NextLevel
is a Swift camera system designed for easy integration, customized media capture, and image streaming in iOS. Integration can optionally leverage AVFoundation
or ARKit
.
Features | |
---|---|
π¬ | βVine-likeβ video clip recording and editing |
πΌ | photo capture (raw, jpeg, and video frame) |
π | customizable gestural interaction and interface |
π | ARKit integration (beta) |
π· | dual, wide angle, telephoto, & true depth support |
π’ | adjustable frame rate on supported hardware (ie fast/slow motion capture) |
π’ | depth data capture support & portrait effects matte support |
π | video zoom |
β | white balance, focus, and exposure adjustment |
π¦ | flash and torch support |
π― | mirroring support |
β | low light boost |
πΆ | smooth auto-focus |
β | configurable encoding and compression settings |
π | simple media capture and editing API |
π | extensible API for image processing and CV |
π | animated GIF creator |
π | face recognition; qr- and bar-codes recognition |
π¦ | Swift 5 |
Need a different version of Swift?
5.0
- Target your Podfile to the latest release or master4.2
- Target your Podfile to theswift4.2
branch
Quick Start
# CocoaPods
pod "NextLevel", "~> 0.16.3"
# Carthage
github "nextlevel/NextLevel" ~> 0.16.3
# Swift PM
let package = Package(
dependencies: [
.Package(url: "https://github.com/nextlevel/NextLevel", majorVersion: 0)
]
)
Alternatively, drop the NextLevel source files or project file into your Xcode project.
Important Configuration Note for ARKit and True Depth
ARKit and the True Depth Camera software features are enabled with the inclusion of the Swift compiler flag USE_ARKIT
and USE_TRUE_DEPTH
respectively.
Apple will reject apps that link against ARKit or the True Depth Camera API and do not use them.
If you use Cocoapods, you can include -D USE_ARKIT
or -D USE_TRUE_DEPTH
with the following Podfile
addition or by adding it to your Xcode build settings.
installer.pods_project.targets.each do |target|
# setup NextLevel for ARKit use
if target.name == 'NextLevel'
target.build_configurations.each do |config|
config.build_settings['OTHER_SWIFT_FLAGS'] = ['$(inherited)', '-DUSE_ARKIT']
end
end
end
Overview
Before starting, ensure that permission keys have been added to your app's Info.plist
.
<key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
<string>Allowing access to the camera lets you take photos and videos.</string>
<key>NSMicrophoneUsageDescription</key>
<string>Allowing access to the microphone lets you record audio.</string>
Recording Video Clips
Import the library.
import NextLevel
Setup the camera preview.
let screenBounds = UIScreen.main.bounds
self.previewView = UIView(frame: screenBounds)
if let previewView = self.previewView {
previewView.autoresizingMask = [.flexibleWidth, .flexibleHeight]
previewView.backgroundColor = UIColor.black
NextLevel.shared.previewLayer.frame = previewView.bounds
previewView.layer.addSublayer(NextLevel.shared.previewLayer)
self.view.addSubview(previewView)
}
Configure the capture session.
override func viewDidLoad() {
NextLevel.shared.delegate = self
NextLevel.shared.deviceDelegate = self
NextLevel.shared.videoDelegate = self
NextLevel.shared.photoDelegate = self
// modify .videoConfiguration, .audioConfiguration, .photoConfiguration properties
// Compression, resolution, and maximum recording time options are available
NextLevel.shared.videoConfiguration.maximumCaptureDuration = CMTimeMakeWithSeconds(5, 600)
NextLevel.shared.audioConfiguration.bitRate = 44000
}
Start/stop the session when appropriate. These methods create a new "session" instance for 'NextLevel.shared.session' when called.
override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewWillAppear(animated)
NextLevel.shared.start()
// β¦
}
override func viewWillDisappear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewWillDisappear(animated)
NextLevel.shared.stop()
// β¦
}
Video record/pause.
