I've been running my SceneKit game for many weeks in Xcode without performance issues. The game itself is finished, so I thought I could go on with publishing it on the App Store, but when archiving it in Xcode and running the archived app, I noticed that it seriously hangs.
The hangs only seem to happen when I run the game in fullscreen mode. I tried disabling game mode, but the hangs still happen. Only when I run in windowed mode the game runs smoothly.
Instruments confirms that there are many serious hangs, but it also reports that CPU usage is quite low during those hangs, on average about 15%. From what I know, hangs happen when the main thread is busy, but how can that be when CPU usage is so low, and why does it only happen in fullscreen mode for release builds?
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When inspecting the geometry in Xcode's metal debugger, I noticed that the shown "frustrum box" didn't make sense. Since Metal uses depth range 0,1 in NDC space, I would expect a vertex that is projected to z:0 to be on the front clipping plane of the frustrum shown in the geometry inspector. This is however not the case. A vertex with ndc z:0 is shown halfway inside the frustrum. Vertices with ndc z less than 0 are correctly culled during rendering, while the geometry inspector's frustrum shows that the vertex is stil inside the frustrum.
The image shows vertices that are visually in the middle of the frustrum on z axis, but at the same time the out position shows that they are projected to z:0. How is this possible, unless there's a bug in the geometry inspector?
I'm trying to pass a buffer of float2 items from CPU to GPU.
In the kernel, I can provide a parameter for the buffer:
device const float2* values
for example.
How do I specify float2 as the type for the MTL::Buffer?
I managed to get the code to work by "cheating" by defining a simple class that has the same data members as a float2, but there is probably a better way.
class Coord_f { public: float x{0.0f}; float y{0.0f}; };
then using code to allocate like this:
NS::TransferPtr(device->newBuffer(n_elements * sizeof(Coord_f), MTL::ResourceStorageModeManaged))
The headers for metal-cpp do not appear to define vector objects like float2, but I'm doubtless missing something.
Thanks.
Hello everyone,
I must have missed something but why isn't there a depthAttachmentPixelFormat to the new Metal 4 MTL4RenderPipelineDescriptor, unlike the old MTLRenderPipelineDescriptor?
So how do you set the depth pixel format?
Thanks in advance!
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?
I am currently developing a mobile and server-side application using the new ObjectCaptureSession on iOS and PhotogrammetrySession on MacOS.
I have two questions regarding the newly updated APIs.
From WWDC23 session: "Meet Object Capture for iOS", I know that the Object Capture API uses Point Cloud data captured from iPhone LiDAR sensor. I want to know how to use the Point Cloud data captured on iPhone ObjectCaptureSession and use it to create 3D models on PhotogrammetrySession on MacOS.
From the example code from WWDC21, I know that the PhotogrammetrySession utilizes depth map from captured photo images by embedding it into the HEIC image and use those data to create a 3D asset on PhotogrammetrySession on MacOS. I would like to know if Point Cloud data is also embedded into the image to be used during 3D reconstruction and if not, how else the Point Cloud data is inserted to be used during reconstruction.
Another question is, I know that Point Cloud data is returned as a result from request to the PhtogrammetrySession.Request. I would like to know if this PointCloud data is the same set of data captured during ObjectCaptureSession from WWDC23 that is used to create ObjectCapturePointCloudView.
Thank you to everyone for the help in advance. It's a real pleasure to be developing with all the updates to RealityKit and the Object Capture API.
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!
i have a game that i upload it in the app store that my game size is 3 gigaByte but when I download it, it show that the really size is about 100 megaByte, i upload the game in google app is given me the real size,
so the problem i think is when it get out the xcode, maybe some one can give me i clue for what is going on.
my game was made by unity2020.
if that helps.
I'm building a game with a client-server architecture. Using GKMatch.chooseBestHostingPlayer(_:) rarely works. When I started testing it today, it worked once at the very beginning, and since then it always succeeds on one client and returns nil on the other client. I'm testing with a Mac and an iPhone. Sometimes it fails on the Mac, sometimes on the iPhone. On the device that it succeeds on, the provided host can be the device itself or the other one.
