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# renderTarget

An option for rendering to the texture in a render pass.

```
static var renderTarget: MTLTextureUsage { get }
```

## Discussion

Set this option if you use the given texture as a color, depth, or stencil render target in any render pass. This option allows you to assign the texture to the [`texture`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderPassAttachmentDescriptor/texture) property of an [`MTLRenderPassAttachmentDescriptor`](/documentation/Metal/MTLRenderPassAttachmentDescriptor).

> Important:
> Rendering and writing to a texture are different operations, and you don’t need to combine their usage options. Set the ``doc://com.apple.metal/documentation/Metal/MTLTextureUsage/renderTarget`` option if you render to a given texture, but don’t set the ``doc://com.apple.metal/documentation/Metal/MTLTextureUsage/shaderWrite`` option if you don’t write to the texture. The ``doc://com.apple.metal/documentation/Metal/MTLTextureUsage/renderTarget`` and ``doc://com.apple.metal/documentation/Metal/MTLTextureUsage/shaderWrite`` options aren’t equivalent, and setting ``doc://com.apple.metal/documentation/Metal/MTLTextureUsage/renderTarget`` doesn’t require you to also set ``doc://com.apple.metal/documentation/Metal/MTLTextureUsage/shaderWrite``.

---

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