Using iOS CIFilter, I am trying to recreate the glitch effect from Photoshop shown in this video:

Here's the original image:

At the start of the video, the person firstly desaturates the image to make it grayscale. Then creates a copy of that layer. Then disables the Red channel on that layer. Then shifts it slightly to the left to get this look at 55 second mark:

This should be doable easily with CIFilter. I did the below:

if let image = UIImage(named: "demo13"), let editted = applyGlitchEffect(to: image) {
    imageView.image = editted
}

func applyGlitchEffect(to image: UIImage) -> UIImage? {
    guard let ciImage = CIImage(image: image) else { return nil }
    let context = CIContext(options: nil)
    
    
    let grayscaleFilter = CIFilter(name: "CIColorControls", parameters: [
        kCIInputImageKey: ciImage,
        kCIInputSaturationKey: 0.0
    ])
    
    let noRedChannel = CIFilter(name: "CIColorMatrix", parameters: [
        kCIInputImageKey: grayscaleFilter?.outputImage as Any,
        "inputRVector": CIVector(x: 0, y: 0, z: 0, w: 0)
    ])
    
    let shifted = noRedChannel?.outputImage?.transformed(by: CGAffineTransform(translationX: -20, y: 0))
    
    let blended = CIFilter(name: "CIScreenBlendMode")
    blended?.setValue(shifted, forKey: kCIInputImageKey)
    blended?.setValue(grayscaleFilter?.outputImage as Any, forKey: kCIInputBackgroundImageKey)
    
    
    if let finalOutput = blended?.outputImage, let cgImage = context.createCGImage(finalOutput, from: ciImage.extent) {
        return UIImage(cgImage: cgImage)
    }
    
    return nil
}

This gives me the below result:

As you can see, my result is similar to the one in the video at 55 second mark. However, my image has a bluish tint to it for some reason. Whereas the one in the video is grayscale with shifted reds and blacks at the edges.

I suspect I might be using the wrong blend mode or something. I did try a few other blend modes but didn't get similar result.

I looked up what blend mode Photoshop uses and according to this:

.html

the default is "Normal: Edits or paints each pixel to make it the result color. This is the default mode."

How can I recreate it? What am I doing wrong?

Using iOS CIFilter, I am trying to recreate the glitch effect from Photoshop shown in this video:

https://www.youtube/watch?v=1Ibreg9T168

Here's the original image:

At the start of the video, the person firstly desaturates the image to make it grayscale. Then creates a copy of that layer. Then disables the Red channel on that layer. Then shifts it slightly to the left to get this look at 55 second mark:

This should be doable easily with CIFilter. I did the below:

if let image = UIImage(named: "demo13"), let editted = applyGlitchEffect(to: image) {
    imageView.image = editted
}

func applyGlitchEffect(to image: UIImage) -> UIImage? {
    guard let ciImage = CIImage(image: image) else { return nil }
    let context = CIContext(options: nil)
    
    
    let grayscaleFilter = CIFilter(name: "CIColorControls", parameters: [
        kCIInputImageKey: ciImage,
        kCIInputSaturationKey: 0.0
    ])
    
    let noRedChannel = CIFilter(name: "CIColorMatrix", parameters: [
        kCIInputImageKey: grayscaleFilter?.outputImage as Any,
        "inputRVector": CIVector(x: 0, y: 0, z: 0, w: 0)
    ])
    
    let shifted = noRedChannel?.outputImage?.transformed(by: CGAffineTransform(translationX: -20, y: 0))
    
    let blended = CIFilter(name: "CIScreenBlendMode")
    blended?.setValue(shifted, forKey: kCIInputImageKey)
    blended?.setValue(grayscaleFilter?.outputImage as Any, forKey: kCIInputBackgroundImageKey)
    
    
    if let finalOutput = blended?.outputImage, let cgImage = context.createCGImage(finalOutput, from: ciImage.extent) {
        return UIImage(cgImage: cgImage)
    }
    
    return nil
}

This gives me the below result:

As you can see, my result is similar to the one in the video at 55 second mark. However, my image has a bluish tint to it for some reason. Whereas the one in the video is grayscale with shifted reds and blacks at the edges.

I suspect I might be using the wrong blend mode or something. I did try a few other blend modes but didn't get similar result.

I looked up what blend mode Photoshop uses and according to this:

https://helpx.adobe/photoshop/using/blending-modes.html

the default is "Normal: Edits or paints each pixel to make it the result color. This is the default mode."

How can I recreate it? What am I doing wrong?

• ios
• photoshop
• core-image
• blending
• cifilter

2 Answers 2

I think the problem arises because you are essentially adding the green and blue channel twice to your image:

GB (R removed) + original RGB (grayscale)

(+ being your blend mode of choice here.)

So instead of using the grayscale image as background in your blending, try to only use the red channel instead:

let onlyRedChannel = CIFilter(name: "CIColorMatrix", parameters: [
    kCIInputImageKey: grayscaleFilter?.outputImage as Any,
    "inputGVector": CIVector(x: 0, y: 0, z: 0, w: 0),
    "inputBVector": CIVector(x: 0, y: 0, z: 0, w: 0)
])
// ...
blended?.setValue(onlyRedChannel as Any, forKey: kCIInputBackgroundImageKey)

By the way, I highly recommend using the "new" (iOS 13) protocol-based CIFilter interface. You need to import CoreImage.CIFilterBuiltins for that. Then you can create and set up filters like that:

let onlyRedChannel = CIFilter.colorMatrix()
onlyRedChannel.inputImage = grayscaleFilter?.outputImage
onlyRedChannel.gVector = CIVector(x: 0, y: 0, z: 0, w: 0)
onlyRedChannel.bVector = CIVector(x: 0, y: 0, z: 0, w: 0)

You can switch from CIScreenBlendMode to CIMultiplyBlendMode. This will produce a more natural darkening effect and might help with the bluish tint.

func applyGlitchEffect(to image: UIImage) -> UIImage? {
    guard let ciImage = CIImage(image: image) else { return nil }
    let context = CIContext(options: nil)

    // Grayscale Filter
    let grayscaleFilter = CIFilter(name: "CIColorControls", parameters: [
        kCIInputImageKey: ciImage,
        kCIInputSaturationKey: 0.0
    ])
    
    // Remove Red Channel
    let noRedChannel = CIFilter(name: "CIColorMatrix", parameters: [
        kCIInputImageKey: grayscaleFilter?.outputImage as Any,
        "inputRVector": CIVector(x: 0, y: 0, z: 0, w: 0)
    ])
    
    // Shift Image
    let shifted = noRedChannel?.outputImage?.transformed(by: CGAffineTransform(translationX: -20, y: 0))

    // Blend Mode (Try changing this to a more neutral blend mode if needed)
    let blended = CIFilter(name: "CIMultiplyBlendMode")
    blended?.setValue(shifted, forKey: kCIInputImageKey)
    blended?.setValue(grayscaleFilter?.outputImage as Any, forKey: kCIInputBackgroundImageKey)
    
    // Create Final Image
    if let finalOutput = blended?.outputImage, let cgImage = context.createCGImage(finalOutput, from: ciImage.extent) {
        return UIImage(cgImage: cgImage)
    }

    return nil
}