Render advanced 3D graphics and perform data-parallel computations using graphics processors using Metal.

Metal Documentation

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Question about metal-cpp resource allocation
I notice some metal-cpp classes have static funtion like static URL* fileURLWithPath(const class String* pPath); static class ComputePassDescriptor* computePassDescriptor(); static class AccelerationStructurePassDescriptor* accelerationStructurePassDescriptor(); which return a new object. these classes also provide 'alloc' and 'init' function to create object by default. for object created by 'alloc' and 'init', I use something like NS::Shaderd_Ptr or call release directly to free memory. Because 'alloc' and 'init' not explicit call on these static function. I wonder how to correctly free object created by these static function? did they managed by autorelease pool?
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Mar ’25
MetalFx
Recently, I adopted MetalFX for Upscale feature. However, I have encountered a persistent build failure for the iOS Simulator with the error message, 'MetalFX is not available when building for iOS Simulator.' To address this, I modified the MetalFX.framework status to 'Optional' within Build Phases > Link Binary With Libraries, adding the linker option (-weak_framework). Despite this adjustment, the build process continues to fail. Furthermore, I observed that the MetalFX sample application provided by Apple, specifically the one found at https://developer.apple.com/documentation/metalfx/applying-temporal-antialiasing-and-upscaling-using-metalfx, also fails to build for the iOS Simulator target. Has anyone encountered this issue?
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Mar ’25
How can I get pixel coordinates in the fragment tile function?
In this video, tile fragment shading is recommended for image processing. In this example, the unpack function takes two arguments, one of which is RasterizerData. As I understand it, this is the data passed to us from the previous stage (Vertex) of the graphics pipeline. However, the properties of MTLTileRenderPipelineDescriptor do not include an option for specifying a Vertex function. Therefore, in this render pass, a mix of commands is used: first, a draw command is executed to obtain UV coordinates, and then threads are dispatched. My question is: without using a draw command, only dispatch, how can I get pixel coordinates in the fragment tile function? For the kernel tile function, everything is clear. typedef struct { float4 OPTexture [[ color(0) ]]; float4 IntermediateTex [[ color(1) ]]; } FragmentIO; fragment FragmentIO Unpack(RasterizerData in [[ stage_in ]], texture2d<float, access::sample> srcImageTexture [[texture(0)]]) { FragmentIO out; //... // Run necessary per-pixel operations out.OPTexture = // assign computed value; out.IntermediateTex = // assign computed value; return out; }
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Mar ’25
Why slower with larger threadgroup memory?
I'm implementing optimized matmul on metal: https://github.com/crynux-ai/metal-matmul/blob/main/metal/1_shared_mem.metal I notice that performance is significantly different with different threadgroup memory set in [computeEncoder setThreadgroupMemoryLength] All other lines are exactly same, the only difference is this parameter. Matmul performance is roughly 250 GFLops if I set 32768 (max bytes allowed on this M1 Max), but 400 GFLops if I set 8192. Why does this happen? How can I optimize it?
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Apr ’25
WWDC25 Metal & game technologies group lab
Hello, Thank you for attending today’s Metal & game technologies group lab at WWDC25! We were delighted to answer many questions from developers and energized by the community engagement. We hope you enjoyed it and welcome your feedback. We invite you to carry on the conversation here, particularly if your question appeared in Slido and we were unable to answer it during the lab. If your question received feedback let us know if you need clarification. You may want to ask your question again in a different lab e.g. visionOS tomorrow. (We realize that this can be confusing when frameworks interoperate) We have a lot to learn from each other so let’s get to Q&A and make the best of WWDC25! 😃 Looking forward to your questions posted in new threads.
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Jul ’25
Xcode Vulkan is opening two windows instead of one.
