in real-time using Core Image filters. The document recommends exploring other related frameworks like Core Audio, Core Media, Video Toolbox, and Core Video for additional functionality and performance.

1. Stupid Video Tricks
Chris Adamson • @invalidname
CocoaConf DC • March, 2014

2. AV Foundation
• Framework for working with time-based media
• Audio, video, timed text (captions / subtitles),
timecode
• iOS 4.0 and up, Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) and up
• Replacing QuickTime on Mac

3. Ordinary AV Foundation stuff
• Playback: AVAsset + AVPlayer
• Capture to file: AVCaptureSession +
AVCaptureDeviceInput +
AVCaptureMovieFileOutput
• Editing: AVComposition + AVExportSession

4. But Why Be Ordinary?
http://www.crunchyroll.com/my-ordinary-life

5. Introductory Trick
• AVPlayerLayer and
AVCaptureVideoPreviewLayer are subclasses of
CALayer
• We can do lots of neat things with CALayers

6. Demo

7. Make an AVPlayerLayer
self.player = [AVPlayer playerWithPlayerItem:
[AVPlayerItem playerItemWithAsset:self.asset]];
self.playerLayer = [AVPlayerLayer playerLayerWithPlayer:self.player];
self.playerLayer.videoGravity = AVLayerVideoGravityResizeAspect;
[self.playerView.layer addSublayer:self.playerLayer];
self.playerLayer.frame = self.playerView.bounds;

8. Animate the layer
CABasicAnimation *animateRotation;
animateRotation = [CABasicAnimation animationWithKeyPath:@"transform"];
CATransform3D layerTransform = self.playerLayer.transform;
layerTransform = CATransform3DRotate(layerTransform, M_PI, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0);
animateRotation.toValue = [NSValue valueWithCATransform3D:layerTransform];
animateRotation.duration = 2.0;
animateRotation.removedOnCompletion = NO;
animateRotation.fillMode = kCAFillModeForwards;
animateRotation.repeatCount = 1000;
animateRotation.cumulative = YES;
[self.playerLayer addAnimation:animateRotation forKey:@"transform"];

9. Going Deeper
http://www.crunchyroll.com/angel-beats

10. AV Foundation
Core Audio Core Media
Video Toolbox
Core Video

11. AV Foundation
Core Audio Core Media
Video Toolbox
Core Video

12. AV Foundation
Core Audio Core Media
Video Toolbox
Core Video

13. Core Media

14. Core Media
• Opaque types to represent time: CMTime,
CMTimeRange
• Opaque types to represent media samples and their
contents: CMSampleBuffer, CMBlockBuffer,
CMFormatDescription

15. CMSampleBuffer
• Provides timing information for one or more samples:
when does this play and for how long?
• Contains either
• CVImageBuffer – visual data (video frames)
• CMBlockBuffer — arbitrary data (sound, subtitles,
timecodes)

16. Use & Abuse of
CMSampleBuffers
• AVCaptureDataOutput provides CMSampleBuffers
in sample delegate callback
• AVAssetReader provides CMSampleBuffers read
from disk
• AVAssetWriter accepts CMSampleBuffers to write
to disk

17. Demo

18. How the Heck Does that
Work?
• Movies have tracks, tracks have media, media have
sample data
• All contents of a QuickTime file are defined in the
QuickTime File Format documentation

20. Subtitle Sample Data
Subtitle sample data consists of a 16-‐bit word that specifies the length (number of bytes) of the subtitle text,
followed by the subtitle text and then by optional sample extensions. The subtitle text is Unicode text, encoded
either as UTF-‐8 text or UTF-‐16 text beginning with a UTF-‐16 BYTE ORDER MARK ('uFEFF') in big or little endian
order. There is no null termination for the text.
Following the subtitle text, there may be one or more atoms containing additional information for selecting
and drawing the subtitle.
Table 4-‐12 (page 203) lists the currently defined subtitle sample extensions.
Table 4-12 Subtitle sample extensions
DescriptionSubtitle
sample
extension
The presence of this atom indicates that the sample contains a forced subtitle. This
extension has no data.
Forced subtitles are shown automatically when appropriate without any interaction
from the user. If any sample contains a forced subtitle, the Some Samples Are Forced
(0x40000000) flag must also be set in the display flags.
Consider an example where the primary language of the content is English, but the
user has chosen to listen to a French dub of the audio. If a scene in the video displays
something in English that is important to the plot or the content (such as a newspaper
headline), a forced subtitle displays the content translated into French. In this case, the
subtitle is linked (“forced”) to the French language sound track.
If this atom is not present, the subtitle is typically simply a translation of the audio
content, which a user can choose to display or hide.
'frcd'
Style information for the subtitle. This atom allows you to override the default style in
the sample description or to define more than one style within a sample. See “Subtitle
Style Atom” (page 204).
'styl'
Override of the default text box for this sample. Used only if the 0x20000000 display
flag is set in the sample description and, in that case, only the top is considered. Even
so, all fields should be set as though they are considered. See “Text Box atom” (page
205).
'tbox'
Text wrap. Set the one-‐byte payload to 0x00 for no wrapping or 0x01 for automatic
soft wrapping.
'twrp'
Media Data Atom Types
Subtitle Media
2014-‐02-‐11 | Copyright © 2004, 2014 Apple Inc. All Rights Reserved.
203

