Delve into the world of graphics and game development. Discuss creating stunning visuals, optimizing game mechanics, and share resources for game developers.

Posts under General subtopic

Post

Replies

Boosts

Views

Activity

Desire to close contour from left & right two top points
Hello all... is there a way to close a contour if you have found say two points on each side top "extension"? see image attached. So in end desire a trapezoid type shape. Code example would be very appreciated. thank you :) Think I have it as a CGPath. So a way to edit a CGPath, or close the top from a top left to a top right point?
3
0
479
Jan ’25
Trying to better understand CGAffineTransform.... and need a bit of guidance.
I have a CoreImage pipeline and one of my steps is to rotate my image about the origin (bottom left corner) and then translate it. I'm not seeing the behaviour I'm expecting, and I think my problem is in how I'm combining these two steps. As an example, I start with an identity transform (lldb) po transform333 ▿ CGAffineTransform - a : 1.0 - b : 0.0 - c : 0.0 - d : 1.0 - tx : 0.0 - ty : 0.0 I then rotate 1.57 radians (approx. 90 degrees, CCW) transform333 = transform333.rotated(by: 1.57) - a : 0.0007963267107332633 - b : 0.9999996829318346 - c : -0.9999996829318346 - d : 0.0007963267107332633 - tx : 0.0 - ty : 0.0 I understand the current contents of the transform. But then I translate by 10, 10: (lldb) po transform333.translatedBy(x: 10, y: 10) - a : 0.0007963267107332633 - b : 0.9999996829318346 - c : -0.9999996829318346 - d : 0.0007963267107332633 - tx : -9.992033562211013 - ty : 10.007960096425679 I was expecting tx and ty to be 10 and 10. I have noticed that when I reverse the order of these operations, the transform contents look correct. So I'll most likely just perform the steps in what feels to me like the incorrect order. Is anyone willing/able to point me to an explanation of why the steps I'm performing are giving me these results? thanks, mike
3
0
562
Jan ’25
JPEG2000 (JP2) Decoding Works on iOS 16 but Fails on iOS 18
I am extracting a JPEG2000 (JP2) facial image from an NFC passport chip (ISO/IEC 19794-5) and attempting to create a UIImage from it. On iOS 16, the following code works fine: import ImageIO import UIKit func getUIImage(from imageData: [UInt8]) -> UIImage? { let data = Data(imageData) guard let imageSource = CGImageSourceCreateWithData(data as CFData, nil), let cgImage = CGImageSourceCreateImageAtIndex(imageSource, 0, nil) else { print("Failed to decode JP2 image!") return nil } return UIImage(cgImage: cgImage) } However, on iOS 18, this fails with errors like: initialize:1415: *** invalid JPEG2000 file *** makeImagePlus:3752: *** ERROR: 'JP2 ' - failed to create image [-50] CGImageSourceCreateImageAtIndex: *** ERROR: failed to create image [-59] Questions: Did Apple remove or modify JPEG2000 support in iOS 18? Is there an official workaround for decoding JPEG2000 on iOS 18? Should I use Vision/Metal/Core Image instead? Is there a recommended way to convert JPEG2000 to JPEG/PNG before creating a UIImage? Are there any Apple-provided APIs that maintain backward compatibility for JPEG2000 decoding? Additional Info: The UInt8 array has a valid JPEG2000 header (0x00 0x00 0x00 0x0C 6A 50 ...). The image works on iOS 16 but fails on iOS 18. Tested on iPhone running iOS 18.0 beta. Any insights on how to handle JPEG2000 decoding in iOS 18 would be greatly appreciated! 🚀
3
0
314
Mar ’25
What good is NSBitmapFormatAlphaNonpremultiplied?
