Hey all! I'm got my hands on a refurbished mac mini m1 and already diving into metal. At the moment, i'm currently studying graphics programming with opengl and got to a point where I can almost create a 3d cube. However, I noticed there aren't many tutorials for metal cpp but rather demos. One thing I love about graphic programming, is skinning/skeletal animation. At the moment, I can't find any sources or tutorials on how to load skeletal animations into metal-cpp. So, if I create my character in blender and had all types of animations all loaded into a .FBX or maybe .DAE and load this into metal api with metal-cpp, how can I go on about how this works?
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Had anyone experienced convexCast causing a crash and what might be behind it?
Here's the call stack:
Hello,
I want to use flattenedClone() node for the trees in my landscape and reduce the draw call. If my texture uses a jpg file the result is good. If I use a PNG with transparency there is no draw call reduction.
Can I use PNGs with transparency with the flattenedClone() ?
Below is the structure I'm using:
for child in scene_temp.rootNode.childNodes {
let newtree = tree.clone()
sum_tree.addChildNode(newtree)
}
let sum_tree_flat = sum_tree.flattenedClone()
scene.rootNode.addChildNode(sum_tree_flat)
If the tree texture contains a JPG file (diffuse) I get a draw call reduction (< 200 for my complete map) as expected (but no transparency with my leaves). If I use a PNG file, my draw calls are not reduced (> 2000) but I do have my trees with my leaves in transparency.
I've tried replacing tree.clone() with tree.flattenedClone() with no results.
Thanks for your help.
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I'm running into an issue with collisions between two entities with a character controller component. In the collision handler for moveCharacter the collision has both hitEntity and characterEntity set to the same object. This object is the entity that was moved with moveCharacter()
The below example configures 3 objects.
stationary sphere with character controller
falling sphere with character controller
a stationary cube with a collision component
if the falling sphere hits the stationary sphere then the collision handler reports both hitEntity and characterEntity to be the falling sphere. I would expect that the hitEntity would be the stationary sphere and the character entity would be the falling sphere.
if the falling sphere hits the cube with a collision component the the hit entity is the cube and the characterEntity is the falling sphere as expected.
Is this the expected behavior? The entities act as expected visually however if I want the spheres to react differently depending on what character they collided with then I am not getting the expected results. IE: If a player controlled character collides with a NPC then exchange resource with NPC. if player collides with enemy then take damage.
import SwiftUI
import RealityKit
struct ContentView: View {
@State var root: Entity = Entity()
@State var stationary: Entity = createCharacter(named: "stationary", radius: 0.05, color: .blue)
@State var falling: Entity = createCharacter(named: "falling", radius: 0.05, color: .red)
@State var collisionCube: Entity = createCollisionCube(named: "cube", size: 0.1, color: .green)
//relative to root
@State var fallFrom: SIMD3<Float> = [0,0.5,0]
var body: some View {
RealityView { content in
content.add(root)
root.position = [0,-0.5,0.0]
root.addChild(stationary)
stationary.position = [0,0.05,0]
root.addChild(falling)
falling.position = fallFrom
root.addChild(collisionCube)
collisionCube.position = [0.2,0,0]
collisionCube.components.set(InputTargetComponent())
}
.gesture(SpatialTapGesture().targetedToAnyEntity().onEnded { tap in
let tapPosition = tap.entity.position(relativeTo: root)
falling.components.remove(FallComponent.self)
falling.teleportCharacter(to: tapPosition + fallFrom, relativeTo: root)
})
.toolbar {
ToolbarItemGroup(placement: .bottomOrnament) {
HStack {
Button("Drop") {
falling.components.set(FallComponent(speed: 0.4))
}
Button("Reset") {
falling.components.remove(FallComponent.self)
falling.teleportCharacter(to: fallFrom, relativeTo: root)
}
}
}
}
}
}
@MainActor
func createCharacter(named name: String, radius: Float, color: UIColor) -> Entity {
let character = ModelEntity(mesh: .generateSphere(radius: radius), materials: [SimpleMaterial(color: color, isMetallic: false)])
character.name = name
character.components.set(CharacterControllerComponent(radius: radius, height: radius))
return character
}
@MainActor
func createCollisionCube(named name: String, size: Float, color: UIColor) -> Entity {
let cube = ModelEntity(mesh: .generateBox(size: size), materials: [SimpleMaterial(color: color, isMetallic: false)])
cube.name = name
cube.generateCollisionShapes(recursive: true)
return cube
}
struct FallComponent: Component {
let speed: Float
}
struct FallSystem: System{
static let predicate: QueryPredicate<Entity> = .has(FallComponent.self) && .has(CharacterControllerComponent.self)
static let query: EntityQuery = .init(where: predicate)
let down: SIMD3<Float> = [0,-1,0]
init(scene: RealityKit.Scene) {
}
func update(context: SceneUpdateContext) {
let deltaTime = Float(context.deltaTime)
for entity in context.entities(matching: Self.query, updatingSystemWhen: .rendering) {
let speed = entity.components[FallComponent.self]?.speed ?? 0.5
entity.moveCharacter(by: down * speed * deltaTime, deltaTime: deltaTime, relativeTo: nil) { collision in
if collision.hitEntity == collision.characterEntity {
print("hit entity has collided with itself")
}
print("\(collision.characterEntity.name) collided with \(collision.hitEntity.name) ")
}
}
}
}
#Preview(windowStyle: .volumetric) {
ContentView()
}
Hola. At this point, I'm at my wit's end because I've tried EVERYTHING just to be able to play a single game on my Mac, but the new update makes it impossible.
