[ios] How to animate the change of image in an UIImageView?

I have an UIImageView with an image. Now I have a completely new image (graphic file), and want to display that in this UIImageView. If I just set

myImageView.image = newImage;

the new image is visible immediately. Not animatable.

I want it to nicely fade into the new image. I thought maybe there's a better solution than just creating a new UIImageView on top of that and blending with animation?

Swift 5 extension:

extension UIImageView{
    func setImage(_ image: UIImage?, animated: Bool = true) {
        let duration = animated ? 0.3 : 0.0
        UIView.transition(with: self, duration: duration, options: .transitionCrossDissolve, animations: {
            self.image = image
        }, completion: nil)
    }
}
 

There are a few different approaches here: UIAnimations to my recollection it sounds like your challenge.

Edit: too lazy of me:)

In the post, I was referring to this method:

[newView setFrame:CGRectMake( 0.0f, 480.0f, 320.0f, 480.0f)]; //notice this is OFF screen!
[UIView beginAnimations:@"animateTableView" context:nil];
[UIView setAnimationDuration:0.4];
[newView setFrame:CGRectMake( 0.0f, 0.0f, 320.0f, 480.0f)]; //notice this is ON screen!
[UIView commitAnimations];

But instead of animation the frame, you animate the alpha:

[newView setAlpha:0.0]; // set it to zero so it is all gone.
[UIView beginAnimations:@"animateTableView" context:nil];
[UIView setAnimationDuration:0.4];
[newView setAlpha:0.5]; //this will change the newView alpha from its previous zero value to 0.5f
[UIView commitAnimations];

Try this:

_imageView.image = image;
[_imageView.layer addAnimation:[CATransition animation] forKey:kCATransition];

Vladimir's answer is perfect, but anyone like me who is looking for swift solution

This Solution is Worked for swift version 4.2

var i = 0
    func animation(){
        let name = (i % 2 == 0) ? "1.png" : "2.png"
        myImageView.image = UIImage.init(named: name)
        let transition: CATransition = CATransition.init()
        transition.duration = 1.0
        transition.timingFunction = CAMediaTimingFunction.init(name: .easeInEaseOut)
        transition.type = .fade
        myImageView.layer.add(transition, forKey: nil)
        i += 1
    }

You can call this method from anywhere. It will change the image to next one(image) with animation.

For Swift Version 4.0 Use bellow solution

var i = 0
    func animationVersion4(){
        let name = (i % 2 == 0) ? "1.png" : "2.png"
        uiImage.image = UIImage.init(named: name)
        let transition: CATransition = CATransition.init()
        transition.duration = 1.0
        transition.timingFunction = CAMediaTimingFunction.init(name: kCAMediaTimingFunctionEaseInEaseOut)
        transition.type = kCATransitionFade
        uiImage.layer.add(transition, forKey: nil)
        i += 1
    }

[UIView transitionWithView:textFieldimageView
                  duration:0.2f
                   options:UIViewAnimationOptionTransitionCrossDissolve
                animations:^{
                    imageView.image = newImage;
                } completion:nil];

is another possibility

In the words of Michael Scott, keep it simple stupid. Here is a simple way to do this in Swift 3 and Swift 4:

UIView.transition(with: imageView,
                  duration: 0.75,
                  options: .transitionCrossDissolve,
                  animations: { self.imageView.image = toImage },
                  completion: nil)

Why not try this.

NSArray *animationFrames = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:
  [UIImage imageWithName:@"image1.png"],
  [UIImage imageWithName:@"image2.png"], 
  nil];

UIImageView *animatedImageView = [[UIImageView alloc] init];
animatedImageView.animationImages = animationsFrame;
[animatedImageView setAnimationRepeatCount:1];
[animatedImageView startAnimating];

A swift version:

let animationsFrames = [UIImage(named: "image1.png"), UIImage(named: "image2.png")]
let animatedImageView = UIImageView()
animatedImageView.animationImages = animationsFrames
animatedImageView.animationRepeatCount = 1
animatedImageView.startAnimating()

