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What are the CAMetalLayer.nextDrawable threading rules?
What evidence exists that it's safe to call nextDrawable() on CAMetalLayer off the main thread? I have seen developers claiming that it's OK, but the official docs are silent on the topic. Attempting to do so with Strict Concurrency Checking set to Complete complains that CAMetalLayer is not @Sendable. I want to call it off the main thread since there doesn't seem to be any way to prevent it from blocking the UI for up to a second. I have read hints and allegations that this won't happen if you avoid asking for too many drawables, but that doesn't seem to be true 100% of the time in my experience. Supposing it is allowed, I wonder how races are handled such as when the layer's size is changed on the main thread, or if the layer is removed from the layer hierarchy.
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512
Dec ’24
RealityKit, Attachments - not working
The simplest realityView (content, attachments in ... causes Contextual closure expects 1 argument but 2 were used in closure body. I have checked every example and i cannot understand why i get this error regardless of any content. Note: i have added Attachment(id: "test") to the attachment closure and get Attachment not is scope. imported both realityKit and SwiftUI.
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140
16h
Issues importing Tiled Image Material X shader node into Reality Composer Pro
Hey, I am having issues getting my Material X shaders to work properly in Reality Composer Pro that I've authored in Houdini. The shader is very simple. It starts with a tiled image node that is written to the diffuse color of the preview surface node. This node is called mtxltileimage2. When I create a tiled image node in RCP and configure it to have the same parameter values I get the texture to show up correctly. This node is called TiledImage. One difference I can identify is that the second node has a grey icon whereas the first node has a blue icon. Could this be related to this issue? Here is the USD viewer output for the two variants of the tiled image node. Any pointers, misconceptions and help would be greatly appreciated. My goal is to be able and author these shaders in Houdini and import them into RCP. Trying to figure out the right pipeline for this workflow.
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678
Dec ’24
Building Game Porting Toolkit on Sequoia
Like many folks here, I've recently attempted to build Apple's Game Porting Toolkit on my machine and ran into compiler errors, but instead of going the usual route of downloading the prebuilt package (kindly provided by GCenX), I decided to see if I could force it to build (since it was obviously buildable at some point). Down below is the list of things I had to do to make it work. Disclaimer: There are several dirty hacks I had to attempt to force the system to do what I needed. Use at your own risk. Don't forget to run all brew commands from a Rosetta prompt: arch -x86_64 zsh Install openssl This one is easy. Just run brew tap rbenv/tap brew install rbenv/tap/openssl@1.1 Install Command Line Tools 15.1 This specific version is required since newer versions come with the linker that is not compatible with the custom compiler (game-porting-toolkit-compiler) that GPTK is using. However, by default 15.1 tools won't install on Sequoia since the installer complains that macOS version is too new. Obviously, Apple has their reasons to not allow this, but all we need is a compiler which should be mostly indifferent to the OS version. To trick the installer, we need to change OS requirement of the installer package. You can do it in four easy steps: Copy Command Line Tools.pkg from the mounted Command_Line_Tools_for_Xcode_15.1.dmg to some other directory. Expand the installer package: pkgutil --expand "Command Line Tools.pkg" CLT You might be prompted to install Command Line Tools when you call pkgutil, just install any version. Go to the newly created CLT folder and edit the Distribution file (it may appear as executable but it's just an xml). You would want to change allowed-os-versions to something greater than 15. Removing this section altogether might also work. When done, re-wrap the package: pkgutil --flatten CLT "Command Line Tools 2.pkg" Congratulations, now you should be able to install 15.1 tools on your OS! If you had to install newer Command Line Tools for pkgutil, delete them before installing 15.1: sudo rm -rf /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools Next step is to make Homebrew accept the outdated 15.1 tools, as by default it'll complain that they're outdated or corrupted. To shut it up, open /usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/extend/os/Mac/diagnostic.rb and remove references to check_if_supported_sdk_available from a couple of fatal build check collections. Note - by default, Homebrew will auto-update on any invocation, which will overwrite any changes you've made to its internals. To disable this behavior, before running any brew commands in the terminal, run export HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 After these manipulations, Homebrew might still complain about outdated Command Line Tools, but it won't be a fatal error anymore. Finally, we need to downgrade MinGW to 11.0.1, since the latest version spits out compiler errors when compiling Wine. Unfortunately, Homebrew does a bad job tracking versions of MinGW, so there is no automatic way to do it. Instead, you have to manually download and install old MinGW 11.0.1 formula from the Homebrew git repository. I used the commit from Sep 16, 2023: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/b95f4f9491394af667943bd92b081046ba3406f2/Formula/m/mingw-w64.rb Download the file above, save it in your current working directory, and then run brew install ./mingw-w64.rb If you had a newer version of MinGW already installed from the previous build attempts, you can unlink it before installing the one above: brew unlink mingw-w64 With Command Line Tools 15.1 and MinGW 11.0.1 you should now be able to build GPTK without errors: brew -v install apple/apple/game-porting-toolkit In the end, steps above worked for me, although more things could break in the future. I'm leaving the instructions here just to show that it's still possible to build GPTK manually instead of relying on third parties, but with all the hoops I had to jump through I can't really recommend it.