If I create a bitmap image and then try to get ready to draw into it, like so: NSBitmapImageRep* newRep = [[NSBitmapImageRep alloc] initWithBitmapDataPlanes: nullptr pixelsWide: 128 pixelsHigh: 128 bitsPerSample: 8 samplesPerPixel: 4 hasAlpha: YES isPlanar: NO colorSpaceName: NSDeviceRGBColorSpace bitmapFormat: NSBitmapFormatAlphaNonpremultiplied | NSBitmapFormatThirtyTwoBitBigEndian bytesPerRow: 4 * 128 bitsPerPixel: 32]; [NSGraphicsContext setCurrentContext: [NSGraphicsContext graphicsContextWithBitmapImageRep: newRep]]; then the log shows this error: CGBitmapContextCreate: unsupported parameter combination: RGB 8 bits/component, integer 512 bytes/row kCGImageAlphaLast kCGImageByteOrderDefault kCGImagePixelFormatPacked Valid parameters for RGB color space model are: 16 bits per pixel, 5 bits per component, kCGImageAlphaNoneSkipFirst 32 bits per pixel, 8 bits per component, kCGImageAlphaNoneSkipFirst 32 bits per pixel, 8 bits per component, kCGImageAlphaNoneSkipLast 32 bits per pixel, 8 bits per component, kCGImageAlphaPremultipliedFirst 32 bits per pixel, 8 bits per component, kCGImageAlphaPremultipliedLast 32 bits per pixel, 10 bits per component, kCGImageAlphaNone|kCGImagePixelFormatRGBCIF10|kCGImageByteOrder16Little 64 bits per pixel, 16 bits per component, kCGImageAlphaPremultipliedLast 64 bits per pixel, 16 bits per component, kCGImageAlphaNoneSkipLast 64 bits per pixel, 16 bits per component, kCGImageAlphaPremultipliedLast|kCGBitmapFloatComponents|kCGImageByteOrder16Little 64 bits per pixel, 16 bits per component, kCGImageAlphaNoneSkipLast|kCGBitmapFloatComponents|kCGImageByteOrder16Little 128 bits per pixel, 32 bits per component, kCGImageAlphaPremultipliedLast|kCGBitmapFloatComponents 128 bits per pixel, 32 bits per component, kCGImageAlphaNoneSkipLast|kCGBitmapFloatComponents See Quartz 2D Programming Guide (available online) for more information. If I don't use NSBitmapFormatAlphaNonpremultiplied as part of the format, I don't get the error message. My question is, why does the constant NSBitmapFormatAlphaNonpremultiplied exist if you can't use it like this? If you're wondering why I wanted to do this: I want to extract the RGBA pixel data from an image, which might have non-premultiplied alpha. And elsewhere online, I saw advice that if you want to look at the pixels of an image, draw it into a bitmap whose format you know and look at those pixels. And I don't want the process of drawing to premultiply my alpha.
3
0
127
Jun ’25
CGSetDisplayTransferByTable no longer working on macOS Tahoe
For an app of mine I use CGSetDisplayTransferByTable to adjust the gamma table of the device. Since macOS Tahoe, these modifications are silently ignored. The display's actual gamma curve remains unchanged despite the API reporting successful completion. I've filed a FB for it a few weeks ago, and would love to figure out what could be causing this. FB18559786
3
1
290
Aug ’25
CIBumpDistortion filter not working on my view
I'm trying to apply a CIBumpDistortion Core Image filter to a view that contains a UILabel (my storyLabel). The goal is to create a visual bump/magnifying glass effect over the text. However, despite my attempts, the filter doesn't seem to render at all. The view and the label appear as normal, with no distortion effect. I've tried adjusting the filter parameters and reviewing the view hierarchy, but without success. I also haven't been able to find clear documentation or examples for applying this filter to a UIView's layer. // // TVView.swift // Mistery // // Created by Joje on 31/07/25. // import CoreImage import CoreImage.CIFilterBuiltins import UIKit import AVFoundation final class TVView: UIView { // propriedades animacao texto private var textAnimationTimer: Timer? private var fullTextToAnimate: String = "" private var currentCharIndex: Int = 0 // propriedades video estatica private var player: AVQueuePlayer? private var playerLayer: AVPlayerLayer? private var playerLooper: AVPlayerLooper? var onNextButtonTap: () -> Void = {} // MARK: - Subviews // imagem da TV private(set) lazy var tvImageView: UIImageView = { let imageView = UIImageView() imageView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false imageView.image = UIImage(named: "tvFinal") imageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFit return imageView }() // texto que passa dentro da TV private(set) lazy var storyLabel: UILabel = { let label = UILabel() label.