Here is one example in Swift that will first cross dissolve a new image and then add a bouncy animation:

var selected: Bool {
  willSet(selected) {
    let expandTransform:CGAffineTransform = CGAffineTransformMakeScale(1.15, 1.15);
    if (!self.selected && selected) {
      UIView.transitionWithView(self.imageView,
        duration:0.1,
        options: UIViewAnimationOptions.TransitionCrossDissolve,
        animations: {
          self.imageView.image = SNStockCellSelectionAccessoryViewImage(selected)
          self.imageView.transform = expandTransform
        },
        completion: {(finished: Bool) in
          UIView.animateWithDuration(0.4,
            delay:0.0,
            usingSpringWithDamping:0.40,
            initialSpringVelocity:0.2,
            options:UIViewAnimationOptions.CurveEaseOut,
            animations: {
              self.imageView.transform = CGAffineTransformInvert(expandTransform)
            }, completion:nil)
      })
    }
  }
}

var imageView:UIImageView

If imageView is correctly added to the view as a subview, toggling between selected = false to selected = true should swap the image with a bouncy animation. SNStockCellSelectionAccessoryViewImage just returns a different image based on the current selection state, see below:

private let SNStockCellSelectionAccessoryViewPlusIconSelected:UIImage = UIImage(named:"PlusIconSelected")!
private let SNStockCellSelectionAccessoryViewPlusIcon:UIImage = UIImage(named:"PlusIcon")!

private func SNStockCellSelectionAccessoryViewImage(selected:Bool) -> UIImage {
  return selected ? SNStockCellSelectionAccessoryViewPlusIconSelected : SNStockCellSelectionAccessoryViewPlusIcon
}

The GIF example below is a bit slowed down, the actual animation happens faster:

As of iOS 5 this one is far more easy:

[newView setAlpha:0.0];
[UIView animateWithDuration:0.4 animations:^{
    [newView setAlpha:0.5];
}];

With Swift 3

extension UIImageView{   
 var imageWithFade:UIImage?{
        get{
            return self.image
        }
        set{
            UIView.transition(with: self,
                              duration: 0.5, options: .transitionCrossDissolve, animations: {
                                self.image = newValue
            }, completion: nil)
        }
    }
}

Usage:

myImageView.imageWithFade = myImage

Code:

var fadeAnim:CABasicAnimation = CABasicAnimation(keyPath: "contents");

fadeAnim.fromValue = firstImage;
fadeAnim.toValue   = secondImage;
fadeAnim.duration  = 0.8;         //smoothest value

imageView.layer.addAnimation(fadeAnim, forKey: "contents");

imageView.image = secondImage;

Example:

Fun, More Verbose Solution: (Toggling on a tap)

    let fadeAnim:CABasicAnimation = CABasicAnimation(keyPath: "contents");

    switch imageView.image {
        case firstImage?:
            fadeAnim.fromValue = firstImage;
            fadeAnim.toValue   = secondImage;
            imageView.image    = secondImage;
        default:
            fadeAnim.fromValue = secondImage;
            fadeAnim.toValue   = firstImage;
            imageView.image    = firstImage;
    }

    fadeAnim.duration = 0.8;

    imageView.layer.addAnimation(fadeAnim, forKey: "contents");

Swift 5:

When deal with collectionView. Reloading only 1 item or several items with animation. I try some different animation options when changing cell image, no difference, so I don't indicate animation name here.

UIView.animate(withDuration: 1.0) { [weak self] in
                guard let self = self else { return print("gotchya!") }
                self.collectionView.reloadItems(at: [indexPath])
            }

CABasicAnimation* fadeAnim = [CABasicAnimation animationWithKeyPath:@"contents"];
fadeAnim.fromValue = (__bridge id)imageView.image.CGImage;
fadeAnim.toValue = (__bridge id)[UIImage imageNamed:@"newImage.png"].CGImage;
fadeAnim.duration = 2.0;
[imageView.layer addAnimation:fadeAnim forKey:@"contents"];
imageView.layer.contents = (__bridge id)[UIImage imageNamed:@"newImage.png"].CGImage;

Swift 4 This is just awesome

  self.imgViewPreview.transform = CGAffineTransform(scaleX: 0, y: 0)
          UIView.animate(withDuration: 1, delay: 0, usingSpringWithDamping: 0.3, initialSpringVelocity: 0, options: .curveEaseOut, animations: {
              self.imgViewPreview.image = newImage
              self.imgViewPreview.transform = .identity
          }, completion: nil)