Get to know Metal function pointers

3:09 - Our simple Path Tracer in Metal Shading Language:

float3 shade(...);

[[kernel]] void rtKernel(...
                         device Material *materials,
                         constant Light &light)
{
    // ...

    device Material &material = materials[intersection.geometry_id];
    float3 result = shade(ray, triangleIntersectionData, material, light);

    // ...
}

3:30 - Our shading function

float3 shade(...)
{
    Lighting lighting = LightingFromLight(light, triangleIntersectionData);

    return CalculateLightingForMaterial(material, lighting, triangleIntersectionData);
}

4:59 - Declare a function as visible

[[visible]]
Lighting Area(Light light, TriangleIntersectionData triangleIntersectionData)
{
    Lighting result;
    
    // Clever math code ...
    
    return result;
}

5:30 - Single compilation pipeline on CPU

// Single compilation configuration
let linkedFunctions = MTLLinkedFunctions()
linkedFunctions.functions = [area, spot, sphere, hair, glass, skin]
computeDescriptor.linkedFunctions = linkedFunctions

// Pipeline creation
let pipeline = try device.makeComputePipelineState(descriptor: computeDescriptor,
                                                   options: [],
                                                   reflection: nil)

7:43 - Introducing MTLFunctionDescriptor

// Create by function descriptor:
let functionDescriptor = MTLFunctionDescriptor()
functionDescriptor.name = "Area"
// More configuration goes here
let areaBinaryFunction = try library.makeFunction(descriptor: functionDescriptor)

8:08 - Binary pre–compilation

// Create and compile by function descriptor:
let functionDescriptor = MTLFunctionDescriptor()
functionDescriptor.name = "Area"
functionDescriptor.options = MTLFunctionOptions.compileToBinary
let areaBinaryFunction = try library.makeFunction(descriptor: functionDescriptor)

8:20 - Binary functions

// Specify binary functions on compute pipeline descriptor
let linkedFunctions = MTLLinkedFunctions()
linkedFunctions.functions = [spot, sphere, hair, glass, skin]
linkedFunctions.binaryFunctions = [areaBinaryFunction]
computeDescriptor.linkedFunctions = linkedFunctions

// Pipeline creation
let pipeline = try device.makeComputePipelineState(descriptor: computeDescriptor,
                                                   options: [],
                                                   reflection: nil)

11:04 - Incremental compilation pipeline

// Create initial pipeline with option
computeDescriptor.supportAddingBinaryFunctions = true

// Create and compile by function descriptor
let functionDescriptor = MTLFunctionDescriptor()
functionDescriptor.name = "Wood"
functionDescriptor.options = MTLFunctionOptions.compileToBinary
let wood = try library.makeFunction(descriptor: functionDescriptor)

// Create new pipeline from existing pipeline
let newPipeline =
   try pipeline.makeComputePipelineStateWithAdditionalBinaryFunctions(functions: [wood])

12:22 - Visible function tables on the GPU

// Helper using declaration in Metal
using LightingFunction = Lighting(Light, TriangleIntersectionData);
using MaterialFunction = float3(Material, Lighting, TriangleIntersectionData);

// Specify tables as kernel parameters
visible_function_table<LightingFunction> lightingFunctions [[buffer(1)]],
visible_function_table<MaterialFunction> materialFunctions [[buffer(2)]],

// Access via index
LightingFunction *lightingFunction = lightingFunctions[light.index];
Lighting lighting = lightingFunction(light, triangleIntersection);
return materialFunctions[material.index](material, lighting, triangleIntersection);

12:49 - Visible function tables on the CPU

// Initialize descriptor
let vftDescriptor = MTLVisibleFunctionTableDescriptor()
vftDescriptor.functionCount = 3
let lightingFunctionTable = pipeline.makeVisibleFunctionTable(descriptor: vftDescriptor)!

// Find and set functions by handle
let functionHandle = pipeline.functionHandle(function: spot)!
lightingFunctionTable.setFunction(functionHandle, index:0)

// Find and set functions by handle
computeCommandEncoder.setVisibleFunctionTable(lightingFunctionTable, bufferIndex:1)
argumentEncoder.setVisibleFunctionTable(lightingFunctionTable, index:1)

14:23 - Function groups on GPU

// Add function groups to our shading function
float3 shade(...)
{
    LightingFunction *lightingFunction = lightingFunctions[light.index];
    [[function_groups("lighting")]] Lighting lighting = lightingFunction(light,
triangleIntersection);
    
    MaterialFunction *materialFunction = materialFunctions[material.index];
    [[function_groups("material")]] float3 result = materialFunction(material, lighting, triangleIntersection);
    return result;
}

14:49 - Function groups on CPU

// Function Group configuration
let linkedFunctions = MTLLinkedFunctions()
linkedFunctions.functions = [area, spot, sphere, hair, glass, skin]
linkedFunctions.groups = ["lighting" : [area, spot, sphere ],
                          "material" : [hair, glass, skin ] ]
computeDescriptor.linkedFunctions = linkedFunctions