I'm a newbee at Vulkan and Xcode. I have my project on github https://github.com/flocela/OrangeSpider/ Whenever I run, two windows open instead of only one. I added testing, which means I have an OrangeSpider.xctestplan in the OrangeSpider/TestsOrangeSpider/ folder. This is my first time adding testing to an XCode project, so I think this may be where the problem is. I also get this error message: ViewBridge to RemoteViewService Terminated: Error Domain=com.apple.ViewBridge Code=18 "(null)" UserInfo={com.apple.ViewBridge.error.hint=this process disconnected remote view controller -- benign unless unexpected, com.apple.ViewBridge.error.description=NSViewBridgeErrorCanceled}
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Jul ’25
MetalFX upscaler/denoiser and instant changes
Hi, What's the best way to handle drastic changes in scene charateristics with the new MTLFXTemporalDenoisedScaler? Let's say a visible object of the scene radically changes its material properties. I can modify the albedo and roughness textures consequently. But I suspect the history will be corrupted. Blending visual information between the new frame and the previous ones might be a nonsense. I guess the problem should be the same when objects appear or disappear instantly. Is the upsacler manage these events for us (by lowering blending), or should we use the reactive or the denoise strength mask or something like that to handle them?
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Jul ’25
Bug Report - Incorrect trackingAreaIdentifier in visionOS 26 Hover Effect Sample Code
Description: In the official visionOS 26 Hover Effect sample code project , I encountered an issue where the event.trackingAreaIdentifier returned by onSpatialEvent does not reset as expected. Steps to Reproduce: Select an object with trackingAreaID = 6 in the sample app. Look at a blank space (outside any tracking area) and perform a pinch gesture . Expected Behavior: The event.trackingAreaIdentifier should return 0 when interacting with a non-tracking area. Actual Behavior: The event.trackingAreaIdentifier still returns 6, even after restarting the app or killing the process. This persists regardless of where the pinch gesture is performed
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Jul ’25
Unable to package in UE5.6
Im new in the Mac area but for sure not UE. Windows is a long process to packaging but it could be done. All the documentation for Epic and from the internet is basically non existent with exactly how to package a project within UE. I have Xcode installed which makes sense, agreed to terms and install for MacOS, I've been able to make a project for several weeks now and want to package for a test run for my friends to play on Windows. Now I just get this in the log: UATHelper: Packaging (Mac): ERROR: Failed to finalize the .app with Xcode. Check the log for more information UATHelper: Packaging (Mac): Trace written to file /Users/rileysleger/Library/Logs/Unreal Engine/LocalBuildLogs/UBA-ProjectNightTerror-Mac-Development.uba with size 12.6kb UATHelper: Packaging (Mac): Total time in Unreal Build Accelerator local executor: 8.12 seconds UATHelper: Packaging (Mac): Result: Failed (OtherCompilationError) UATHelper: Packaging (Mac): Total execution time: 9.71 seconds PackagingResults: Error: Failed to finalize the .app with Xcode. Check the log for more information UATHelper: Packaging (Mac): Took 9.77s to run dotnet, ExitCode=6 UATHelper: Packaging (Mac): UnrealBuildTool failed. See log for more details. (/Users/rileysleger/Library/Logs/Unreal Engine/LocalBuildLogs/UBA-ProjectNightTerror-Mac-Development.txt) UATHelper: Packaging (Mac): AutomationTool executed for 0h 0m 10s UATHelper: Packaging (Mac): AutomationTool exiting with ExitCode=6 (6) UATHelper: Packaging (Mac): RunUAT ERROR: AutomationTool was unable to run successfully. Exited with code: 6 PackagingResults: Error: AutomationTool was unable to run successfully. Exited with code: 6 PackagingResults: Error: Unknown Error This absolutely makes no sense to me. Anyone have ideas?
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Jul ’25
CustomMetalView sample uses deprecated functions - update?
The sample code here, has code like: // Create a display link capable of being used with all active displays cvReturn = CVDisplayLinkCreateWithActiveCGDisplays(&_displayLink); But that function's doc says it's deprecated and to use NSView/NSWindow/NSScreen displayLink instead. That returns CADisplayLink, not CVDisplayLink. Also the documentation for that displayLink method is completely empty. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to add it to run loop, or what, after I get it. It would be nice to get an updated version of this sample project and/or have some documentation in NSView.displayLink
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Jul ’25
Combining render encoders
When I take a frame capture of my application in Xcode, it shows a warning that reads "Your application created separate command encoders which can be combined into a single encoder. By combining these encoders you may reduce your application's load/store bandwidth usage." In the minimal reproduction case I've identified for this warning, I have two render pipeline states: The first writes to the current drawable, the depth buffer, and a secondary color buffer. The second writes only to the current drawable. Because these are writing to a different set of outputs, I was initially creating two separate render command encoders to handle the draws under each of these states. My understanding is that Xcode is telling me I could only create one, however when I try to do that, I get runtime asserts when attempting to apply the second render pipeline state since it doesn't have a matching attachment configured for the second color buffer or for the depth buffer, so I can't just combine the encoders. Is the only solution here to detect and propagate forward the color/depth attachments from the first state into the creation of the second state? Is there any way to suppress this specific warning in Xcode?
