Hello everyone! I have a small concern about one little thing when it comes to programming in metal. There are some models that I wish to use along with animations and skins on them, the file extension for them is called gltf. glTF has been used in a number of projects such as unity and unreal engine and godot and blender. I was wondering if metal supports this file extension or not. Anyone here knows the answer?

Is there any way to use metal-cpp in a Swift project? I have a platform layer I've written in Swift that handles Window/View creation, as well as event handling, etc. I've been trying to bridge this layer with my C++ layer as you normally would using a pure C interface, but using Metal instances that cross this boundary just doesn't seem to work. e.g. Currently I initialize a CAMetalLayer for my NSView, setting that as the layer for the view. I've tried passing this Metal layer into my C++ code via a void* pointer through a C interface, and then casting it to a CA::MetalView to be used. When this didn't work, I tried creating the CA::MetalLayer in C++ and passing that back to the Swift layer as a void* pointer, then binding it to a CAMetalLayer type. And of course, this didn't work either. So are the options for metal-cpp to use either Objective-C or just pure C++ (using AppKit.hpp)? Or am I missing something for how to integrate with Swift?

Hi, I trying to use Metal cpp, but I have compile error: ISO C++ requires the name after '::' to be found in the same scope as the name before '::' metal-cpp/Foundation/NSSharedPtr.hpp(162): template <class _Class> _NS_INLINE NS::SharedPtr<_Class>::~SharedPtr() { if (m_pObject) { m_pObject->release(); } } Use of old-style cast metal-cpp/Foundation/NSObject.hpp(149): template <class _Dst> _NS_INLINE _Dst NS::Object::bridgingCast(const void* pObj) { #ifdef __OBJC__ return (__bridge _Dst)pObj; #else return (_Dst)pObj; #endif // __OBJC__ } XCode Project was generated using CMake: target_compile_features(${MODULE_NAME} PRIVATE cxx_std_20) target_compile_options(${MODULE_NAME} PRIVATE "-Wgnu-anonymous-struct" "-Wold-style-cast" "-Wdtor-name" "-Wpedantic" "-Wno-gnu" ) May be need to set some CMake flags for C++ compiler ?

Hello, I’ve started testing the Metal Shader Converter to convert my HLSL shaders to metallib directly, and I was wondering if the option ’-frecord-sources’ was supported in any way? Usually I’m compiling my shaders as follows (from Metal): xcrun -sdk macosx metal -c -frecord-sources shaders/shaders.metal -o shaders/shaders.air xcrun -sdk macosx metallib shaders/shaders.air -o shaders/shaders.metallib The -frecord-sources allow me to see the source when debugging and profiling a Metal frame. Now with DXC we have a similar option, I can compile a typical HLSL shader with embedded debug symbols with: dxc -T vs_6_0 -E VSMain shaders/triangle.hlsl -Fo shaders/triangle.dxil -Zi -O0 -Qembed_debug The important options here are ’-Zi` and ’-Qembed_debug’, as they make sure debug symbols are embedded in the DXIL. It seems that right now Metal Shader Converter doesn’t pass through the DXIL debug information, and I was wondering if it was possible. I’ve looked at all the options in the utility and haven’t seen anything that looked like it. Right now debug symbols in my shaders is a must-have both for profiling and debugging. For reference an alternative pipeline would be to use spir-v cross instead. For reference here's what a typical pipeline with dxc and spir-v cross look like: HLSL -> SPIRV -> AIR -> METALLIB dxc -T ps_6_0 -E PSMain -spirv shaders/triangle.hlsl -Zi -Qembed_debug -O0 -Fo shaders/triangle.frag.spirv spirv-cross --msl shaders/triangle.frag.spirv --output shaders/triangle.frag.metal xcrun -sdk macosx metal -c -frecord-sources shaders/triangle.frag.metal -o shaders/triangle.frag.air xcrun -sdk macosx metallib shaders/triangle.frag.air -o shaders/triangle.frag.metallib As you can see, it's a lot more steps than metal shader converter, but after all those steps you can get some sort of shader symbols in xcode when debugging a metal frame, which is better than nothing: Please let me know if I can provide files, projects or anything that can help supporting shader symbols directly with metal shader converter. Thank you for your time!

