CGImage from byte array

Question

Loading a CGImage or NSImage from a file using a standard image format (jpeg, gif, png et.) is all very simple.

However, I now need to create a CGImage from an array in bytes in memory generated using libfreetype. Its really easy to create OpenGL textures from an array of formatted bytes, and I can see how to create a CGBitmapContext to write to. But I can't seem to find an easy way to create a CGImage from a raw pixel array.

Answer 1

Using CFData can make the above code simpler. Here is the code.

// raw pixel data memory of 64 * 64 pixel size

UInt8 pixelData[64 * 64 * 3];

// fill the raw pixel buffer with arbitrary gray color for test

for(size_t ui = 0; ui < 64 * 64 * 3; ui++)
  pixelData[ui] = 210;

CGColorSpaceRef colorspace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();

CFDataRef rgbData = CFDataCreate(NULL, pixelData, 64 * 64 * 3);

CGDataProviderRef provider = CGDataProviderCreateWithCFData(rgbData);

CGImageRef rgbImageRef = CGImageCreate(64, 64, 8, 24, 64 * 3, colorspace, kCGBitmapByteOrderDefault, provider, NULL, true, kCGRenderingIntentDefault); 

CFRelease(rgbData);

CGDataProviderRelease(provider);

CGColorSpaceRelease(colorspace);

// use the created CGImage

CGImageRelease(rgbImageRef);