So I'm just gonna ask for one game: I've been trying to play Stardew Valley, modded with SMAPI, for a week now. Despite playing the game with mods for almost 2 years, OS is refusing to open the game because SMAPI "contains malware". I tried reinstalling the mod, but no dice. It just automatically deletes the terminal and blocks the game from opening.
You can imagine my frustration because the mod has been 100% safe for 2 years. No option to "Open Anyway" in Security Settings, either. I have no say in this. I've tried code signing it in Terminal (three times). Also no dice. Followed these two forums.
https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewValley/comments/1h071jl/mac_deleted_stardew_modding_api_because_of_malware/
https://www.reddit.com/r/SMAPI/comments/1h0fgv9/solution_for_mac_malware_issue_with_smapi_417/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
NOTHING. Please tell me there's a way to override this??? Just let me install malware on my computer!😭
Topic:
Graphics & Games
SubTopic:
General
Hello ladies and gentlemen, I'm writing a simple renderer on the main actor using Metal and Swift 6. I am at the stage now where I want to create a render pipeline state using asynchronous API:
@MainActor
class Renderer {
let opaqueMeshRPS: MTLRenderPipelineState
init(/*...*/) async throws {
let descriptor = MTLRenderPipelineDescriptor()
// ...
opaqueMeshRPS = try await device.makeRenderPipelineState(descriptor: descriptor)
}
}
I get a compilation error if try to use the asynchronous version of the makeRenderPipelineState method:
Non-sendable type 'any MTLRenderPipelineState' returned by implicitly asynchronous call to nonisolated function cannot cross actor boundary
Which is understandable, since MTLRenderPipelineState is not Sendable. But it looks like no matter where or how I try to access this method, I just can't do it - you have this API, but you can't use it, you can only use the synchronous versions.
Am I missing something or is Metal just not usable with Swift 6 right now?
I play this game called Sonic Forces: Speed Battle that's available in the app store and I completed a quest outside of the app on this site called TapResearch for some rewards as I've done before and has worked, but after this one time I can no longer enter back into the game without crashing immediately. I tried deleting and reinstalling but nothing. I even tried signing into a different account but that didn't work either. So then I tried to make a new game center account to try and see if it works, and it did, though all my progress has been restarted. Does anyone know how to fix this?
Our application is trying to read all resolutions of an external monitor. We have observed that, for the external monitor there is a mismatch in resolution list in our application and the resolution list in system settings. We are using the apple API "CGDisplayCopyAllDisplayModes" to read the resolutions.
I want to use reality to create a custom material that can use my own shader and support Mesh instancing (for rendering 3D Gaussian splating), but I found that CustomMaterial does not support VisionOS. Is there any other interface that can achieve my needs? Where can I find examples?
Topic:
Graphics & Games
SubTopic:
RealityKit
I’ve been trying to run Jurassic World Evolution 2 using the Game Porting Toolkit on macOS, but the game doesn’t launch and crashes immediately. Based on the error and research, it seems the issue is related to missing support for D3D12_TILED_RESOURCES_TIER_2 in the Metal API.
If this is the case, does anyone know if support for tiled resources is planned for future updates of the toolkit? Or are there any potential workarounds for bypassing this limitation?
I would like a monthly recurring leaderboard, but the most days one can set for the recurring leaderboard is 30, and some months have 31 days (or 28/29). This is dumb. I guess I have to manually reset a classic leaderboard each month to get this result?
Additionally once it closes and is about to reset (I also have daily recurring leaderboards), I'd like to grant the top placers on the leaderboard a corresponding achievement, but I don't see any way of doing this.