// record
NextLevel.shared.record()
// pause
NextLevel.shared.pause()
Editing Recorded Clips
Editing and finalizing the recorded session.
if let session = NextLevel.shared.session {
//..
// undo
session.removeLastClip()
// various editing operations can be done using the NextLevelSession methods
// export
session.mergeClips(usingPreset: AVAssetExportPresetHighestQuality, completionHandler: { (url: URL?, error: Error?) in
if let _ = url {
//
} else if let _ = error {
//
}
})
//..
}
Videos can also be processed using the NextLevelSessionExporter, a media transcoding library in Swift.
Custom Buffer Rendering
βNextLevelβ was designed for sample buffer analysis and custom modification in real-time along side a rich set of camera features.
Just to note, modifications performed on a buffer and provided back to NextLevel may potentially effect frame rate.
Enable custom rendering.
NextLevel.shared.isVideoCustomContextRenderingEnabled = true
Optional hook that allows reading sampleBuffer
for analysis.
extension CameraViewController: NextLevelVideoDelegate {
// ...
// video frame processing
public func nextLevel(_ nextLevel: NextLevel, willProcessRawVideoSampleBuffer sampleBuffer: CMSampleBuffer) {
// Use the sampleBuffer parameter in your system for continual analysis
}
Another optional hook for reading buffers for modification, imageBuffer
. This is also the recommended place to provide the buffer back to NextLevel for recording.
extension CameraViewController: NextLevelVideoDelegate {
// ...
// enabled by isCustomContextVideoRenderingEnabled
public func nextLevel(_ nextLevel: NextLevel, renderToCustomContextWithImageBuffer imageBuffer: CVPixelBuffer, onQueue queue: DispatchQueue) {
// provide the frame back to NextLevel for recording
if let frame = self._availableFrameBuffer {
nextLevel.videoCustomContextImageBuffer = frame
}
}
NextLevel will check this property when writing buffers to a destination file. This works for both video and photos with capturePhotoFromVideo
.
nextLevel.videoCustomContextImageBuffer = modifiedFrame
About
NextLevel was initally a weekend project that has now grown into a open community of camera platform enthusists. The software provides foundational components for managing media recording, camera interface customization, gestural interaction customization, and image streaming on iOS. The same capabilities can also be found in apps such as Snapchat, Instagram, and Vine.
The goal is to continue to provide a good foundation for quick integration (enabling projects to be taken to the next level) β allowing focus to placed on functionality that matters most whether it's realtime image processing, computer vision methods, augmented reality, or computational photography.
ARKit
NextLevel provides components for capturing ARKit video and photo. This enables a variety of new camera features while leveraging the existing recording capabilities and media management of NextLevel.
If you are trying to capture frames from SceneKit for ARKit recording, check out the examples project.
Documentation
You can find the docs here. Documentation is generated with jazzy and hosted on GitHub-Pages.
Stickers
If you found this project to be helpful, check out the Next Level stickers.
Project
NextLevel is a community β contributions and discussions are welcome!
- Feature idea? Open an issue.
- Found a bug? Open an issue.
- Need help? Use Stack Overflow with the tag βnextlevelβ.
- Questions? Use Stack Overflow with the tag 'nextlevel'.
- Want to contribute? Submit a pull request.
Related Projects
- Player (Swift), video player in Swift
- PBJVideoPlayer (obj-c), video player in obj-c
- NextLevelSessionExporter, media transcoding in Swift
- GPUImage3, image processing library
- SCRecorder, obj-c capture library
- PBJVision, obj-c capture library
Resources
- iOS Device Camera Summary
- AV Foundation Programming Guide
- AV Foundation Framework Reference
- ARKit Framework Reference
- Swift Evolution
- objc.io Camera and Photos
- objc.io Video
- objc.io Core Image and Video
- Cameras, ecommerce and machine learning
- Again, iPhone is the default camera
License
NextLevel is available under the MIT license, see the LICENSE file for more information.