Core Animation (eBook)

Core Animation is a new application framework introduced by Apple for the Mac OS X Leopard (v. 10.5) release. Built on a subset of OpenGL and the OpenGL Shading Language, Core Animation makes it possible for Mac developers to create complex animations and graphically-rich UI elements with a minimal amount of code.

Core Animation's APIs leverage the power of the Mac's graphics processing unit (GPU) to run the code, which helps animations run faster and smoother than if just run through the CPU. Core Animation was originally designed for building lightweight, graphically-rich user interfaces for the iPhone and iPod touch. However, once it came out of Apple's secret labs, Layer Kit was quickly adopted by the CoreOS group at Apple and was added to Leopard's suite of APIs for building graphically-rich UIs for desktop Mac applications.

This book shows developers how to leverage Core Animation in their Mac and iPhone applications. Each chapter focuses on a particular section or function of Core Animation and shows you through example how to implement the code. Sample projects are provided with each chapter to further illustrate the points being made, the sample code for which is available as a downloadable DMG so you can tweak the code and add it to your own projects.

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Apple's Core Animation framework enables Mac OS X, iPhone, and iPod touch developers to create richer, more visual applications-more easily than ever and with far less code. Now, there's a comprehensive, example-rich, full-color reference to Core Animation for experienced OS X and iPhone developers who want to make the most of this powerful framework. Marcus Zarra and Matt Long reveal exactly what Core Animation can and can't do, how to use it most effectively-and how to avoid misusing it. Building on your existing knowledge of Objective-C, Cocoa, and Xcode, they present expert techniques, insights, and downloadable code for all aspects of Core Animation programming, from keyframing to movie playback. Zarra and Long thoroughly review similarities and differences between Core Animation on the Mac and iPhone, helping you write code that can easily move between platforms. They also present a full chapter of innovative techniques and proven "e;rules of thumb"e; for optimizing Core Animation's real-world performance. Coverage includes: Taking full advantage of Core Animation's lightweight layers and views Using keyframes to gain complete control over your animations Creating startling effects with Core Animation transforms Leveraging Core Image's powerful filtering capabilities from within Core Animation Playing QuickTime movies using Core Animation's QTMovieLayer Using the OpenGL layer to achieve greater control over movie playback Integrating advanced Quartz Composer visualizations into your user interfaces How to use helper layers to draw gradients, composite shapes, and replicate sublayers Adding mouse and keyboard user interaction points, and much more...