I believe I can do all these things on PlayFab, but it'll take a bit more work, and eventually cost.
Any one have advise?
Topic:
Graphics & Games
SubTopic:
GameKit
Everything works fine, except when tapping the navigation Back link and returning to the previous view, the AR session inside RealityView does not terminate. The green dot camera indicator stays on, it is still scanning the environment, and if the package has audio in it, the audio will still play, albeit extremely panned on the right channel.
I have no issues terminating QuickLook or ARSCNView.
I have a simple NavigationLink opening the RealityView...
NavigationLink(destination: MyRealityView()) {
Text("Open AR")
}
struct MyRealityView : View {
var body: some View {
RealityView { content in
// Create horizontal plane anchor for the content
let anchor = AnchorEntity(.plane(.horizontal, classification: .floor, minimumBounds: [0.5,0.5]))
let scene = await loadEntity(named: "Scene")
// Add model to anchor
anchor.addChild(scene!)
content.add(anchor)
// View Settings
content.camera = .spatialTracking
} placeholder: {
ProgressView()
}
.onDisappear {
//print("RealityView is disappearing. Cleanup actions here.")
}
.edgesIgnoringSafeArea(.all)
// Activate onTap from Reality Composer Pro
.gesture(TapGesture().targetedToAnyEntity().onEnded { value in
_ = value.entity.applyTapForBehaviors()
})
}}
I have experimented with several ways of trying to close it, and I can't figure it out. I have tried State variables and custom Back buttons. I was also trying to working with pause(), but I can't seem to get that to function either.
Anyone else have this issue or know of a solution? What am I missing?
Topic:
Graphics & Games
SubTopic:
RealityKit
var allLeaderboards = await GKLeaderboard.LoadLeaderboards();
Log(allLeaderboards.Count); // returns 0
What am I missing??
What doesn’t work:
await GKGameActivityDefinition.LoadGameActivityDefinitions() → count = 0
await GKLeaderboard.LoadLeaderboards() (no args) → 0 leaderboards
await GKLeaderboard.LoadLeaderboards("MY ID") → returns 0
GkGameActivity.SetScoreOnLeaderboard(Leaderboard, score, context); returns an error since my Leaderboard is null.
Activities and leaderboards are defined in GameCenterResources.gamekit in Xcode.
Achievements that I add locally in the .gamekit file do not appear at runtime either; only ASC live ones show.
**
What works:**
xcode- debug- Gamekit- Manage Game progress- I can submit new scores with the plus button and see the notification on my device.
await GKLocalPlayer.Authenticate() succeeds.
await GKAchievement.LoadAchievements() returns the list of achievements configured in App Store Connect- but not any new local achievements created in Xcode in GameCenterResources.gamekit
Environment
Device/OS: iPhone on iOS 26.0 beta (Game Center sandbox)
Xcode: 26.0 beta 6
Unity: 2022.3.21
Apple GameKit Unity plugin: 2025-beta1 (GameKit package)
Signing: Game Center capability enabled; using development provisioning profile
GameKit resources: GameCenterResources.gamekit in project (Target: Unity-iPhone), appears under Build Phases → Copy Bundle Resources
Hi,
I am a Multimedia and Graphics researcher and I am wondering if OpenGL API and drivers will be removed after appleOS 26?
macOS 26
iOS 26
iPadOS 26
visionOS 26
I am asking this because most of the libraries I use depends on OpenGL. Like CGAL, libigl, immediate mode ui, nanovg, nanogui, bullet physics. Transitioning from Vulkan and metal while using and learning those libraries is just not viable.
I would like to ask you that. I am the sole developer and I just want to ask you that.
Regards.
Topic:
Graphics & Games
SubTopic:
General
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?
Topic:
Graphics & Games
SubTopic:
Metal
Hi everyone,
I’m developing an iPad app that will be running continuously with the screen always on — similar to a restaurant ordering system.
I understand that some of the newer iPad Pro models are equipped with OLED displays. I'm concerned about the potential risk of screen burn-in due to static UI elements being displayed for extended periods.
Does burn-in occur on the OLED iPad Pro models under such usage?
Would it be advisable to implement a screen saver or periodically animate/change parts of the UI to prevent this?
Any insights or best practices would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Topic:
Graphics & Games
SubTopic:
General
Hello,
I'm currently working on my first SceneKit game and have encountered an issue related to moving an SCNNode using a UIPanGestureRecognizer.