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698
Mar ’25
MetalFX for Unity 2022.3.62f3?
Hi, I’m testing Unity’s Spaceship HDRP demo on iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPad Pro M4 (iOS 26.1). Everything renders correctly, and my custom MetalFX Spatial plugin initializes successfully — it briefly reports active scaling (e.g. 1434×660 → 2868×1320 at 50% scaling), then reverts to native rendering a few frames later. Setup: Xcode 16.1 (targeting iOS 18) Unity 2022.3.62f3 (HDRP) Metal backend Dynamic Resolution enabled in HDRP assets and cameras Relevant Xcode console excerpt: [MetalFXPlugin] MetalFX_Enable(True) called. [SpaceshipOptions] MetalFX enabled with HDRP dynamic resolution integration. [SpaceshipOptions] Disabled TAA for MetalFX Spatial. [SpaceshipOptions] Created runtime RenderTexture: 1434x660 [MetalFX] Spatial scaler created (1434x660 → 2868x1320). [MetalFX] Processed frame with scaler. [MetalFXPlugin] Sent RenderTexture (1434x660) to MetalFX. Output target 2868x1320. [SpaceshipOptions] MetalFX target set: 1434x660 [SpaceshipOptions] Camera targetTexture cleared after MetalFX handoff. It looks like HDRP clears the camera’s target texture right after MetalFX submits the frame, which causes it to revert to native rendering. Is there a recommended way to persist or rebind the MetalFX output texture when using HDRP on iOS? Unity doesn’t appear to support MetalFX in the Editor either: Thanks!
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3w
Support for clock() shader instruction in MSL similar to VK_KHR_shader_clock instructions
Hi, seems MSL is missing support for a clock() shader instruction available in other graphics APIs like Vulkan or OpenGL for example.. useful for counting cost in number of clock cycles of some code insider shader with much finer granularity than launching a micro kernel with same instructions and measuring cycles cost from CPU.. also useful for MoltenVK to support that extensions.. thanks..
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115
Apr ’25
VisionOS Spatial Accessory inputs help
The “explore spatial accessory input on visionOS” presentation from WDC25 interests me. I bought both the MUSE Logitech stylus and the PS VR2 sense controllers to try out with the sculpting app presented by the author, engineer Amanda Han. Unfortunately the app itself was not included. Could the app be made available for downloading as well as the Xcode project? I appreciate any assistance the author and your team could provide. Thank you.
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1w
Metal and Swift PM
I have run into an issue where I am trying to use atomic_float in a swift package but I cannot get things to compile because it appears that the Swift Package Manager doesn't support Metal 3 (atomic_float is Metal 3 functionality). Is there any way around this? I am using // swift-tools-version: 6.1 and my Metal code includes: #include <metal_stdlib> #include <metal_geometric> #include <metal_math> #include <metal_atomic> using namespace metal; kernel void test(device atomic_float* imageBuffer [[buffer(1)]], uint id [[ thread_position_in_grid ]]) { } But I get an error on the definition of atomic_float . Any help, one more importantly, where I could have found this information about this limitation, would be helpful. -RadBobby
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95
Apr ’25
Game Center leaderboards not posting scores
My app is live but the leaderboards still aren’t updating. App was built with unreal engine 5 with blueprints. I have the leaderboard stat info entered into the node for write integer to leaderboard and a node for show platform specific leaderboard. The leaderboards are shown as live on app connect. When I run the app, the Game Center login functions and the leaderboard interface launches as expected but it just lists a group of friends to invite. There are no scores listed and it says number of players 0 even though I have scored on two different devices and accounts. I have the Game Center entitlement added in Xcode. Not sure where else to look.
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588
2w
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?
