Instance Property

filters

An array of Core Image filters to apply to the contents of the layer and its sublayers. Animatable.

Declaration

var filters: [Any]? { get set }

Discussion

The filters you add to this property affect the content of the layer, including its border, filled background and sublayers. The default value of this property is nil.

Changing the inputs of the CIFilter object directly after it is attached to the layer causes undefined behavior. It is possible to modify filter parameters after attaching them to the layer but you must use the layer’s setValue(_:forKeyPath:) method to do so. In addition, you must assign a name to the filter so that you can identify it in the array. For example, to change the inputRadius parameter of the filter, you could use code similar to the following:

let layer = CALayer()
         
if let filter = CIFilter(name:"CIGaussianBlur") {
    filter.name = "myFilter"
    layer.backgroundFilters = [filter]
    layer.setValue(1,
                   forKeyPath: "backgroundFilters.myFilter.inputRadius")
}

Listing 2 shows how to create a text layer and apply a CIPointillize filter to it.

Listing 2

Applying a pointillize filter to a text layer

view.layer = CALayer()
view.layerUsesCoreImageFilters = true
   
let textLayer = CATextLayer()
textLayer.string = "Core Animation"
textLayer.foregroundColor = NSColor.blue.cgColor
textLayer.backgroundColor = NSColor.lightGray.cgColor
textLayer.alignmentMode = kCAAlignmentCenter
textLayer.fontSize = 100
textLayer.frame = CGRect(x: 10, y: 10, width: 700, height: 140)
    
if let filter = CIFilter(name: "CIPointillize",
                         withInputParameters: ["inputRadius": 6]) {
    textLayer.filters = [filter]
}
   
view.layer?.addSublayer(textLayer)

Figure 1 shows the result: a pointillist effect is added to the text.

**Figure 1**
Text layer with applied filter

Special Considerations

This property is not supported on layers in iOS.

filters

Declaration

Discussion

Special Considerations

See Also

Layer Filters