I created FB9583628 in August 2021, but after the Feedback Assistant team replied that they are not able to reproduce it, the feedback never went forward.
import SceneKit
import GameKit
#if os(macOS)
typealias ViewController = NSViewController
#else
typealias ViewController = UIViewController
#endif
class GameViewController: ViewController, GKMatchmakerViewControllerDelegate, GKMatchDelegate {
var match: GKMatch?
var matchStarted = false
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
GKLocalPlayer.local.authenticateHandler = authenticate
}
private func authenticate(_ viewController: ViewController?, _ error: Error?) {
#if os(macOS)
if let viewController = viewController {
presentAsSheet(viewController)
} else if let error = error {
print(error)
} else {
print("authenticated as \(GKLocalPlayer.local.gamePlayerID)")
let viewController = GKMatchmakerViewController(matchRequest: defaultMatchRequest())!
viewController.matchmakerDelegate = self
GKDialogController.shared().present(viewController)
}
#else
if let viewController = viewController {
present(viewController, animated: true)
} else if let error = error {
print(error)
} else {
print("authenticated as \(GKLocalPlayer.local.gamePlayerID)")
let viewController = GKMatchmakerViewController(matchRequest: defaultMatchRequest())!
viewController.matchmakerDelegate = self
present(viewController, animated: true)
}
#endif
}
private func defaultMatchRequest() -> GKMatchRequest {
let request = GKMatchRequest()
request.minPlayers = 2
request.maxPlayers = 2
request.defaultNumberOfPlayers = 2
request.inviteMessage = "Ciao!"
return request
}
func matchmakerViewControllerWasCancelled(_ viewController: GKMatchmakerViewController) {
print("cancelled")
}
func matchmakerViewController(_ viewController: GKMatchmakerViewController, didFailWithError error: Error) {
print(error)
}
func matchmakerViewController(_ viewController: GKMatchmakerViewController, didFind match: GKMatch) {
self.match = match
match.delegate = self
startMatch()
}
func match(_ match: GKMatch, player: GKPlayer, didChange state: GKPlayerConnectionState) {
print("\(player.gamePlayerID) changed state to \(String(describing: state))")
startMatch()
}
func startMatch() {
let match = match!
if matchStarted || match.expectedPlayerCount > 0 {
return
}
print("starting match with local player \(GKLocalPlayer.local.gamePlayerID) and remote players \(match.players.map({ $0.gamePlayerID }))")
match.chooseBestHostingPlayer { host in
print("host is \(String(describing: host?.gamePlayerID))")
}
}
}
Hi everyone,
I’m experiencing a critical issue with USDZ files created in Reality Composer on an iPad 9th Generation (iPadOS 18.3). The files work perfectly on iPads from the 10th Generation onwards and on iPad Pros. However, on older devices like the iPad 9th Generation and older iPhones, QuickLook (file preview) crashes when opening them.
This is a major issue because these USDZ files are part of an exhibition where artworks are extended with AR elements via a web page. If some visitors cannot view the 3D content, it significantly impacts the experience.
What’s puzzling is that two years ago, we exported USDZ files from Reality Composer, made them available via a website, and they worked flawlessly on all devices, including older iPads and iPhones. Now, with the latest iPadOS, they consistently crash on older devices.
Has anyone encountered a similar issue? Are there known limitations with QuickLook on older devices, or is there a way to optimize the USDZ files to prevent crashes? Could this be related to changes in iPadOS or RealityKit? Any advice or workaround would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
Hello,
I created a new project with the provided template for Immersive Environments.
Straight out of box I build to both the Simulator and to Vision Pro and the provided Environment looks like this.
What's interesting is that in Reality Composer Pro, it looks correct so how do I achieve the same look?
Thank you in advance!
On an iPad running iPadOS 26 beta 4, when tapping the Game Center Access Point, the overlay doesn’t show the configured achievements, leaderboards or challenges.
I should specify this is an in-development app and the achievements and leaderboards are in the “Not Live” state, however they show on other devices running iOS 18 in the Access Point UI.
Anyone else having this issue? If so, how should I test achievements and leaderboards while iOS 26 beta is out?
The UI looks like this on iPadOS 26:
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?
Following the post on
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/realitykit/custommaterial it's simple to use shader for materials and get uniforms and params from each vertex. However it's not available for visionOS. Any alternative to use in this case? I want to write shader to fill material by myself. (I have shader experience from web, familiar with fragment shader)
I want to compare the colors of two model entities (spheres). How can i do it? The method i'm currently trying to apply is as follows
case let .color(controlColor) = controlMaterial.baseColor, controlColor == .green {
// Flip target sphere colour
if let targetMaterial = targetsphere.model?.materials.first as? SimpleMaterial,
case let .color(targetColor) = targetMaterial.baseColor, targetColor == .blue {
targetsphere.model?.materials = [SimpleMaterial(color: .green, isMetallic: false)] // Change to |1⟩
} else {
targetsphere.model?.materials = [SimpleMaterial(color: .blue, isMetallic: false)] // Change to |0⟩
}
}
This method (baseColor) was deprecated in swift 15.0 changes to 'color' but i cannot compare the value color to each other.👾
Now the examples of metal-cpp are target on desktop and using AppKit which is not supported on iOS. Is there any tips for developing with metal-cpp on mobile device?