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485
Jan ’25
EXC_BAD_ACCESS when removing IKComponent from Entity
I'm trying to position an Entity with inverse kinematics while dragging the handle only, but use forward kinematics (pose jointTransforms) otherwise. The System, Components, Gestures and Rig all seem to work individually. My approach is to add the IKComponent when dragging starts on the handle and removing the IKComponent it is released. The switch into IK works, but when removing the IKComponent the App crashes * thread #1, queue = 'com.apple.main-thread', stop reason = EXC_BAD_ACCESS (code=1, address=0x8) * frame #0: 0x00000001aa5bb188 CoreRE`(anonymous namespace)::IKComponentSolverWrapper::getSolver() + 60 frame #1: 0x00000001aa5bafb0 CoreRE`re::internal::ikParametersNodeCallback(re::Slice<re::StringID>, re::Slice<re::RigDataValue>, re::Slice<re::StringID>, re::MutableSlice<re::RigDataValue>, void*) + 48 frame #2: 0x00000001aa52d090 CoreRE`re::(anonymous namespace)::resolveEvaluationContextCallback(re::EvaluationContext&, void*) + 152 frame #3: 0x00000001aa68c024 CoreRE`re::(anonymous namespace)::$_76::__invoke(re::Slice<unsigned long>, re::(anonymous namespace)::RegisterTable&) + 1080 frame #4: 0x00000001aa678c94 CoreRE`re::EvaluationModelSingleThread::evaluate(re::EvaluationContextSlices&) + 1188 frame #5: 0x00000001aa866984 CoreRE`re::SkeletalPoseRuntimeData::executeEvaluationTree() + 136 frame #6: 0x00000001aadf37ec CoreRE`re::ecs2::SkeletalPoseComponent::calculateSkeletalPoseBufferWithRig(re::ecs2::MeshComponent*, re::ecs2::RigComponent*, re::ecs2::SkeletalPoseBufferComponent*) + 492 frame #7: 0x00000001aadf4a84 CoreRE`re::ecs2::SkeletalPoseComponentStateImpl::processPreparingComponents(re::ecs2::System::UpdateContext const&, re::ecs2::BasicComponentStateSceneData<re::ecs2::SkeletalPoseComponent>*, re::ecs2::ComponentBuckets<re::ecs2::SkeletalPoseComponent>::BucketIteration, void*) + 268 frame #8: 0x00000001aadf54b0 CoreRE`re::ecs2::SkeletalPoseSystem::update(re::ecs2::System::UpdateContext) const + 732 frame #9: 0x00000001aaed3e54 CoreRE`re::internal::Callable<re::ecs2::ECSManager::configurePhaseECSSystems(re::Scheduler::ScheduleDescriptor&, re::ecs2::ECSSystemGroup, unsigned long)::$_1, void (float)>::operator()(float&&) const + 168 frame #10: 0x00000001ab40eda4 CoreRE`re::Scheduler::executePhase(unsigned long) + 440 frame #11: 0x00000001aa6a3b74 CoreRE`re::Engine::executePhase(re::FramePhase) + 144 frame #12: 0x000000023173de9c RealitySystemSupport`RCPSharedSimulationExecuteUpdate + 64 frame #13: 0x00000002276c9820 MRUIKit`__65-[MRUISharedSimulation _doJoinWithConnectionConfiguration:error:]_block_invoke.35 + 168 frame #14: 0x00000002276c8530 MRUIKit`__addCAPreFenceHandler_block_invoke + 32 frame #15: 0x000000018af22058 QuartzCore`CA::Transaction::run_commit_handlers(CATransactionPhase) + 112 frame #16: 0x000000018aef2ad4 QuartzCore`CA::Context::commit_transaction(CA::Transaction*, double, double*) + 592 frame #17: 0x000000018af21898 QuartzCore`CA::Transaction::commit() + 652 frame #18: 0x000000018af22dac QuartzCore`CA::Transaction::flush_as_runloop_observer(bool) + 68 frame #19: 0x0000000185a26820 UIKitCore`_UIApplicationFlushCATransaction + 48 frame #20: 0x0000000184f97af0 UIKitCore`_UIUpdateSequenceRun + 76 frame #21: 0x0000000185954290 UIKitCore`schedulerStepScheduledMainSection + 168 frame #22: 0x00000001859536d8 UIKitCore`runloopSourceCallback + 80 frame #23: 0x00000001804157fc CoreFoundation`__CFRUNLOOP_IS_CALLING_OUT_TO_A_SOURCE0_PERFORM_FUNCTION__ + 24 frame #24: 0x0000000180415744 CoreFoundation`__CFRunLoopDoSource0 + 172 frame #25: 0x0000000180414eb0 CoreFoundation`__CFRunLoopDoSources0 + 232 frame #26: 0x000000018040f454 CoreFoundation`__CFRunLoopRun + 788 frame #27: 0x000000018040ecd4 CoreFoundation`CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 552 frame #28: 0x0000000190104b70 GraphicsServices`GSEventRunModal + 160 frame #29: 0x0000000185a27e30 UIKitCore`-[UIApplication _run] + 796 frame #30: 0x0000000185a2c058 UIKitCore`UIApplicationMain + 124 frame #31: 0x00000001d29558b4 SwiftUI`closure #1 (Swift.UnsafeMutablePointer<Swift.Optional<Swift.UnsafeMutablePointer<Swift.Int8>>>) -> Swift.Never in SwiftUI.KitRendererCommon(Swift.AnyObject.Type) -> Swift.Never + 164 frame #32: 0x00000001d29555dc SwiftUI`SwiftUI.runApp<τ_0_0 where τ_0_0: SwiftUI.App>(τ_0_0) -> Swift.Never + 84 frame #33: 0x00000001d265ecdc SwiftUI`static SwiftUI.App.main() -> () + 164 frame #34: 0x000000010303f1c4 Playground.debug.dylib`static PlaygroundApp.$main() at <compiler-generated>:0 frame #35: 0x000000010303f290 Playground.debug.dylib`main at PlaygroundApp.swift:7:8 frame #36: 0x0000000102f6d410 dyld_sim`start_sim + 20 frame #37: 0x000000010312e274 dyld`start + 2840 Is there a workaround or another way to switch between IK and FK?