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false //label.backgroundColor = .gray label.textColor = .red label.font = UIFont(name: "MeltedMonster", size: 30) label.textAlignment = .left label.numberOfLines = 0 label.text = "" return label }() private(set) lazy var nextButton: UIButton = { let button = UIButton(type: .system) button.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false //button.backgroundColor = .darkGray button.addTarget(self, action: #selector(didPressNextButton), for: .touchUpInside) return button }() // MARK: - Lifecycle override init(frame: CGRect) { super.init(frame: frame) backgroundColor = .black setupVideoPlayer() addSubviews() setupConstraints() } override func layoutSubviews() { super.layoutSubviews() playerLayer?.frame = tvImageView.frame.insetBy(dx: tvImageView.frame.width * 0.05, dy: tvImageView.frame.height * 0.18) setupFisheyeEffect() } private func setupFisheyeEffect() { // cria o filtro guard let filter = CIFilter(name: "CIBumpDistortion") else {return print("erro")} storyLabel.layer.shouldRasterize = true storyLabel.layer.rasterizationScale = UIScreen.main.scale // define os parametros filter.setDefaults() // centro do efeito let center = CIVector(x: storyLabel.bounds.midX, y: storyLabel.bounds.midY) filter.setValue(center, forKey: kCIInputCenterKey) // raio de distorção filter.setValue(storyLabel.bounds.width, forKey: kCIInputRadiusKey) // intensidade de distorção filter.setValue(7, forKey: kCIInputScaleKey) storyLabel.layer.filters = [filter] } required init?(coder: NSCoder) { fatalError("init(coder:) has not been implemented") } // MARK: - Button actions @objc private func didPressNextButton() { onNextButtonTap() } @objc private func animateNextCharacter() { guard currentCharIndex < fullTextToAnimate.count else { textAnimationTimer?.invalidate() return } let currentTextIndex = fullTextToAnimate.index(fullTextToAnimate.startIndex, offsetBy: currentCharIndex) let partialText = String(fullTextToAnimate[...currentTextIndex]) storyLabel.text = partialText currentCharIndex += 1 } public func updateStoryText(with text: String) { textAnimationTimer?.invalidate() storyLabel.text = "" fullTextToAnimate = text currentCharIndex = 0 textAnimationTimer = Timer.scheduledTimer(timeInterval: 0.12, target: self, selector: #selector(animateNextCharacter), userInfo: nil, repeats: true) } // MARK: - Setup methods private func setupVideoPlayer() { guard let videoURL = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "static-video", withExtension: "mov") else { print("Erro: Não foi possível encontrar o arquivo de vídeo static-video.mov") return } let playerItem = AVPlayerItem(url: videoURL) player = AVQueuePlayer(playerItem: playerItem) // LINHA COM POSSIVEL ERRO playerLooper = AVPlayerLooper(player: player!, templateItem: playerItem) playerLayer = AVPlayerLayer(player: player) playerLayer?.videoGravity = .resizeAspectFill if let layer = playerLayer { self.layer.addSublayer(layer) } player?.play() } private func addSubviews() { self.addSubview(storyLabel) self.addSubview(tvImageView) self.addSubview(nextButton) } private func setupConstraints() { NSLayoutConstraint.activate([ // TV Image tvImageView.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: centerXAnchor), tvImageView.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: centerYAnchor), tvImageView.widthAnchor.constraint(equalTo: widthAnchor), // TV Text storyLabel.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: tvImageView.centerXAnchor, constant: -50), storyLabel.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: tvImageView.centerYAnchor, constant: -25), storyLabel.widthAnchor.constraint(equalTo: tvImageView.widthAnchor, multiplier: 0.35), storyLabel.heightAnchor.constraint(equalTo: tvImageView.heightAnchor, multiplier: 0.42), //TV Button nextButton.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: tvImageView.centerYAnchor, constant: -25), nextButton.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: self.centerXAnchor, constant: 190), nextButton.widthAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 100), nextButton.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 160) ]) } } #Preview{ ViewController() }
3
0
137
Sep ’25
Is there any future for screensavers on macOS?
