Question

I have a piece of code that sets up a capture session from the camera to process the frames using OpenCV and then set the image property of a UIImageView with a generated UIImage from the frame. When the app starts, the image view’s image is nil and no frames show up until I push another view controller on the stack and then pop it off. Then the image stays the same until I do it again. NSLog statements show that the callback is called at approximately the correct frame rate. Any ideas why it doesn’t show up? I reduced the framerate all the way to 2 frames a second. Is it not processing fast enough?

Here’s the code:

- (void)setupCaptureSession {
    NSError *error = nil;

    // Create the session
    AVCaptureSession *session = [[AVCaptureSession alloc] init];

    // Configure the session to produce lower resolution video frames, if your 
    // processing algorithm can cope. We'll specify medium quality for the
    // chosen device.
    session.sessionPreset = AVCaptureSessionPresetLow;

    // Find a suitable AVCaptureDevice
    AVCaptureDevice *device = [AVCaptureDevice defaultDeviceWithMediaType:AVMediaTypeVideo];

    // Create a device input with the device and add it to the session.
    AVCaptureDeviceInput *input = [AVCaptureDeviceInput deviceInputWithDevice:device 
                                                                        error:&error];
    if (!input) {
        // Handling the error appropriately.
    }
    [session addInput:input];

    // Create a VideoDataOutput and add it to the session
    AVCaptureVideoDataOutput *output = [[[AVCaptureVideoDataOutput alloc] init] autorelease];
    output.alwaysDiscardsLateVideoFrames = YES;
    [session addOutput:output];

    // Configure your output.
    dispatch_queue_t queue = dispatch_queue_create("myQueue", NULL);
    [output setSampleBufferDelegate:self queue:queue];
    dispatch_release(queue);

    // Specify the pixel format
    output.videoSettings = 
    [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObject:
     [NSNumber numberWithInt:kCVPixelFormatType_32BGRA] 
                                forKey:(id)kCVPixelBufferPixelFormatTypeKey];


    // If you wish to cap the frame rate to a known value, such as 15 fps, set 
    // minFrameDuration.
    output.minFrameDuration = CMTimeMake(1, 1);

    // Start the session running to start the flow of data
    [session startRunning];

    // Assign session to an ivar.
    [self setSession:session];
}

// Create a UIImage from sample buffer data
- (UIImage *) imageFromSampleBuffer:(CMSampleBufferRef) sampleBuffer {
    CVImageBufferRef imageBuffer = CMSampleBufferGetImageBuffer(sampleBuffer);
    // Lock the base address of the pixel buffer
    CVPixelBufferLockBaseAddress(imageBuffer,0);

    // Get the number of bytes per row for the pixel buffer
    size_t bytesPerRow = CVPixelBufferGetBytesPerRow(imageBuffer); 
    // Get the pixel buffer width and height
    size_t width = CVPixelBufferGetWidth(imageBuffer); 
    size_t height = CVPixelBufferGetHeight(imageBuffer); 

    // Create a device-dependent RGB color space
    CGColorSpaceRef colorSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB(); 
    if (!colorSpace) 
     {
        NSLog(@"CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB failure");
        return nil;
     }

    // Get the base address of the pixel buffer
    void *baseAddress = CVPixelBufferGetBaseAddress(imageBuffer);
    // Get the data size for contiguous planes of the pixel buffer.
    size_t bufferSize = CVPixelBufferGetDataSize(imageBuffer); 

    // Create a Quartz direct-access data provider that uses data we supply
    CGDataProviderRef provider = CGDataProviderCreateWithData(NULL, baseAddress, bufferSize, 
                                                              NULL);
    // Create a bitmap image from data supplied by our data provider
    CGImageRef cgImage = 
    CGImageCreate(width,
                  height,
                  8,
                  32,
                  bytesPerRow,
                  colorSpace,
                  kCGImageAlphaNoneSkipFirst | kCGBitmapByteOrder32Little,
                  provider,
                  NULL,
                  true,
                  kCGRenderingIntentDefault);
    CGDataProviderRelease(provider);
    CGColorSpaceRelease(colorSpace);

    // Create and return an image object representing the specified Quartz image
    UIImage *image = [UIImage imageWithCGImage:cgImage];
    CGImageRelease(cgImage);

    CVPixelBufferUnlockBaseAddress(imageBuffer, 0);

    return image;
}


// Delegate routine that is called when a sample buffer was written
- (void)captureOutput:(AVCaptureOutput *)captureOutput 
didOutputSampleBuffer:(CMSampleBufferRef)sampleBuffer 
       fromConnection:(AVCaptureConnection *)connection {
    // Create a UIImage from the sample buffer data
    UIImage *image = [self imageFromSampleBuffer:sampleBuffer];
    [self.delegate cameraCaptureGotFrame:image];
}

Answer 1

This could be related to threading—Try:

[self.delegate performSelectorOnMainThread:@selector(cameraCaptureGotFrame:) withObject:image waitUntilDone:NO];