How to generate UIImages in a hexagon "map" view - swift

Question

I'm building an app where I want to display profilePictures of people "near you" in a hexagon beehive style.
The full beehive should be draggable, like google maps for example.
My question is if this is something I can do with just using UIKit, or if it would be easier to use UIKit and SpriteKit together.
I hope someone could point me at the right direction and or have some ideas on how this could be made. Thank you for your time!
Update:
Just to make my question a bit more clear.
This is how my view looks like atm
And this is what I want to achieve
In the first image I´ve just set the X and Y pos of the UIImage center middle.
I want to create some sort of function that can get an array of different profilePics and then put the out in this pattern.

Answer 1

UIKit alone can do the job: you should try to setup a mask with CALayer on a UIImageView for instance.
The draggable behavior thing can be achieved either with a UIScrollView by adding and arranging all your image subviews in it, or with a UICollectionView with a custom flow, but it may be much harder to set up.
For the hexagon views, you'll find here an interesting example you can adapt for your usage: http://sapandiwakar.in/make-hexagonal-view-on-ios/
Here is an adaption of Sapan Diwakar solution in Swift 4.2 and using extensions:
extension UIBezierPath {
convenience init(roundedPolygonPathInRect rect: CGRect, lineWidth: CGFloat, sides: NSInteger, cornerRadius: CGFloat = 0, rotationOffset: CGFloat = 0) {
self.init()
let theta: CGFloat = 2.0 * CGFloat.pi / CGFloat(sides) // How much to turn at every corner
let width = min(rect.size.width, rect.size.height) // Width of the square
let center = CGPoint(x: rect.origin.x + width / 2.0, y: rect.origin.y + width / 2.0)
// Radius of the circle that encircles the polygon
// Notice that the radius is adjusted for the corners, that way the largest outer
// dimension of the resulting shape is always exactly the width - linewidth
let radius = (width - lineWidth + cornerRadius - (cos(theta) * cornerRadius)) / 2.0
// Start drawing at a point, which by default is at the right hand edge
// but can be offset
var angle = CGFloat(rotationOffset)
let corner = CGPoint(x: center.x + (radius - cornerRadius) * cos(angle), y: center.y + (radius - cornerRadius) * sin(angle))
move(to: CGPoint(x: corner.x + cornerRadius * cos(angle + theta), y: corner.y + cornerRadius * sin(angle + theta)))
for _ in 0 ..< sides {
angle += theta
let corner = CGPoint(x: center.x + (radius - cornerRadius) * cos(angle), y: center.y + (radius - cornerRadius) * sin(angle))
let tip = CGPoint(x: center.x + radius * cos(angle), y: center.y + radius * sin(angle))
let start = CGPoint(x: corner.x + cornerRadius * cos(angle - theta), y: corner.y + cornerRadius * sin(angle - theta))
let end = CGPoint(x: corner.x + cornerRadius * cos(angle + theta), y: corner.y + cornerRadius * sin(angle + theta))
addLine(to: start)
addQuadCurve(to: end, controlPoint: tip)
}
close()
}
}
extension UIImageView {
func setupHexagonMask(lineWidth: CGFloat, color: UIColor, cornerRadius: CGFloat) {
let path = UIBezierPath(roundedPolygonPathInRect: bounds, lineWidth: lineWidth, sides: 6, cornerRadius: cornerRadius, rotationOffset: CGFloat.pi / 2.0).cgPath
let mask = CAShapeLayer()
mask.path = path
mask.lineWidth = lineWidth
mask.strokeColor = UIColor.clear.cgColor
mask.fillColor = UIColor.white.cgColor
layer.mask = mask
let border = CAShapeLayer()
border.path = path
border.lineWidth = lineWidth
border.strokeColor = color.cgColor
border.fillColor = UIColor.clear.cgColor
layer.addSublayer(border)
}
}
And then you can just use it like that:
let image = UIImageView(frame: CGRect(x: 30, y: 30, width: 300, height: 300))
image.contentMode = .scaleAspectFill
image.image = UIImage(named: "lenna.png")
image.setupHexagonMask(lineWidth: 5.0, color: .white, cornerRadius: 20.0)
view.addSubview(image)
EDIT: As I told you, the easiest way is to use a UIScrollView to display your map, and with simple math you can display your hexagons the way you want.
Here is a small example you must adapt to match your requirements. For example you should be extra careful with performance. This example should not be used as is, if you have many images, you should load them on the fly and remove them when you don't show them. And you can even think using a background rendering if it takes too much fps...
Assuming view is a UIScrollView:
let hexaDiameter : CGFloat = 150
let hexaWidth = hexaDiameter * sqrt(3) * 0.5
let hexaWidthDelta = (hexaDiameter - hexaWidth) * 0.5
let hexaHeightDelta = hexaDiameter * 0.25
let spacing : CGFloat = 5
let rows = 10
let firstRowColumns = 6
view.contentSize = CGSize(width: spacing + CGFloat(firstRowColumns) * (hexaWidth + spacing),
height: spacing + CGFloat(rows) * (hexaDiameter - hexaHeightDelta + spacing) + hexaHeightDelta)
for y in 0..<rows {
let cellsInRow = y % 2 == 0 ? firstRowColumns : firstRowColumns - 1
let rowXDelta = y % 2 == 0 ? 0.0 : (hexaWidth + spacing) * 0.5
for x in 0..<cellsInRow {
let image = UIImageView(frame: CGRect(x: rowXDelta + CGFloat(x) * (hexaWidth + spacing) + spacing - hexaWidthDelta,
y: CGFloat(y) * (hexaDiameter - hexaHeightDelta + spacing) + spacing,
width: hexaDiameter,
height: hexaDiameter))
image.contentMode = .scaleAspectFill
image.image = UIImage(named: "lenna.png")
image.setupHexagonMask(lineWidth: 5.0, color: .white, cornerRadius: 10.0)
view.addSubview(image)
}
}