Recording Video

Overview

This is a guide to displaying a preview of the camera and recording video using the PBJVision library.

Step 1: Installation

a. Create a Podfile in your project directory

platform :ios, '7.0'

pod 'PBJVision'

b. Install the Pods

In the Terminal, type:

pod install

c. Close your Xcode project and open the .xcworkspace file

Step 2: Set up the video preview

a. Create a placeholder view

The easiest way to control where the camera preview is going to appear is to create a view in Interface Builder that is placed and sized where you want the camera view to go.

Create an outlet for the preview view in the @interface area of your view controller.

@interface RecordViewController ()

@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIView *previewView;

@end

b. Add the Camera preview

Import the PBJVision.h header file at the top of the view controller .m file.

#import "PBJVision.h"

In the viewDidLoad method, add the camera preview into the placeholder previewView.

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];

    AVCaptureVideoPreviewLayer *previewLayer = [[PBJVision sharedInstance] previewLayer];
    previewLayer.frame = self.previewView.bounds;
    previewLayer.videoGravity = AVLayerVideoGravityResizeAspectFill;
    [self.previewView.layer addSublayer:previewLayer];
    
    PBJVision *vision = [PBJVision sharedInstance];
    // vision.cameraDevice = PBJCameraDeviceBack;
    vision.cameraDevice = PBJCameraDeviceFront;
    vision.cameraMode = PBJCameraModeVideo;
    vision.cameraOrientation = PBJCameraOrientationPortrait;
    vision.focusMode = PBJFocusModeContinuousAutoFocus;
    vision.outputFormat = PBJOutputFormatSquare;
    vision.videoRenderingEnabled = YES;
    vision.additionalCompressionProperties = @{AVVideoProfileLevelKey : AVVideoProfileLevelH264Baseline30};
    
    [vision startPreview];
}

Step 3: Recording Video

Use the following commands to control the video recording:

[[PBJVision sharedInstance] startVideoCapture];
[[PBJVision sharedInstance] pauseVideoCapture];
[[PBJVision sharedInstance] resumeVideoCapture];
[[PBJVision sharedInstance] endVideoCapture];

Other Tasks

Saving to Camera Roll

Step 1: Import Assets Framework

In the view controller that is recording your video, import the assets framework by including the following line at the top of your .m file.

#import <AssetsLibrary/AssetsLibrary.h>

Step 2: Save the video when recording stops

In order to save the video, we have to know when the recording stops. In the viewDidLoad method, set the view controller as the delegate of the PBJVision instance.

PBJVision *vision = [PBJVision sharedInstance];
vision.delegate = self;

Then, implement the following method:

- (void)vision:(PBJVision *)vision capturedVideo:(NSDictionary *)videoDict error:(NSError *)error
{
    // This is the path of the recorded video which is current in a temp directory on the phone
    NSString *videoPath = [videoDict objectForKey:PBJVisionVideoPathKey];

    // Move the video file from the temp directory to the camera roll
    ALAssetsLibrary *assetLibrary = [[ALAssetsLibrary alloc] init];
    [assetLibrary writeVideoAtPathToSavedPhotosAlbum:[NSURL URLWithString:videoPath] completionBlock:^(NSURL *assetURL, NSError *error1) {
        self.player.videoPath = assetURL.absoluteString;
        
        // Optionally, start playing the video.
        [self.player playFromBeginning];
    }];
}

For more details on how to play the recorded video, check out the Playing Embedded Video guide.