Hi, I am generating a Metal library that I build using the command line tools on macOS for iphoneos, following the instructions here. Then I serialise this to a binary blob that I load at runtime, which seems to work ok as everything renders as expected. When I am doing a frame capture and open up a shader function it tries to load the symbols and fails. I tried pointing it to the directory (and the file) containing the symbols file, but it never resolves those. In the bottom half of the Import External Sources dialogue there is one entry in the Library | Debug Info section: The library name is Library 0x21816b5dc0 and below Debug Info it says Invalid UUID. The validation layer doesn't flag any invalid behaviour so I am a bit lost and not sure what to try next?

I am following this https://developer.apple.com/documentation/metal/performing_calculations_on_a_gpu on building a metal app for performing a GPU calculation. I am not able to figure out how to build and execute the project from the command line. Any help on how to build a main.m file using xcrun will be useful. I have tried xcrun -sdk macosx clang MetalComputeBasic/main.m but it doesn't work.

What is the best source for information/tutorial material on using Metal with C++? metal-cpp?

Hi, I am experimenting with the 05-perspective.cpp code in LearnMetalCPP. I have made the window resizable by dragging an edge or corner with the mouse. But this causes the image to distort because the original drawing was square and the aspect set to 1.0. Now I want to compute aspect = width/height to use in simd::float4x4 makePerspective( float fovRadians, float aspect, float znear, float zfar ) in the 05-perspective.cpp app. What is the best way to get width and height, such as from CGSize.width and CGSize.height?

Hi, I am new to Metal and macOS development, and trying to learn Metal with the CPP wrapper for a toy rendering engine. I am mostly following the "Learn Metal with C++" sample code. I am trying to read mouse and keyboard input. It seems like the Objective-C or Swift wrappers allow you to override your own MTK::View class, and then override the respective keyDown(), keyUp() methods. However, when looking at the CPP wrapper, MTK::View doesn't have any virtual functions to override. How can I read mouse and keyboard inputs in my application? Hopefully without having an Objective-C bridge. Thank you, Robin

I'm trying to compile with a brand new install of Xcode 14. A very simple .cpp and .h for testing. The .h has: #include "mcut.h" #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> The .cpp has: #include "MCut_Wrapper.hpp" #include <iostream> I know this doesn't do anything.... but with the #include When I compile I suddenly get: No member named 'memcpy' in namespace 'std::__1'; did you mean simply 'memcpy'? No member named 'memmove' in namespace 'std::1'; did you mean simply 'memmove'?_ etc. without the #include everything compiles without any errors. The same errors show up for any #includes such as etc. I've also tried adding using namespace std; But that doesn't work. I've tried a simple hello world program like this: #include "MCut_Wrapper.hpp" #include <iostream> #include <vector> #include <string> using namespace std; int main() { vector<string> msg{"Hello", "C++", "World", "from", "VS Code", "and the C++ extension!"}; for (const string& word : msg) { cout << word << " "; } cout << endl; } But it also throws out the same error. Any and all assistance to get this working would be appreciated. I'm attempting to make a bundle with Xcode 14 on a machine with an M2 Max Chip (if that makes any difference). Cheers

Hi i am very new to this coding gig. I am an Art Student who happened to develop an interest due to some problems. To a lot of developers shock and disgust i am in fact starting with c/c++ and I am using the humble Xcode, out of lack of better knowledge. I tried to use visual basic however i had an SVN problem because my mac is on Catalina. I just want some intel into what makes Xcode not that great in case i run into problems in the future I would be able to know. Your info will be much appreciated.