21. Subtitle Sample Data!
Subtitle sample data consists of a 16-bit word that
specifies the length (number of bytes) of the subtitle text,
followed by the subtitle text and then by optional sample
extensions. The subtitle text is Unicode text, encoded
either as UTF-8 text or UTF-16 text beginning with a
UTF-16 BYTE ORDER MARK ('uFEFF') in big or little
endian order. There is no null termination for the text.!
Following the subtitle text, there may be one or more
atoms containing additional information for selecting and
drawing the subtitle.!

22. I Iz In Ur Subtitle Track…
AVAssetReaderTrackOutput *subtitleTrackOutput =
[AVAssetReaderTrackOutput assetReaderTrackOutputWithTrack:subtitleTracks[0]
outputSettings:nil];
!
// ...
while (reading) {
CMSampleBufferRef sampleBuffer = [subtitleTrackOutput copyNextSampleBuffer];
if (sampleBuffer == NULL) {
AVAssetReaderStatus status = subtitleReader.status;
if ((status == AVAssetReaderStatusCompleted) ||
(status == AVAssetReaderStatusFailed) ||
(status == AVAssetReaderStatusCancelled)) {
reading = NO;
NSLog (@"ending with reader status %d", status);
}
} else {
CMTime presentationTime = CMSampleBufferGetPresentationTimeStamp(sampleBuffer) ;
CMTime duration = CMSampleBufferGetDuration(sampleBuffer);

23. …Readin Ur CMBlockBuffers
CMBlockBufferRef blockBuffer = CMSampleBufferGetDataBuffer(sampleBuffer);
size_t dataSize =CMBlockBufferGetDataLength(blockBuffer);
if (dataSize > 0) {
UInt8* data = malloc(dataSize);
OSStatus cmErr = CMBlockBufferCopyDataBytes (blockBuffer,
0,
dataSize,
data);

25. Subtitle Summary
• AVAssetReaderOutput provides CMSampleBuffers
• Get timing info with
CMSampleBufferGetPresentationTimestamp()
and CMSampleGetDuration()
• Get raw data with CMBlockBufferGet…() functions
• Have at it

26. Audio
http://indignation.deviantart.com/art/Hatsune-Miku-headphones-254724145

27. AV Foundation
Core Audio Core Media
Video Toolbox
Core Video

28. Core Audio Core Media

29. • Reading:
CMSampleBufferGetAudioBufferListWithRetain
edBlockBuffer(),
CMSampleBufferGetAudioStreamPacketDescript
ions()
• Writing:
CMSampleBufferSetDataBufferFromAudioBuffer
List(),
CMAudioSampleBufferCreateWithPacketDescrip
tions()
Core Audio Core Media

30. • Reading:
CMSampleBufferGetAudioBufferListWithRetain
edBlockBuffer(),
CMSampleBufferGetAudioStreamPacketDescript
ions()
• Writing:
CMSampleBufferSetDataBufferFromAudioBuffer
List(),
CMAudioSampleBufferCreateWithPacketDescrip
tions()
Core Audio Core Media

31. Potential Uses
• Run captured / read-in audio through effects in an
AUGraph
• See “AVCaptureAudioDataOutput To AudioUnit”
examples (iOS & OS X) from WWDC 2012
• May make more sense for audio-oriented apps to do
capture / file reads entirely from Core Audio