When I deploy the game to my iPhone via Xcode in debug mode, all interactions are smooth. However, when I stop the debugging session and run the game directly from the device (outside of Xcode), the SCNNode movement behaves inconsistently — it works sometimes smoothly and sometimes not and the interaction becomes choppy. The SCNNode movement is controlled using a UIPanGestureRecognizer.
Do you have any ideas what might be causing the issue?
Hi all,
I’m running into an issue when trying to reconstruct a 3D model using PhotogrammetrySession on macOS from a set of images captured via the iOS Object Capture sample app, specifically in Area mode.
When I attempt to create the model from these images (using the raw Images/ folder exported directly from the capture session), I get the following errors:
ERROR cv3dapi.pg: Internal error codes (2): 4011 4012
WARN cv3dapi.pg: Internal warning codes (1): 4507
Output error with code = -15
requestError: CoreOC.PhotogrammetrySession.Error.processError
I use the "Images" directory directly exported from Object Capture with my iphone 12 pro max (has lidar) set to "area mode" in the object capture app
here is an example heic image metadata from the sequence.
heif-info Images/00044.869568833.HEIC
MIME type: image/heic
main brand: heic
compatible brands: mif1, MiHE, MiPr, miaf, MiHB, heic
image: 3024x4032 (id=49), primary
tiles: 6x8, tile size: 512x512
colorspace: YCbCr, 4:2:0
bit depth: 8
thumbnail: 240x320
color profile: nclx
alpha channel: no
depth channel: yes
size: 192x256
bits per pixel: 8
z-near: 1.173828
z-far: 2.552734
d-min: undefined
d-max: undefined
representation: uniform Z
metadata:
Exif: 960 bytes
uri /tag:apple.com,2023:ObjectCapture#CameraTrackingState: 4 bytes
uri /tag:apple.com,2023:ObjectCapture#CameraCalibrationData: 1015 bytes
uri /tag:apple.com,2023:ObjectCapture#ObjectTransform: 48 bytes
uri /tag:apple.com,2023:ObjectCapture#ObjectBoundingBox: 48 bytes
uri /tag:apple.com,2023:ObjectCapture#RawFeaturePoints: 832 bytes
uri /tag:apple.com,2023:ObjectCapture#PointCloudData: 23984 bytes
uri /tag:apple.com,2023:ObjectCapture#BundleVersion: 5 bytes
uri /tag:apple.com,2023:ObjectCapture#SegmentID: 4 bytes
uri /tag:apple.com,2024:ObjectCapture#SessionUUID: 36 bytes
uri /tag:apple.com,2024:ObjectCapture#CaptureMode: 4 bytes
uri /tag:apple.com,2023:ObjectCapture#Feedback: 4 bytes
uri /tag:apple.com,2023:ObjectCapture#WideToDepthCameraTransform: 48 bytes
uri /tag:apple.com,2023:ObjectCapture#TemporalDepthPointClouds: 864026 bytes
transformations:
angle (ccw): 270
region annotations:
none
properties:
camera intrinsic matrix:
focal length: 2813.695557; 2813.695557
principal point: 1522.338502; 2002.843018
skew: 0.000000
camera extrinsic matrix:
rotation matrix:
-0.695 0.344 -0.632
0.007 -0.875 -0.483
-0.719 -0.340 0.606
Questions:
• What do internal error codes 4011 and 4012 refer to?
• Is there something specific about Area mode captures that require preprocessing before they’re compatible with PhotogrammetrySession?
• Has anyone successfully reconstructed a model from an Area mode session using the stock Apple tools?
NOTE: I can provide the folder of images for debugging if that would help!
I am trying to use Broadcast upload extension but Broadcast picker starts countdown and stops (swiftUI).
Steps i followed.
added BroadcastUploadExtension as target
same app group for for main app and extension
added packages using SPM
i seems the extension functions are not getting triggered, i check using UIScreen.main.isCaptured also which always comes as false.
i tried Using Logs which never Appeared.
During regular use, RealityKit generates an excessive amount of internal logging that is not actionable by third party developers. When developing an iOS RealityKit/ARKit app, this makes the Xcode console challenging to use for regular work.
(FB19173812)
See screenshots below.
Xcode does have an option for filtering out logging from specific SDKs, but enabling this feature to suppress the logging of RealityKit and related SDKs like PHASE is something developers have to do dozens of times each day. After a year of developing a RealityKit app, this process becomes frustrating.
If SDKs like Foundation, UIKit, and SwiftUI generated as much logging as RealityKit and related SDKs, Xcode's console would be unusable.
Is there any way to disable the logging of RealityKit and PHASE permanently?
Thank you for any help you provide.