Interpret XMP-Metadata in ALAssetRepresentation

Question

When a user makes some changes (cropping, red-eye removal, ...) to photos in the built-in Photos.app on iOS, the changes are not applied to the fullResolutionImage returned by the corresponding ALAssetRepresentation.

However, the changes are applied to the thumbnail and the fullScreenImage returned by the ALAssetRepresentation. Furthermore, information about the applied changes can be found in the ALAssetRepresentation's metadata dictionary via the key @"AdjustmentXMP".

I would like to apply these changes to the fullResolutionImage myself to preserve consistency. I've found out that on iOS6+ CIFilter's filterArrayFromSerializedXMP: inputImageExtent:error: can convert this XMP-metadata to an array of CIFilter's:

ALAssetRepresentation *rep; 
NSString *xmpString = rep.metadata[@"AdjustmentXMP"];
NSData *xmpData = [xmpString dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

CIImage *image = [CIImage imageWithCGImage:rep.fullResolutionImage];

NSError *error = nil;
NSArray *filterArray = [CIFilter filterArrayFromSerializedXMP:xmpData 
                                             inputImageExtent:image.extent 
                                                        error:&error];
if (error) {
     NSLog(@"Error during CIFilter creation: %@", [error localizedDescription]);
}

CIContext *context = [CIContext contextWithOptions:nil];

for (CIFilter *filter in filterArray) {
     [filter setValue:image forKey:kCIInputImageKey];
     image = [filter outputImage];
}

However, this works only for some filters (cropping, auto-enhance) but not for others like red-eye removal. In these cases, the CIFilters have no visible effect. Therefore, my questions:

• Is anyone aware of a way to create red-eye removal CIFilter? (In a way consistent with the Photos.app. The filter with the key kCIImageAutoAdjustRedEye is not enough. E.g., it does not take parameters for the position of the eyes.)
• Is there a possibility to generate and apply these filters under iOS 5?

Answer 1

ALAssetRepresentation* representation = [[self assetAtIndex:index] defaultRepresentation];

// Create a buffer to hold the data for the asset's image
uint8_t *buffer = (Byte*)malloc(representation.size); // Copy the data from the asset into the buffer
NSUInteger length = [representation getBytes:buffer fromOffset: 0.0  length:representation.size error:nil];

if (length==0)
    return nil;

// Convert the buffer into a NSData object, and free the buffer after.

NSData *adata = [[NSData alloc] initWithBytesNoCopy:buffer length:representation.size freeWhenDone:YES];

// Set up a dictionary with a UTI hint. The UTI hint identifies the type
// of image we are dealing with (that is, a jpeg, png, or a possible
// RAW file).

// Specify the source hint.

NSDictionary* sourceOptionsDict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:

(id)[representation UTI], kCGImageSourceTypeIdentifierHint, nil];

// Create a CGImageSource with the NSData. A image source can
// contain x number of thumbnails and full images.

CGImageSourceRef sourceRef = CGImageSourceCreateWithData((CFDataRef) adata,  (CFDictionaryRef) sourceOptionsDict);

[adata release];

CFDictionaryRef imagePropertiesDictionary;

// Get a copy of the image properties from the CGImageSourceRef.

imagePropertiesDictionary = CGImageSourceCopyPropertiesAtIndex(sourceRef,0, NULL);

CFNumberRef imageWidth = (CFNumberRef)CFDictionaryGetValue(imagePropertiesDictionary, kCGImagePropertyPixelWidth);

CFNumberRef imageHeight = (CFNumberRef)CFDictionaryGetValue(imagePropertiesDictionary, kCGImagePropertyPixelHeight);

int w = 0;

int h = 0;

CFNumberGetValue(imageWidth, kCFNumberIntType, &w);

CFNumberGetValue(imageHeight, kCFNumberIntType, &h);

// Clean up memory

CFRelease(imagePropertiesDictionary);