Changing my CALayer's anchorPoint moves the view

Question

I want to alter the anchorPoint, but keep the view in the same place. I've tried NSLog-ing self.layer.position and self.center and they both stay the same regardless of changes to the anchorPoint. Yet my view moves!

Any tips on how to do this?

self.layer.anchorPoint = CGPointMake(0.5, 0.5);
NSLog(@"center point: %f %f", self.layer.position.x, self.layer.position.y);
self.layer.anchorPoint = CGPointMake(1, 1);
NSLog(@"center point: %f %f", self.layer.position.x, self.layer.position.y);

The output is:

2009-12-27 20:43:24.161 Type[11289:207] center point: 272.500000 242.500000
2009-12-27 20:43:24.162 Type[11289:207] center point: 272.500000 242.500000

Answer 1

I had the same problem. Brad Larson's solution worked great even when the view is rotated. Here is his solution translated into code.

-(void)setAnchorPoint:(CGPoint)anchorPoint forView:(UIView *)view
{
    CGPoint newPoint = CGPointMake(view.bounds.size.width * anchorPoint.x, 
                                   view.bounds.size.height * anchorPoint.y);
    CGPoint oldPoint = CGPointMake(view.bounds.size.width * view.layer.anchorPoint.x, 
                                   view.bounds.size.height * view.layer.anchorPoint.y);

    newPoint = CGPointApplyAffineTransform(newPoint, view.transform);
    oldPoint = CGPointApplyAffineTransform(oldPoint, view.transform);

    CGPoint position = view.layer.position;

    position.x -= oldPoint.x;
    position.x += newPoint.x;

    position.y -= oldPoint.y;
    position.y += newPoint.y;

    view.layer.position = position;
    view.layer.anchorPoint = anchorPoint;
}

And the swift equivalent:

func setAnchorPoint(anchorPoint: CGPoint, forView view: UIView) {
    var newPoint = CGPointMake(view.bounds.size.width * anchorPoint.x, view.bounds.size.height * anchorPoint.y)
    var oldPoint = CGPointMake(view.bounds.size.width * view.layer.anchorPoint.x, view.bounds.size.height * view.layer.anchorPoint.y)

    newPoint = CGPointApplyAffineTransform(newPoint, view.transform)
    oldPoint = CGPointApplyAffineTransform(oldPoint, view.transform)

    var position = view.layer.position
    position.x -= oldPoint.x
    position.x += newPoint.x

    position.y -= oldPoint.y
    position.y += newPoint.y

    view.layer.position = position
    view.layer.anchorPoint = anchorPoint
}

SWIFT 4.x

func setAnchorPoint(anchorPoint: CGPoint, forView view: UIView) {
    var newPoint = CGPoint(x: view.bounds.size.width * anchorPoint.x,
                           y: view.bounds.size.height * anchorPoint.y)


    var oldPoint = CGPoint(x: view.bounds.size.width * view.layer.anchorPoint.x,
                           y: view.bounds.size.height * view.layer.anchorPoint.y)

    newPoint = newPoint.applying(view.transform)
    oldPoint = oldPoint.applying(view.transform)

    var position = view.layer.position
    position.x -= oldPoint.x
    position.x += newPoint.x

    position.y -= oldPoint.y
    position.y += newPoint.y

    view.layer.position = position
    view.layer.anchorPoint = anchorPoint
}