Device: iPod 7 iOS version: 14.4.1 , GMetalDevice = MTLCreateSystemDefaultDevice(); (lldb) bt * thread #1, queue = 'com.apple.main-thread', stop reason = signal SIGABRT   frame #0: 0x00000001d7a3784c libsystem_kernel.dylib`__pthread_kill + 8  * frame #1: 0x00000001f39c29e8 libsystem_pthread.dylib`pthread_kill + 212   frame #2: 0x00000001b4b738f4 libsystem_c.dylib`abort + 100   frame #3: 0x00000001bb238030 libsystem_malloc.dylib`malloc_vreport + 556   frame #4: 0x00000001bb2381e8 libsystem_malloc.dylib`malloc_report + 60   frame #5: 0x00000001bb22e2e8 libsystem_malloc.dylib`free + 432   frame #6: 0x00000001f48dab10 AGXMetalA10`___lldb_unnamed_symbol1249 + 1644   frame #7: 0x00000001f49064d4 AGXMetalA10`___lldb_unnamed_symbol1504 + 72   frame #8: 0x00000001c18ca694 Metal`+[MTLIOAccelDevice registerDevices] + 224   frame #9: 0x00000001c18ccbf8 Metal`invocation function for block in MTLDeviceArrayInitialize() + 872   frame #10: 0x0000000119505528 libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_client_callout + 16   frame #11: 0x0000000119506e6c libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_once_callout + 84   frame #12: 0x00000001c18cc470 Metal`MTLCreateSystemDefaultDevice + 200   frame #13: 0x00000001054f5f54 MyProject`+[FIOSView layerClass](self=<unavailable>, _cmd=<unavailable>) at IOSView.cpp:134:18 [opt]   frame #14: 0x00000001aebbd034 UIKitCore`UIViewCommonInitWithFrame + 1040   frame #15: 0x00000001aebbcbcc UIKitCore`-[UIView initWithFrame:] + 124   frame #16: 0x00000001054f6274 MyProject`-[FIOSView initWithFrame:](self=<unavailable>, _cmd=<unavailable>, Frame=<unavailable>) at IOSView.cpp:233:14 [opt]   frame #17: 0x0000000102d237f8 MyProject`invocation function for block in FAppEntry::PlatformInit() [inlined] MainThreadInit() at LaunchIOS.cpp:348:24 [opt]   frame #18: 0x0000000102d237a8 MyProject`invocation function for block in FAppEntry::PlatformInit(.block_descriptor=<unavailable>) at LaunchIOS.cpp:373:47 [opt]   frame #19: 0x0000000119503ce4 libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_call_block_and_release + 24   frame #20: 0x0000000119505528 libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_client_callout + 16   frame #21: 0x0000000119513994 libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_main_queue_callback_4CF + 972   frame #22: 0x00000001abdf85e0 CoreFoundation`__CFRUNLOOP_IS_SERVICING_THE_MAIN_DISPATCH_QUEUE__ + 12   frame #23: 0x00000001abdf2a88 CoreFoundation`__CFRunLoopRun + 2480   frame #24: 0x00000001abdf1ba0 CoreFoundation`CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 572   frame #25: 0x00000001c2b5a598 GraphicsServices`GSEventRunModal + 160   frame #26: 0x00000001ae6e32f4 UIKitCore`-[UIApplication _run] + 1052   frame #27: 0x00000001ae6e8874 UIKitCore`UIApplicationMain + 164   frame #28: 0x0000000102d312bc MyProject`main(argc=3, argv=0x000000016d4e7700) at LaunchIOS.cpp:584:13 [opt]   frame #29: 0x00000001abad0568 libdyld.dylib`start + 4

Hey all, I have a few questions about the Loading textures and models using Metal fast resource loading project. I'm not experienced in 3D rendering or Mac development in general, so bear with me :) I noticed that the model and texture data for the scene objects had a.dat extension and appeared to be binary data files. This is different from the models and textures from the Rendering a Scene with Deferred Lighting in C++, which contains .obj and .mtl files that seem to be commonly exported from 3D modelling programs like Blender or Maya. First question: I didn't notice any explanation of for the difference in format between the two projects in the source code. From reading a bit online it seems like binary formats are more efficient and generally more representative of what you'd want to actually ship, is that correct? Second, I was also wondering if the binary format used in "Loading textures and models using Metal fast resource loading" is in a standard format, or if it was created by the project's author just for the project. Third, I was wondering what the typical process was for storing assets in a binary format. Are these usually directly exported from 3D modelling programs? Or is intermediate output from 3D modelling programs (such as .obj files) usually parsed by the developer and then written to the binary format? If this is the case, are there commonly used libraries for this, or do people usually just hand-roll parsers? Any recommended learning material would be appreciated. Thank you!