32. Video
http://www.crunchyroll.com/angel-beats

33. AV Foundation
Core Audio Core Media
Video Toolbox
Core Video

34. Core Media Core Video

35. • CMSampleBuffers provide CVImageBuffers
• Two sub-types: CVPixelBufferRef,
CVOpenGLESTextureRef
• Pixel buffers allow us to work with bitmaps, via
CVPixelBufferGetBaseAddress()
• Note: Must wrap calls with
CVPixelBufferLockBaseAddress(),
CVPixelBufferUnlockBaseAddress()
Core Media Core Video

36. Use & Abuse of
CVImageBuffers
• Can be used to create Core Image CIImages
• iOS: -[CIImage imageWithCVPixelBuffer:]
• OS X: -[CIImage imageWithCVImageBuffer:]
• CIImages can be used to do lots of stuff…

37. Demo

38. Recipe
• Create CIContext from EAGLContext
• Create CIFilter
• During capture callback
• Convert pixel buffer to CIImage
• Run through filter
• Draw to CIContext

39. Set Up GLKView
if (! self.glkView.context.API != kEAGLRenderingAPIOpenGLES2) {
EAGLContext *eagl2Context = [[EAGLContext alloc]
initWithAPI:kEAGLRenderingAPIOpenGLES2];
self.glkView.context = eagl2Context;
}
self.glContext = self.glkView.context;
// we'll do the updating, thanks
self.glkView.enableSetNeedsDisplay = NO;

40. Make CIContext
// make CIContext from GL context, clearing out default color space
self.ciContext = [CIContext contextWithEAGLContext:self.glContext
options:@{kCIContextWorkingColorSpace :
[NSNull null]} ];
[self.glkView bindDrawable];
// from Core Image Fun House:
_glkDrawBounds = CGRectZero;
_glkDrawBounds.size.width = self.glkView.drawableWidth;
_glkDrawBounds.size.height = self.glkView.drawableHeight;
See also iOS Core Image Fun House from WWDC 2013

41. Get RGB in Capture Delegate
self.videoDataOutput = [[AVCaptureVideoDataOutput alloc] init];
[self.videoDataOutput setSampleBufferDelegate:self
queue:self.videoDataOutputQueue];
[self.captureSession addOutput: self.videoDataOutput];
NSDictionary *videoSettings = @{
(id) kCVPixelBufferPixelFormatTypeKey:
@(kCVPixelFormatType_32BGRA)};
[self.videoDataOutput setVideoSettings:videoSettings];
Note: 32BGRA and two flavors of 4:2:0 YCbCr are the only valid
pixel formats for video capture on iOS

42. Create CIFilter
self.pixellateFilter = [CIFilter filterWithName:@"CIPixellate"];
[self.pixellateFilter setValue:[CIVector vectorWithX:100.0 Y:100.0]
forKey:@"inputCenter"];
[self setPixellateFilterScale:self.pixellationScaleSlider.value];

43. Set CIFilter Params
- (IBAction)handleScaleSliderValueChanged:(UISlider*) sender {
[self setPixellateFilterScale:sender.value];
}
!
-(void) setPixellateFilterScale: (CGFloat) scale {
[self.pixellateFilter setValue:[NSNumber numberWithFloat:scale]
forKey:@"inputScale"];
}

44. Callback: Apply Filter
CVImageBufferRef cvBuffer =
CMSampleBufferGetImageBuffer(sampleBuffer);
CVPixelBufferLockBaseAddress(cvBuffer,0);
CIImage *bufferCIImage = [CIImage imageWithCVPixelBuffer:cvBuffer];
!
[self.pixellateFilter setValue:bufferCIImage
forKey:kCIInputImageKey];
bufferCIImage = [self.pixellateFilter
valueForKey:kCIOutputImageKey];

45. Callback: Draw to GLKView
[self.glkView bindDrawable];
if (self.glContext != [EAGLContext currentContext]) {
[EAGLContext setCurrentContext: self.glContext];
}
// drawing code here is from WWDC 2013 iOS Core Image Fun House
// clear eagl view to grey
glClearColor(0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 1.0);
glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);
// set the blend mode to "source over" so that CI will use that
glEnable(GL_BLEND);
glBlendFunc(GL_ONE, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA);
CGRect drawRect = bufferCIImage.extent;
[self.ciContext drawImage:bufferCIImage
inRect:self.glkDrawBounds
fromRect:drawRect];
[self.glkView display];
CVPixelBufferUnlockBaseAddress(cvBuffer, 0);

