How do I create a new image by drawing on top of an existing one using Quartz?

Answer 1

Take a look at Overview of Quartz 2D for information on using Quartz 2D on iPhone.

Answer 2

These are the steps:

1. Create a CGBitmapContext matching the image's colorspace and dimensions.
2. Draw the image into that context.
3. Draw whatever you want on top of the image.
4. Create a new image from the context.
5. Dispose off the context.

Here's a method that takes an image, draws something on top of it and returns a new UIImage with modified contents:

- (UIImage*)modifiedImageWithImage:(UIImage*)uiImage
{
    // build context to draw in
    CGImageRef image = uiImage.CGImage;
    CGColorSpaceRef colorspace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
    CGContextRef ctx = CGBitmapContextCreate(NULL,
                                             CGImageGetWidth(image), CGImageGetHeight(image),
                                             8, CGImageGetWidth(image) * 4,
                                             colorspace, kCGImageAlphaPremultipliedLast);
    CGColorSpaceRelease(colorspace);

    // draw original image
    CGRect r = CGRectMake(0, 0, CGImageGetWidth(image), CGImageGetHeight(image));
    CGContextSetBlendMode(ctx, kCGBlendModeCopy);
    CGContextDrawImage(ctx, r, image);
    CGContextSetBlendMode(ctx, kCGBlendModeNormal);

    // draw something
    CGContextAddEllipseInRect(ctx, CGRectInset(r, 10, 10));
    CGContextSetRGBStrokeColor(ctx, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.5f);
    CGContextSetLineWidth(ctx, 16.0f);
    CGContextDrawPath(ctx, kCGPathStroke);

    CGContextAddEllipseInRect(ctx, CGRectInset(r, 10, 10));
    CGContextSetRGBStrokeColor(ctx, 0.7f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f);
    CGContextSetLineWidth(ctx, 4.0f);
    CGContextDrawPath(ctx, kCGPathStroke);

    // create resulting image
    image = CGBitmapContextCreateImage(ctx);
    UIImage* newImage = [[[UIImage alloc] initWithCGImage:image] autorelease];
    CGImageRelease(image);
    CGContextRelease(ctx);

    return newImage;
}

To restore to old image, just keep a reference to it.

The cropping thing is not related to the above and you should create a new question for that.