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Jul ’25
CAMetalLayer nextDrawable crash
Hi , My application meet below crash backtrace at very low repro rate from the public users, i do not see it relate to a specific iOS version or iPhone model. The last code line from my application is calling CAMetalLayer nextDrawable API. I did some basic studying, suppose it may relate to the wrong CAMetaLayer configuration, like frame property w or h <= 0.0 bounds property w or h <= 0.0 drawableSize w or h <= 0.0 or w or h > max value (like 16384) Not sure my above thinking is right or not? Will the UIView which my CAMetaLayer attached will cause such nextDrawable crash or not ? Thanks a lot Main Thread - Crashed libsystem_kernel.dylib __pthread_kill libsystem_c.dylib abort libsystem_c.dylib __assert_rtn Metal MTLReportFailure.cold.1 Metal MTLReportFailure Metal _MTLMessageContextEnd Metal -[MTLTextureDescriptorInternal validateWithDevice:] AGXMetalA13 0x245b1a000 + 4522096 QuartzCore allocate_drawable_texture(id<MTLDevice>, __IOSurface*, unsigned int, unsigned int, MTLPixelFormat, unsigned long long, CAMetalLayerRotation, bool, NSString*, unsigned long) QuartzCore get_unused_drawable(_CAMetalLayerPrivate*, CAMetalLayerRotation, bool, bool) QuartzCore CAMetalLayerPrivateNextDrawableLocked(CAMetalLayer*, CAMetalDrawable**, unsigned long*) QuartzCore -[CAMetalLayer nextDrawable] SpaceApp -[MetalRender renderFrame:] MetalRenderer.mm:167 SpaceApp -[FrameBuffer acceptFrame:] VideoRender.mm:173 QuartzCore CA::Display::DisplayLinkItem::dispatch_(CA::SignPost::Interval<(CA::SignPost::CAEventCode)835322056>&) QuartzCore CA::Display::DisplayLink::dispatch_items(unsigned long long, unsigned long long, unsigned long long) QuartzCore CA::Display::DisplayLink::dispatch_deferred_display_links(unsigned int) UIKitCore _UIUpdateSequenceRun UIKitCore schedulerStepScheduledMainSection UIKitCore runloopSourceCallback CoreFoundation __CFRUNLOOP_IS_CALLING_OUT_TO_A_SOURCE0_PERFORM_FUNCTION__ CoreFoundation __CFRunLoopDoSource0 CoreFoundation __CFRunLoopDoSources0 CoreFoundation __CFRunLoopRun CoreFoundation CFRunLoopRunSpecific GraphicsServices GSEventRunModal UIKitCore -[UIApplication _run] UIKitCore UIApplicationMain
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Jul ’25
Problem running Unreal 5.6
I am using Unreal Engine 5.6 on a MacBook Pro with an M3 chip and macOS 15.5. I’ve installed Xcode and accepted the license, but Unreal is not detecting the latest Metal Shader Standard (Metal v3.0). The maximum version Unreal sees is Metal v2.4, even though the hardware and OS should support Metal 3.0. I’ve also run sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app and accepted the license via Terminal. Is there anything in Xcode settings, SDK availability, or system permissions that could be preventing access to Metal 3.0 features?"