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449
Dec ’24
CMake unable to generate the Xcode file described in this tutorial
In the Creating A 3D Application With Hydra Rendering tutorial on the Apple Developer website, on the last step where I execute this command: cmake -S ~/Users/macuser/CreatingA3DApplicationWithHydraRendering/ -B ~/Users/macuser/CreatingA3DApplicationWithHydraRendering/ I keep getting an error: CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:5 (include): include could not find requested file: /Users/macuser/USDInstall/bin/pxrConfig.cmake I've tried to follow the instructions as mentioned in the README.md file included in the project files at least 5 times as well as moving the pxrConfig.cmake file around and copying it in different folders, then executed the command and was still unsuccessful into generating the proper file expected to compile and render the HydraPlayer renderer. How do I get cmake to generate the Xcode file to create the HydraPlayer renderer?
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144
May ’25
How can I assign priorities to my app’s GPU workloads?
My app has a number of heterogeneous GPU workloads that all run concurrently. Some of these should be executed with the highest priority because the app’s responsiveness depends on them, while others are triggered by file imports and the like which should have a low priority. If this was running on the CPU I’d assign the former User Interactive QoS and the latter Utility QoS. Is there an equivalent to this for GPU work?
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267
2w
How to add and remove child entities to a rigged entity in RealityKit?
I am currently using RealityKit (perspective camera) to render a character in my swiftUI app. The character has customization such as clothing items and hair and all objects are properly weighted to the rig. The way the model is setup in Blender is like so: Groups of objects that will be swapped (ex: Shoes -> Shoes objects) and an armature. I then export it to usdc with all objects active. This is the resulting hierarchy: Before exporting for the animation (armature modifier applied), I simply had to store the Model entities and swap them in but now when I export with the Armature Modifier applied, so that animations get exported, the ModelComponent gets flattened to the armature and swapping entities and applying new materials to them is no longer as simple. Here's a demo blend file and usdc export with a setup like mine, having an animated bone to swing a cube and sphere, to be swapped so that only one is visible https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/be2q6qcztc83z7c4gj1w0/AMapxWc_ip2KZ8oTOYDUMv8?rlkey=rcdaggcxq06dyen09mw5mqmem&st=bnc0d7j0&dl=0 This is how I'm loading the entity and removing a part, with the demo files import SwiftUI import RealityKit struct SwapDemoView: View { var body: some View { RealityView { content in let camera = PerspectiveCamera() camera.transform.translation = SIMD3(x: 0, y: 0.1, z: 3) guard let root = try? await Entity(named: "simpleSwapDemo") else { fatalError("simpleSwapDemo.usdc is not present") } print(root) // Get initial hierarchy guard let cube = root.findEntity(named: "Cube") else { fatalError("Entity cube doesn't exist") } cube.removeFromParent() // <-- Cube is still visible after removal print(root) // Get hierarchy to confirm removal of cube let resource = root.availableAnimations[0] root.playAnimation(resource.repeat()) content.add(root) content.add(camera) } .background(.white) } } And this is what the entity hierarchy looks like in RealityKit before cube removal ▿ 'root' : Entity, children: 1 ⟐ SynchronizationComponent ⟐ AnimationLibraryComponent ⟐ Transform ▿ 'Armature' : ModelEntity, children: 2 ⟐ SynchronizationComponent ⟐ ModelComponent ⟐ SkeletalPosesComponent ⟐ AnimationLibraryComponent ⟐ Transform ▿ 'Armature' : Entity ⟐ SynchronizationComponent ⟐ Transform ▿ 'Primitives' : Entity, children: 2 ⟐ SynchronizationComponent ⟐ Transform ▿ 'Sphere' : Entity, children: 1 ⟐ SynchronizationComponent ⟐ Transform ▿ 'Sphere' : Entity ⟐ SynchronizationComponent ⟐ Transform ▿ 'Cube' : Entity, children: 1 ⟐ SynchronizationComponent ⟐ Transform ▿ 'Cube' : Entity ⟐ SynchronizationComponent ⟐ Transform And here's the hierarchy after removal ▿ 'root' : Entity, children: 1 ⟐ SynchronizationComponent ⟐ AnimationLibraryComponent ⟐ Transform ▿ 'Armature' : ModelEntity, children: 2 ⟐ SynchronizationComponent ⟐ ModelComponent ⟐ SkeletalPosesComponent ⟐ AnimationLibraryComponent ⟐ Transform ▿ 'Armature' : Entity ⟐ SynchronizationComponent ⟐ Transform ▿ 'Primitives' : Entity, children: 1 ⟐ SynchronizationComponent ⟐ Transform ▿ 'Sphere' : Entity, children: 1 ⟐ SynchronizationComponent ⟐ Transform ▿ 'Sphere' : Entity ⟐ SynchronizationComponent ⟐ Transform And this is the result: What's the best practice here? Should animation be exported separately and then applied to the skeleton? If so, how is that achieved? I'm not really sure how to proceed here.
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129
May ’25
Metal triangle strips uniform opacity.
I have this drawing app that I have been working on for the past few years when I have free time. I recently rebuilt the app in Metal to build out other brushes and improve performance, need to render 10000s of lines in realtime. I’m running into this issue trying to create a uniform opacity per path. I have a solution but do not love it - as this is a realtime app and the solution could have some bottlenecks. If I just generate a triangle strip from touch points and do my best to smooth, resample, and handle miters I will always get some overlaps. See: To create a uniform opacity I render to an offscreen texture with blending disabled. I then pre-multiply the color and draw that texture to a composite texture with blending on (I do this per path). This works but gets tricky when you introduce a textured brush, the edges of the texture in the frag shader cut out the line. Pasted Graphic 1.png Solution: I discard below a threshold fragment float4 fragment_line(VertexOut in [[stage_in]], texture2d<float> texture [[ texture(0) ]]) { constexpr sampler s(coord::normalized, address::mirrored_repeat, filter::linear); float2 texCoord = in.texCoord; float4 texColor = texture.sample(s, texCoord); if (texColor.a < 0.01) discard_fragment(); // may be slow (from what I read) return in.color * texColor; } Better but still not perfect. Question: I'm looking for better ways to create a uniform opacity per path. I tried .max blending but that will cause no blending of other paths. Any tips, ideas, much appreciated. If this is too detailed of a question just achieve.
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89
Mar ’25
Game Porting Toolkit: Any .exe exits immediately with no output
Hi Apple & devs, I'm trying to test various Windows .exe files using the Game Porting Toolkit (GPTK), but I’m hitting a wall: no matter what .exe I try, the command returns instantly with no output — no error, no logs, nothing. Here's what I'm doing: I'm using macOS Sequioa 15.5 on M1 macbook pro. I installed gameportingtoolkt GPTK 2.1 through brew from gcenx: brew install gcenx/wine/game-porting-toolkit When I run any .exe using GPTK's wine64, like this, e.g. with steam user@JMacBook-Pro / % WINEPREFIX=~/wine_prefix /usr/local/bin/gameportingtoolkit 'C:\SteamSetup.exe' --verbose user@JMacBook-Pro / % Immediate exit without any return code, output, nor errors. No output, no crash, no logs. Same result with simple test apps Running with WINEDEBUG=+all (still no output) Even running wine64 does the same thing. I’ve tried: Removing and reinstalling GPTK Creating a fresh WINEPREFIX Checking /tmp and ~/Library/Logs for logs — nothing Has anyone else experienced this or have any idea how to debug it? Is there ANY Apple support for this?? Thanks in advance.
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169
Jun ’25