Getting better at drawing in code for Cocoa?

Question

Hi,

What are some suggested "paths" for getting better at drawing in code in Cocoa? I think at this point, that's my biggest weakness. Is drawing in code something general, or Cocoa-specific?

Thanks! - Jason

Answer 1

The best way is probably practice. Try drawing some simple things at first: a calendar (basically a grid), a custom button, or a digital clock.

Its also worth noting that a lot of 'custom' controls are made from images, so not that much of the drawing is done in code -- the only thing the code does is stitch those images together.

Answer 2

Drawing in code is need for creating custom controls no matter what UI toolkit you pick. Drawing in code certainly has its advantage, for example the application/framework that you are building is really lightweight come production time, cause there will be lot let resources(images/fonts/etc) to worry about.

Also if a problem arises changing drawing in code is a lot easier than to redo code and images together.

If you are doing Cocoa drawing start by looking at source code of BGHudAppKit and reading Cocoa Drawing Guide by Apple.

Answer 3

You might want to look at Opacity, a drawing app for OS X (I'm not affiliated with these folks, just discovered the app a few days ago). What sets Opacity apart from other drawing apps is that it can create Quartz code directly from your drawings. Naturally, the generated code is not perfect but in the few days I've been trying this app I've found it to be quite helpful in understanding how to use Quartz more effectively.

Answer 4

I'm in the same boat as you; I'd like to learn more about drawing code.

It's a big document, but the Quartz 2D programming guide on the developer website seems like a good place to start from. They introduce Graphics Contexts and Paths and include plenty of images.

There's also a book referenced in that document, Programming With Quartz: 2D and PDF Graphics in Mac OS X which looks good. The APIs for iPhone and OSX are almost identical, so there's no problem using a Mac OSX book.

So I'd suggest start with the Apple documentation (you don't need to read past the section on CGLayer drawing), try some sample code and figure out how it's working. Then move on to either that book or find more sample code on the web. Good luck!