Fading CCLayerColor does not work

Question

I would like to fade a CCLayerColor, which seems to be pretty straightforward, but it just does not work ... Here is what I do :

LoadingScreen.h

@interface LoadingScreen : CCLayerColor{

}

-(id)init;
-(void)setOpacity:(GLubyte)opacity;

@end

LoadingScreen.m

@implementation LoadingScreen

-(id)init{
    if ((self=[super initWithColor:ccc4(66 , 66, 66, 255)])){

        self.isTouchEnabled = NO;

    }
    return self;

}

-(void)setOpacity:(GLubyte)opacity{

    for( CCNode *node in [self children] )
    {
        if( [node conformsToProtocol:@protocol(CCRGBAProtocol)] )
        {
            NSLog(@"conforms to protocol!");
            [(id<CCRGBAProtocol>) node setOpacity: opacity];
        }
    }
}



@end

GameLayer.m

-(id)init{
timer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:0.001 target:self selector:@selector(checkIfLoaded) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];
}


-(void)checkIfLoaded{
    NSLog(@"still doing stuff");
    if(doneInitializing ==YES){
        NSLog(@"done");
        [timer invalidate];
        NSLog(@"FADE NOW !!!!");
        id fade = [CCFadeOut actionWithDuration:2.5];
        [loadingLayer runAction:fade];
        [self performSelector:@selector(removeLoadingLayer) withObject:nil afterDelay:3.5];

    }

    if(loadingScreenPushed == NO && doneInitializing == NO){
        NSLog(@"adding Layer");
        loadingScreenPushed = YES;
        loadingLayer = [LoadingScreen node];
        [self addChild:loadingLayer z:10];

    }



}

Answer 1

As far as I remember, fade actions calculates on each tick new opacity according to the current opacity value. You replace standard CCLayerColor setOpacity method with new one. Try to add

[super setOpacity: opacity]; 

to your setOpacity: method.

Answer 2

ok...a few things:

1: why make a different class called LoadingScreen ...it seems a bit redundant, what it's best is this: declare a variable type CCColorLayer in GameLayer and that's it and just initialize it with.. loadingScreen=[CCColorLayer layerWithColor...etc]..it's better for optimization, and it's autoreleased.

2nd: replace

id fade = [CCFadeOut actionWithDuration:2.5];
[loadingLayer runAction:fade];

with: [loadingLayer runAction:[CCFadeOut actionWithDuration:2.5]]; (it's faster)

3rd: try this:

if(loadingScreenPushed == NO && doneInitializing == NO){
//stuff
}else if(doneInitializing ==YES){
//stuff
}

What i think you're doing there is checking if layer is added on the screen and the remove it...but you can't have the layer on the screen..because you add it much later...so yea..invert those and everything should work.

Answer 3

I've done a bit of research of my own on this for the same reason that the_critic asked the question in the first place and the results I get are surprising to say the least. I'm building for iPad iOS 8.4: 1) It seems that 'super setOpacity' on a subclass of a subclass of CALayer does NOT work! (I've attacked this from every direction imaginable). 2) GETting the opacity value of a subclass of a subclass of CALayer DOES return the correct value when the setOpacity call failed.

i.e:

@interface IntermediateLayerType : CALayer.....
@interface FinalLayerType : IntermediateLayerType....

In some method of FinalLayerType...

[self setOpacity:1.0f];
[super setOpacity:0.0f];
NSLog(@"The opacity set was: %f", [self opacity]);

Yields the answer: "The opacity set was: 1.0" I think you've hit the same bug! My workaround was as follows:

In the same 'some method'....

CALayer *myBaseInstance = (CALayer *)self;

[myBaseInstance setOpacity:0.0f];

This worked for me after it had cost me a day and a half of lost development time. I hope this helps other iPad dev people. VV.