Hello RealityKit developers,
I'm currently working on physics simulations in my visionOS app and am trying to adapt the concepts from the official sample Simulating physics joints in your RealityKit app.
In the sample, a sphere is connected to the ceiling using a PhysicsRevoluteJoint to create a hinge-like simulation. I've successfully modified this setup to use a PhysicsSphericalJoint instead.
The basic replacement works as expected: pin1 (attached to the sphere) rotates freely around pin0 (attached to the ceiling), much like a ball-and-socket joint should, removing all translational degrees of freedom.
My challenge lies with the PhysicsSphericalJoint's angularLimitInYZ property. The documentation mentions that this property allows limiting the rotation around the Y and Z axes, defining an "elliptical cone shape around the x-axis of pin0." However, I'm struggling to understand how to specify these values to achieve a desired rotational limit.
If I have a sphere that is currently capable of rotating 360 degrees around pin0 (like a free-spinning ball on a string), how would I use angularLimitInYZ to restrict its rotation to a certain height or angular range, preventing it from completing a full circle?
Specifically, I'm trying to achieve a "swing" like behavior where the sphere oscillates back and forth but cannot rotate completely overhead or underfoot. What values or approach should I use for the angularLimitInYZ tuple to define such a restricted pendulum-like motion?
Any insights, code examples, or explanations on how to properly configure angularLimitInYZ for this kind of behavior would be incredibly helpful!
The following code is modified from the sample.
extension MainView {
func addPinsTo(ballEntity: Entity, attachmentEntity: Entity) throws {
let hingeOrientation = simd_quatf(from: [1, 0, 0], to: [0, 0, 1])
let attachmentPin = attachmentEntity.pins.set(
named: "attachment_hinge",
position: .zero,
orientation: hingeOrientation
)
let relativeJointLocation = attachmentEntity.position(
relativeTo: ballEntity
)
let ballPin = ballEntity.pins.set(
named: "ball_hinge",
position: relativeJointLocation,
orientation: hingeOrientation
)
// Create a PhysicsSphericalJoint between the two pins.
let revoluteJoint = PhysicsSphericalJoint(pin0: attachmentPin, pin1: ballPin)
try revoluteJoint.addToSimulation()
}
}
The following image is a screenshot of the operation when changing to PhysicsSphericalJoint.
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
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.
Hi! I'm having issues retrieving the intrinsics matrix of camera poses for photogrammetry sessions.
The camera object always seems to be nil, no matter what dataset I use.
From the documentation, I can't see any indication of this issue, is there something I need to do on the code side? Or it's something related to the photo dataset?
I'm on MacOS 15.2
In the SceneKit framework, I want to render a point cloud and need to set the minimumPointScreenSpaceRadius property of the SCNGeometryElement class, but it doesn't work. I searched for related issues on the Internet, but didn't get a final solution.
Here is my code:
- (SCNGeometry *)createGeometryWithVector3Data:(NSData *)vData colorData: (NSData * _Nullable)cData{
int stride = sizeof(SCNVector3);
long count = vData.length / stride;
SCNGeometrySource *dataSource = [SCNGeometrySource geometrySourceWithData:vData
semantic:SCNGeometrySourceSemanticVertex
vectorCount:count
floatComponents:YES
componentsPerVector:3
bytesPerComponent:sizeof(float)
dataOffset:0
dataStride:stride];
SCNGeometryElement *element = [SCNGeometryElement geometryElementWithData:nil
primitiveType:SCNGeometryPrimitiveTypePoint
primitiveCount:count
bytesPerIndex:sizeof(int)];
element.minimumPointScreenSpaceRadius = 1.0; // not work
element.maximumPointScreenSpaceRadius = 20.0;
SCNGeometry *pointCloudGeometry;
SCNGeometrySource *colorSource;
if (cData && cData.length != 0) {
colorSource = [SCNGeometrySource geometrySourceWithData:cData
semantic:SCNGeometrySourceSemanticColor
vectorCount:count
floatComponents:YES
componentsPerVector:3
bytesPerComponent:sizeof(float)
dataOffset:0
dataStride:stride];
pointCloudGeometry = [SCNGeometry geometryWithSources:@[dataSource, colorSource] elements:@[element]];
} else {
pointCloudGeometry = [SCNGeometry geometryWithSources:@[dataSource] elements:@[element]];
}
return pointCloudGeometry;
}