46. Recap
CVPixelBuffer CIImage CIImage
from
camera
CIFilter
CIContext
-[CIContext
drawImage:
fromRect:
inRect:]
(OpenGL
drawing)
+[CIImage
imageWith
CVPixelBuff
er:]

47. Recap
CVPixelBuffer CIImage CIImage
from
camera
CIFilter
CIContext
-[CIContext
drawImage:
fromRect:
inRect:]
CVPixelBuffer
(optional)
AVAsset
Writer
Output(OpenGL
drawing)
+[CIImage
imageWith
CVPixelBuff
er:]

48. By the way…

49. There are lots of CIFilters
CICategoryBlur
! ! CIBoxBlur
! ! CIDiscBlur
! ! CIGaussianBlur
! ! CIMedianFilter
! ! CIMotionBlur
! ! CINoiseReduction
! ! CIZoomBlur
CICategoryColorAdjust
ment
! ! CIColorClamp
! ! CIColorControls
! ! CIColorMatrix
! ! CIColorPolynomial
! ! CIExposureAdjust
! ! CIGammaAdjust
! ! CIHueAdjust
! !
CILinearToSRGBToneCurv
e
! !
CISRGBToneCurveToLinea
r
! ! CITemperatureAndTint
! ! CIToneCurve
! ! CIVibrance
! ! CIWhitePointAdjust
CICategoryColorEffect
! ! CIColorCrossPolynomial
! ! CIColorCube
! !
CIColorCubeWithColorSp
ace
! ! CIColorInvert
! ! CIColorMap
! ! CIColorMonochrome
! ! CIColorPosterize
! ! CIFalseColor
! ! CIMaskToAlpha
! ! CIMaximumComponent
! ! CIMinimumComponent
! ! CIPhotoEffectChrome
! ! CIPhotoEffectFade
! ! CIPhotoEffectInstant
! ! CIPhotoEffectMono
! ! CIPhotoEffectNoir
! ! CIPhotoEffectProcess
! ! CIPhotoEffectTonal
! ! CIPhotoEffectTransfer
! ! CISepiaTone
! ! CIVignette
! ! CIVignetteEffect
CICategoryComposite
Operation
! ! CIAdditionCompositing
! ! CIColorBlendMode
! ! CIColorBurnBlendMode
! ! CIColorDodgeBlendMode
! ! CIDarkenBlendMode
! ! CIDifferenceBlendMode
! ! CIExclusionBlendMode
! ! CIHardLightBlendMode
! ! CIHueBlendMode
! ! CILightenBlendMode
! ! CILuminosityBlendMode
! ! CIMaximumCompositing
! ! CIMinimumCompositing
! ! CIMultiplyBlendMode
! ! CIMultiplyCompositing
! ! CIOverlayBlendMode
! ! CISaturationBlendMode
! ! CIScreenBlendMode
! ! CISoftLightBlendMode
! !
CISourceAtopCompositin
g
! ! CISourceInCompositing
! ! CISourceOutCompositing
! !
CISourceOverCompositin
g
CICategoryDistortionE
ffect
! ! CIBumpDistortion
! ! CIBumpDistortionLinear
! !
CICircleSplashDistorti
on
! ! CICircularWrap
! ! CIDroste
! !
CIDisplacementDistorti
on
! ! CIGlassDistortion
! ! CIGlassLozenge
! ! CIHoleDistortion
! ! CILightTunnel
! ! CIPinchDistortion
! ! CIStretchCrop
! ! CITorusLensDistortion
! ! CITwirlDistortion
! ! CIVortexDistortion
CICategoryGenerator
! CICheckerboardGenerator
! !
CIConstantColorGenerat
or
! !
CILenticularHaloGenera
tor
! ! CIQRCodeGenerator
! ! CIRandomGenerator
! ! CIStarShineGenerator
! ! CIStripesGenerator
! ! CISunbeamsGenerator
CICategoryGeometryA
djustment
! ! CIAffineTransform
! ! CICrop
! !
CILanczosScaleTransfor
m
! ! CIPerspectiveTransform
! !
CIPerspectiveTransform
WithExtent
! ! CIStraightenFilter
CICategoryGradient
! ! CIGaussianGradient
! ! CILinearGradient
! ! CIRadialGradient
! ! CISmoothLinearGradient
CICategoryHalftoneEff
ect

50. Demo

51. CIColorCube
Maps colors from one RGB “cube” to another
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGB_color_space