I haven't been looking at screensavers for a long time because of Apple's lack of will (or resources?) to provide a public version of the private modern SDK used by Apple for a very long time now. I'm now looking at the Screen Saver pane in System Settings (the What-If version of System Preferences in an alternate universe where all screens are in portrait mode). In macOS Sequoia, it seems like 3rd party screensavers are not welcome considering that they are relegated to the "Other" section at the bottom of the list and you have to click Show All to start seeing 3rd party screen savers. I also had a quick look at macOS Tahoe Beta 3 and it looks like that all the real screensavers are gone (3rd party and the ones from Apple: Hello, Message, Flurry, etc.) or at least it requires to be a Nobel Prize to find them (and the Search field is not useful). I tried to install a 3rd party screen saver on macOS Tahoe Beta 3, it doesn't show up in the list. To summarize: No public access to modern APIs AFAIK. UI that is hostile to 3rd party screen savers on macOS Sequoia. Apparently only screensavers that are slideshows or movies curated by Apple in macOS Tahoe b3. Hence the question: Is there any future for screen savers on macOS? Because if there's none, I won't waste my time trying to update some old screen savers.
3
0
518
Aug ’25
Request: Allow Game Mode to be enabled locally for non-game App Store categories
Hi Apple team, Game Mode was introduced in iOS 18. To activate Game Mode, an app must include specific key-value pairs in its *.plist and be categorized as a "Game" on the App Store. My app (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/voidlink/id6747717070) works primarily as a self-hosted game streaming (PC->iPhone/iPad) client. Game Mode provides clear benefits in terms of latency and frame rate stability, but it can currently only be activated when running via Xcode or TestFlight. I am an individual iOS developer based in China, where an additional government license is required for apps to be listed under the "Game" category on the App Store. Obtaining such a license is very difficult for independent developers, so my app has been categorized under "Utilities" instead.(If move the app to game category, it will disappear from Chinese App Store immediately) Expectation / Suggestion: Please consider making Game Mode available as a local, user-controllable option on iOS18/26+, such as through a system “App Pool” where users can choose which apps to enable Game Mode for, regardless of App Store category. This would greatly benefit use cases like streaming clients, benchmarking tools, and remote play utilities, without requiring developers to reclassify their apps as “Games” on App Store.
3
1
562
1w
Invert a 3x3 matrix in a Metal compute kernel
I searched the Metal Shading Language Specification Version 3.0 document, however I cannot see any function for inverting a matrix. Is there really no function in Metal for inverting a matrix? I often need to this in linear equations and have so far resorted to writing the necessary function each time, most of the time just copy-and-pasting code. inverse exists in SIMD and GLSL, so why not in Metal? It seems so unexpected that this function does not exist that I am almost certain I have just overlooked something obvious. I even tried 1 / M, to no avail.
2
1
1.9k
Feb ’25
Will metal-cpp-extensions headers for Appkit and MetalKit be maintained?
Hi, The metal-cpp distribution appears to only contain headers for Foundation and Quartzcore. The LearnMetalCPP download [1] provides a ZIP with an metal-cpp-extensions directory containing AppKit.hpp and MetalKit.hpp headers. First question: Are these headers distributed anywhere else more publicly? Without these headers only the renderer can be fully written in C++ as far as I can tell, i.e. no complete C++ NSApplication. Second question: Will these headers, if needed, be maintained (e.g. updated and/or extended) by Apple along side metal-cpp? [1] https://developer.apple.com/metal/cpp/ Thank you and regards.
2
0
2k
Feb ’25
Is there any frameworks/API to deal with app's precise performance tuning for iOS platform?
There is a Android Dynamic Performance Framework, https://developer.android.com/games/optimize/adpf which allows you to monitor device's thermal state and send performance hints to the OS, describing current workload. This helps to consume resources effectively, while having target performance. As I can see from tracing and profiling, hints help OS scheduler to switch tasks between cores more effectively - this helps to reach performance stability between multiple runs. I wonder, is there anything similar for iOS platform?
2
0
669
Dec ’24
Why doesn't mac opengl support alpha textures?