I have been working with AR for a while now, sorta learning still, and getting increasingly frustrated. I created complex animations using reality composer and now that feels like a joke. The thing is huge, I need to rewrite it in RealityKit but something tells me if I go Metal on this **** it's going to decrease the latency and make things run so much faster. I really need my app to be as light as possible because the 3D graphics will function like a 3D UI system. My greatest painpoint is the anxiety I feel when I know my application will be HUGE and crash once I publish it. It makes me feel so anxious. Like an earthquake is coming. My goal is to create the lightest thing possible. I am reading a book on Linear Algebra for Machine Learning and I am leaning into this more mathy direction so I am thinking I might as well just re-write using metal and C++? never used metal it btw, never used C++ either. I have some experience with animation and experience with sculpture so the 3D world IRL is not new to me.

Dear experts, I'm working on adding UI for my cpp based path tracer renderer. I want to create metal cpp device and pass it to renderer, but also I want to use ImGui and GLFW (for window manager and input events handling). I've found solution how I can mix obj c code that requires by GLFW window setup and cpp code: https://github.com/ikryukov/MetalCppImGui // Here is key thing for integration GLFW with Metal Cpp // GLFW supports only obj c window handle NSWindow *nswin = glfwGetCocoaWindow(window); CA::MetalLayer* layer = CA::MetalLayer::layer(); layer->setDevice(device); layer->setPixelFormat(MTL::PixelFormatBGRA8Unorm); // bridge to obj c here because NSWindow expetcs objc CAMetalLayer* l = (__bridge CAMetalLayer*)layer; nswin.contentView.layer = l; nswin.contentView.wantsLayer = YES; Is there any official way to handle event in Metal cpp without objective c support? Maybe MetalKit will have such features in future?

Hi experts, I'm working on PathTracer using metal-cpp and I use per-primitive data from you latest presentation: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2022/10105/ and described here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/metal/ray_tracing_with_acceleration_structures Currently I want to store something like this structure: struct Triangle {     vector_float3 positions[3];     uint32_t normals[3];     uint32_t tangent[3];     uint32_t uv[3]; }; Are there any guidelines on size of this small amounts of data that I could store in acceleration structure? And if it stores inside BVH nodes -> that could affect traversal performance. Thanks!

Hello All, I have code on CUDA, and I can create several CUDA streams and run my kernels in parallel and get a performance boost for my task. Next, I rewrote the code for Metal and try to parallelize the task in the same way. CUDA Streams Metal device: Mac Studio with M1 Ultra. (write the code on Metal-cpp) I creating several MTLCommandBuffer in 1 MTLCommandQueue or several MTLCommandQueue with more MTLCommandBuffer. Regarding Metal resources, there are two options: Buffers (MTLBuffer) was created with an option MTLResourceStorageModeShared. In the profiler, all Command buffers are performed sequentially on the timeline of Compute. Buffers (MTLBuffer) was created with an option "MTLResourceStorageModeShared | MTLResourceHazardTrackingModeUntracked". In the profiler, I really saw the parallelism. But the maximum number of threads in the Compute timeline is always no more than 2 (see pictures). Also weird. Computing commands do not depend on each other. METAL Compute timeline About performance: [1] In the first variant, the performance is the same for different amounts of MTLCommandQueue and MTLCommandBuffer. [2] In the second variant, the performance for one MTLCommandBuffer is greater than for 2 or more. Question: why is this happening? How to parallelize the work of the compute kernels to get an increase performance? Addition information: Also, the CUDA code is rewritten in OpenCL, and it is perfectly parallelized in Windows(NVIDIA/AMD/Intel) if several OpenCL queues are running. The same code running on M1 Ultra works the same way with 1 or with many OpenCL queues. In turn, Metal is faster than OpenCL, so I am trying to figure out exactly Metal, and make the kernels work in parallel on Metal.