52. Using CIColorCube
CIColorCube maps green(-ish) colors to 0.0 alpha,
all other colors pass through

53. CISourceOverCompositing
inputBackgroundImage inputImage
outputImage

54. CIColorCube Data
const unsigned int size = 64;
size_t cubeDataSize = size * size * size * sizeof (float) * 4;
float *keyCubeData = (float *)malloc (cubeDataSize);
float rgb[3], hsv[3], *keyC = keyCubeData;
// Populate cube with a simple gradient going from 0 to 1
for (int z = 0; z < size; z++){
rgb[2] = ((double)z)/(size-1); // Blue value
for (int y = 0; y < size; y++){
rgb[1] = ((double)y)/(size-1); // Green value
for (int x = 0; x < size; x ++){
rgb[0] = ((double)x)/(size-1); // Red value
!
// Convert RGB to HSV
// You can find publicly available rgbToHSV functions on the Internet
!
RGBtoHSV(rgb[0], rgb[1], rgb[2],
&hsv[0], &hsv[1], &hsv[2]);
!
// RGBtoHSV uses 0 to 360 for hue, while UIColor (used above) uses 0 to 1.
hsv[0] /= 360.0;
// Use the hue value to determine which to make transparent
// The minimum and maximum hue angle depends on
// the color you want to remove
bool keyed = (hsv[0] > minHueAngle && hsv[0] < maxHueAngle) &&
(hsv[1] > minSaturation && hsv[1] < maxSaturation) &&
(hsv[2] > minBrightness && hsv[2] < maxBrightness);
float alpha = keyed ? 0.0f : 1.0f;
// re-calculate c pointer
keyC = (((z * size * size) + (y * size) + x) * sizeof(float)) + keyCubeData;
// Calculate premultiplied alpha values for the cube
keyC[0] = rgb[0] * alpha;
keyC[1] = rgb[1] * alpha;
keyC[2] = rgb[2] * alpha;
keyC[3] = alpha;
}
}
}
See “Chroma Key Filter Recipe” in Core Image Programming Guide

55. Create CIColorCube from
mapping data
// Create memory with the cube data
NSData *data = [NSData dataWithBytesNoCopy:keyCubeData
length:cubeDataSize
freeWhenDone:YES];
self.colorCubeFilter = [CIFilter filterWithName:@"CIColorCube"];
[self.colorCubeFilter setValue:[NSNumber numberWithInt:size]
forKey:@"inputCubeDimension"];
// Set data for cube
[self.colorCubeFilter setValue:data forKey:@"inputCubeData"];

56. Create
CISourceOverCompositing
// source over filter
self.sourceOverFilter = [CIFilter filterWithName:
@"CISourceOverCompositing"];
CIImage *backgroundCIImage = [CIImage imageWithCGImage:
self.backgroundImage.CGImage];
[self.sourceOverFilter setValue:backgroundCIImage
forKeyPath:@"inputBackgroundImage"];

57. Apply Filters in Delegate
Callback
CIImage *bufferCIImage = [CIImage imageWithCVPixelBuffer:
cvBuffer];
[self.colorCubeFilter setValue:bufferCIImage
forKey:kCIInputImageKey];
CIImage *keyedCameraImage = [self.colorCubeFilter valueForKey:
kCIOutputImageKey];
[self.sourceOverFilter setValue:keyedCameraImage
forKeyPath:kCIInputImageKey];
CIImage *compositedImage = [self.sourceOverFilter valueForKeyPath:
kCIOutputImageKey];
Then draw compositedImage to CIContext as before

58. More Fun with Filters
• Alpha Matte: Use CIColorCube to map green to white
(or transparent), everything else to black
• Can then use this with other filters to do edge work
on the “foreground” object
• Be sure that any filters you use are of category
CICategoryVideo.

59. More Fun With CIContexts
• Can write effected pixels to a movie file with
AVAssetWriterOutput
• Use base address of CIContext to create a new
CVPixelBuffer, use this and timing information to
create a CMSampleBuffer
• AVAssetWriterInputPixelBufferAdaptor makes this
slightly easier

60. Recap
• Most good tricks start with CMSampleBuffers
• Audio: convert to Core Audio types
• Video: convert to CIImage
• Other: get CMBlockBuffer and parse by hand

61. Further Info
and http://devforums.apple.com/

62. Q&A
Slides at http://www.slideshare.net/invalidname/
See comments there for link to source code
!
invalidname [at] gmail.com
@invalidname (Twitter, app.net)
http://www.subfurther.com/blog