I have used the Mac M1 and M4. Developing OpenGL projects on machines running macOS 15.2 and 13.6. Call the OpenGL library functions of Mac. glTexImage2D If you use GL_LUMINANCE, GL_LUMINANCE_ALPHA, GL_ALPHA these three textures, you will get an error gl 500. It makes me unable to draw normally on Mac. What's the reason for this? Don't they support it?
2
0
687
Jan ’25
GPTK did not build error
Hey there, I tried to install GPTK again, since I had to reinstall the OS for irrelevant reasons. But every time I try to install the tool kit, it gives me theError: apple/apple/game-porting-toolkit 1.1 did not build error. Before that error occired, I had the Openssl error, which I fixed with the rbenv version of openssl. Is there any way to fix this error? Down bellow you'll find the full error message it gave me. The specs for my Mac are (if they are helpful in any way): M1 Pro MBP 14" with 16GB Ram and 512GB SSD. Thanks! ``Error: apple/apple/game-porting-toolkit 1.1 did not build Logs: /Users/myuser/Library/Logs/Homebrew/game-porting-toolkit/00.options.out /Users/myuser/Library/Logs/Homebrew/game-porting-toolkit/01.configure /Users/myuser/Library/Logs/Homebrew/game-porting-toolkit/01.configure.cc /Users/myuser/Library/Logs/Homebrew/game-porting-toolkit/wine64-build If reporting this issue please do so at (not Homebrew/brew or Homebrew/homebrew-core): https://github.com/apple/homebrew-apple/issues```
2
0
636
Mar ’25
Fullscreen detection using Core Graphic
Hi, I am trying to detect if all the screen are in fullscreen mode. The current approach is to get all windows' information from CGWindowListCopyWindowInfo and then compare the frame and coordinate with the frame of NSScreen.screens. However, there is a problem, the y position of the window seems to be relative to the screen. As it is not absolute position, I cannot compare it with the coordinate of the screen. Does anyone know if there are other information that I can use? Or is there a way to retrieve the absolute position or screen ID from the GCWIndow object?
2
0
92
Apr ’25
Embedded links not clickable in PDFs for iOS devices
I have a SPFx React application where I am printing the HTML page content using the javascript default window.print() functionality. Once I save the page as pdf from the print preview window and open it using Adobe Acrobat, the links(for eg -> Google) within the content are not clickable and appearing as plain text. I have tried to print random pages post searching with any keywords in Google and saved the files as pdfs, but, unfortunately, the links are still not clickable there as well. To check whether it is an Adobe Acrobat issue, I have performed the same print functionality from Android devices and shared the pdf file across the iOS devices and in that case, when opened using Adobe Acrobat, the links are appearing to be clickable. I am wondering whether it is something related to how the default print functionality works for iPadOS and iOS devices. Any insights on this would be really helpful. Thanks!!! Note: The links are clickable for MacOS as well as for Windows. #ios #ipados #javascript #spfx #react
2
0
117
May ’25
Game Porting Toolkit installation problem
Hello, Im trying to install it following these steps https://www.applegamingwiki.com/wiki/Game_Porting_Toolkit but i get an error with 'brew install apple/apple/game-porting-toolkit' ==> tar -xf crossover-sources-22.1.1.tar.gz --include=sources/clang/* --strip-components=2 ==> cmake -G Ninja -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE=Off -DCMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM=ninja -DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE=On -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTUR Last 15 lines from /Users/rafael/Library/Logs/Homebrew/game-porting-toolkit-compiler/02.cmake: -DLLVM_INSTALL_TOOLCHAIN_ONLY=On -DLLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS=clang /private/tmp/game-porting-toolkit-compiler-20250519-44600-qwrjgl/llvm CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:3 (cmake_minimum_required): Compatibility with CMake < 3.5 has been removed from CMake. Update the VERSION argument <min> value. Or, use the <min>...<max> syntax to tell CMake that the project requires at least <min> but has been updated to work with policies introduced by <max> or earlier. Or, add -DCMAKE_POLICY_VERSION_MINIMUM=3.5 to try configuring anyway. -- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred! If reporting this issue please do so to (not Homebrew/* repositories): apple/apple MacOS 15.3.1 Thank you in advanced Regards
2
5
393
May ’25