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Jul ’25
Background GPU Access availability
I would love to use Background GPU Access to do some video processing in the background. However the documentation of BGContinuedProcessingTaskRequest.Resources.gpu clearly states: Not all devices support background GPU use. For more information, see Performing long-running tasks on iOS and iPadOS. Is there a list available of currently released devices that do (or don't) support GPU background usage? That would help to understand what part of our user base can use this feature. (And what hardware we need to test this on as developers.) For example it seems that it isn't supported on an iPad Pro M1 with the current iOS 26 beta. The simulators also seem to not support the background GPU resource. So would be great to understand what hardware is capable of using this feature!
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Jul ’25
Metal IR reference
Hello! I'm developing a GPU (shader) language, where I aim to target multiple backends with a common frontend. I wanted to avoid having to round trip through Metal, and go straight to IR just like I have with SPIRV, in order to have a fast and efficient compilation process. I've been looking for a reference page where I can read about Metals IR, and as far as I'm aware, it exists, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Furthermore, if such a reference is available, is there also a toolkit where I can run validation on the output IR, and perhaps even run optimizations, much like spv-tools for SPIRV? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks, Gustav
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Jul ’25
Warning code: 00000006 will affect background survival
Our APP has integrated 3D function, in order to reduce the memory occupation of the APP in the background, we will uninstall the 3D after the APP enters the background. However, the uninstall also causes problems. When the uninstall process is executed in the background, the app will briefly trigger the background GPU rendering error warning with the error warning code: OGPUMetalError: Insufficient Permission (to submit GPU work from background) (00000006:kIOGPUCommandBufferCallbackErrorBackgroundExecutionNotPermitted) Execution of the command buffer was aborted due to an error during execution. Insufficient Permission (to submit GPU Work from background) (00000006: kIOGPUCommandBufferCallbackErrorBackgroundExecutionNotPermitted) excuse me this warning system will tighten APP permissions background?​ For example, limit or shorten the background survival time of the APP. In addition, will the background refresh function fail, resulting in the failure of Bluetooth Ibeacon activation?
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Aug ’25
Compute kernel fails to compile when calling texture.read()
If I compile a compute kernel with a call to texture.read(), it fails with the following error: "Error Domain=AGXMetalG13X Code=3 "Encountered unlowered function call to air.get_read_sampler" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Encountered unlowered function call to air.get_read_sampler}." This error occurs on both macOS and iOS 26 Beta 5, but not when running on a simulator or in a playground. It does not occur on a macOS Sequoia VM. It occurs whether I use the old metal 3 or new metal 4 compilation method. A workaround would be to use a sampler, but according to the feature tables, all platforms support reading from textures of all formats. Below is a minimal example which produces the error: let device = MTLCreateSystemDefaultDevice()! let library = device.makeDefaultLibrary()! let computeFunction = library.makeFunction(name: "compute_test")! do { let pipeline = try device.makeComputePipelineState(function: computeFunction) debugPrint(pipeline) } catch { debugPrint("Metal 3 failed with error:\n\(error)") } #import <metal_stdlib> using namespace metal; kernel void compute_test(uint2 gid [[thread_position_in_grid]], texture2d<float, access::read> in [[texture(0)]], texture2d<float, access::write> out [[texture(1)]]) { out.write(in.read(gid), gid); } I filed feedback FB19530049.
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Aug ’25
Float64 (Double Precision) Support on MPS with PyTorch on Apple Silicon?
Hi everyone, This project uses PyTorch on an Apple Silicon Mac (M1/M2/etc.), and the goal is to use the MPS backend for GPU acceleration, notes Apple Developer. However, the workflow depends on Float64 (double-precision) floating-point numbers for certain computations, notes PyTorch Forums. The error "Cannot convert a MPS Tensor to float64 dtype as the MPS framework doesn't support float64. Please use float32 instead" has been encountered, notes GitHub. It seems that the MPS backend doesn't currently support Float64 for direct GPU computation. Questions for the community: Are there any known workarounds or best practices for handling Float64-dependent operations when using the MPS backend with PyTorch? For those working with high-precision tasks on Apple Silicon, what strategies are being used to balance performance with the need for Float64? Offloading to the CPU is an option, and it's of interest to know if there are any specific techniques or libraries within the Apple ecosystem that could streamline this process while aiming for optimal performance. Any insights, tips, or experiences would be appreciated. Thanks in advance, Jonaid MacBook Pro M3 Max
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Oct ’25