# Render pass configuration Set a render pass’s pipeline state, attachment actions, viewports, and so on, that affect subsequent drawing commands. ## Discussion These methods encode commands that configure the render pass for all subsequent drawing commands. The most important configuration is the pipeline state (see [`MTLRenderPipelineState`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderPipelineState)), which you configure by calling the [`setRenderPipelineState(_:)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setRenderPipelineState(_:)) method. ## Topics ### Configuring pipeline state [`func setRenderPipelineState(any MTLRenderPipelineState)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setRenderPipelineState(_:)) Configures the encoder with a render or tile pipeline state that applies to your subsequent draw commands. ### Configuring the actions for attachments [`func setColorStoreAction(MTLStoreAction, index: Int)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setColorStoreAction(_:index:)) Configures the store action for a color attachment. [`func setColorStoreActionOptions(MTLStoreActionOptions, index: Int)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setColorStoreActionOptions(_:index:)) Configures the store action options for a color attachment. [`func setDepthStoreAction(MTLStoreAction)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setDepthStoreAction(_:)) Configures the store action for the depth attachment. [`func setDepthStoreActionOptions(MTLStoreActionOptions)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setDepthStoreActionOptions(_:)) Configures the store action options for the depth attachment. [`func setStencilStoreAction(MTLStoreAction)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setStencilStoreAction(_:)) Configures the store action for the stencil attachment. [`func setStencilStoreActionOptions(MTLStoreActionOptions)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setStencilStoreActionOptions(_:)) Configures the store action options for the stencil attachment. ### Configuring blend behavior [`func setBlendColor(red: Float, green: Float, blue: Float, alpha: Float)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setBlendColor(red:green:blue:alpha:)) Configures each pixel component value, including alpha, for the render pipeline’s constant blend color. [`func setColorAttachmentMap(MTLLogicalToPhysicalColorAttachmentMap?)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setColorAttachmentMap(_:)) Sets the mapping from logical shader color output to physical render pass color attachments. ### Configuring rendering behavior [`func setTriangleFillMode(MTLTriangleFillMode)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setTriangleFillMode(_:)) Configures how subsequent draw commands rasterize triangle and triangle strip primitives. [`func setFrontFacing(MTLWinding)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setFrontFacing(_:)) Configures which face of a primitive, such as a triangle, is the front. [`func setCullMode(MTLCullMode)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setCullMode(_:)) Configures how the render pipeline determines which primitives to remove. ### Configuring depth and stencil behavior [`func setDepthStencilState((any MTLDepthStencilState)?)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setDepthStencilState(_:)) Configures the combined depth and stencil state. [`func setDepthBias(Float, slopeScale: Float, clamp: Float)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setDepthBias(_:slopeScale:clamp:)) Configures the adjustments a render pass applies to depth values from fragment functions by a scaling factor and bias. [`func setDepthClipMode(MTLDepthClipMode)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setDepthClipMode(_:)) Configures how the render pipeline handles fragments outside the near and far planes of the view frustum. [`func setDepthTestBounds(ClosedRange)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setDepthTestBounds(_:)) Configures the range for depth bounds testing. [`- (void) setDepthTestMinBound:(float) minBound maxBound:(float) maxBound;`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setDepthTestMinBound:maxBound:) Configures the minimum and maximum bounds for depth bounds testing. [`func setStencilReferenceValue(UInt32)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setStencilReferenceValue(_:)) Configures the same comparison value for front- and back-facing primitives. [`func setStencilReferenceValues(front: UInt32, back: UInt32)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setStencilReferenceValues(front:back:)) Configures different comparison values for front- and back-facing primitives. ### Configuring viewport and scissor behavior [`func setViewport(MTLViewport)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setViewport(_:)) Configures the render pipeline with a viewport that applies a transformation and a clipping rectangle. [`func setViewports([MTLViewport])`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setViewports(_:)) Configures the render pipeline with multiple viewports that apply transformations and clipping rectangles. [`- (void) setViewports:(const MTLViewport[]) viewports count:(NSUInteger) count;`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setViewports:count:) Configures the render pipeline with multiple viewports that apply transformations and clipping rectangles. [`func setScissorRect(MTLScissorRect)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setScissorRect(_:)) Configures a rectangle for the fragment scissor test. [`func setScissorRects([MTLScissorRect])`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setScissorRects(_:)) Configures multiple rectangles for the fragment scissor test. [`- (void) setScissorRects:(const MTLScissorRect[]) scissorRects count:(NSUInteger) count;`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setScissorRects:count:) Configures multiple rectangles for the fragment scissor test. ### Configuring visibility testing [`func setVisibilityResultMode(MTLVisibilityResultMode, offset: Int)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setVisibilityResultMode(_:offset:)) Configures which visibility test the GPU runs and the destination for any results it generates. ### Configuring vertex amplification [`func setVertexAmplificationCount(Int, viewMappings: UnsafePointer?)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setVertexAmplificationCount(_:viewMappings:)) Configures the number of output vertices the render pipeline produces for each input vertex, optionally with render target and viewport offsets. ### Configuring tessellation factors [`func setTessellationFactorScale(Float)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setTessellationFactorScale(_:)) Configures the scale factor for per-patch tessellation factors. [`func setTessellationFactorBuffer((any MTLBuffer)?, offset: Int, instanceStride: Int)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setTessellationFactorBuffer(_:offset:instanceStride:)) Configures the per-patch tessellation factors for any subsequent patch-drawing commands. ### Configuring persistent threadgroup memory [`func setObjectThreadgroupMemoryLength(Int, index: Int)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setObjectThreadgroupMemoryLength(_:index:)) Configures the size of a threadgroup memory buffer for an entry in the object argument table. [`func setThreadgroupMemoryLength(Int, offset: Int, index: Int)`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderCommandEncoder/setThreadgroupMemoryLength(_:offset:index:)) Configures the size of a threadgroup memory buffer for an entry in the fragment or tile shader argument table. --- Copyright © 2026 Apple Inc. 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