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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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100
Mar ’25
Threadgroup configuration for tile shading
Hello! I have a question about how thread groups work with tile shading. When running "traditional" compute, I get to choose both thread group size and the grid size. However, when using tile shading kernel I only have dispatchThreadsPerTile method - this controls how many threads will be ran in each tile. So far so good, but what about thread groups? The examples in video "Tile Shading on A11" seem to suggest that there will be only one thread group per tile. In the video, [[thread_index_in_threadgroup]] is called "local_id" and it is used to access the image block. I assume this is the default configuration. So when one does the following: Creates MTLRenderPassDescriptor with tileWidth set to W and tileHeight set to H Fires up the tile shading kernel using dispatchThreadsPerTile with MTLSize size = { W, H, 1 } I understand that the result is 1-to-1 mapping between the tile "pixels" and kernel threads. Now, what I would like to do is to have more than one thread group there. I want this for performance reasons: I have a certain compute kernel which I know executes very well with small thread group size. In fact, { 32, 1, 1 } seems to be the fastest. My understanding is that even if I set tile size to 16x16, and so I am executing 256 threads there, there will only be one SIMD group active in a thread group. Meaning that this SIMD group has to execute 8 times over the tile. Is it possible somehow? Or perhaps the limitations of the API are pointing at the limitations of hardware itself, and if I want to execute with SIMD group sized thread groups I have to use "traditional" compute encoder? Will be grateful for help. Michał
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74
Mar ’25
Loosing display when zooming UIView on Mac (Designed for IPad) while IPad version works fine with same zoom level
I have a UIView that displays lines, and I zoom in (scale by 2 on the scroll view zoomScale variable containing the UIView). As I zoom in, on the Mac version (Designed for IPad) I loose the graphic after a certain number of zooms (the scrollView maximumZoomScale is set at 10). To ensure that lines are correctly represented, I modify the contentScaleFactor variable on the UIView; otherwise, the line's display is pixelated. On the IPad (simulator and real) I do not loose the graphic when zooming. So the Mac port of the UIView drawing is not working as the IPad version. Everything else of the application works fine except this important details. I already submitted a feedback request (#FB16829106) with the images showing the problem. I need a solution to this problem. Thanks.
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94
Mar ’25
Custom EntityAction - different behaviour VisionOS 2.6 vs 26
I implemented an EntityAction to change the baseColor tint - and had it working on VisionOS 2.x. import RealityKit import UIKit typealias Float4 = SIMD4<Float> extension UIColor { var float4: Float4 { if cgColor.numberOfComponents == 4, let c = cgColor.components { Float4(Float(c[0]), Float(c[1]), Float(c[2]), Float(c[3])) } else { Float4() } } } struct ColourAction: EntityAction { // MARK: - PUBLIC PROPERTIES let startColour: Float4 let targetColour: Float4 // MARK: - PUBLIC COMPUTED PROPERTIES var animatedValueType: (any AnimatableData.Type)? { Float4.self } // MARK: - INITIATION init(startColour: UIColor, targetColour: UIColor) { self.startColour = startColour.float4 self.targetColour = targetColour.float4 } // MARK: - PUBLIC STATIC FUNCTIONS @MainActor static func registerEntityAction() { ColourAction.subscribe(to: .updated) { event in guard let animationState = event.animationState else { return } let interpolatedColour = event.action.startColour.mixedWith(event.action.targetColour, by: Float(animationState.normalizedTime)) animationState.storeAnimatedValue(interpolatedColour) } } } extension Entity { // MARK: - PUBLIC FUNCTIONS func changeColourTo(_ targetColour: UIColor, duration: Double) { guard let modelComponent = components[ModelComponent.self], let material = modelComponent.materials.first as? PhysicallyBasedMaterial else { return } let colourAction = ColourAction(startColour: material.baseColor.tint, targetColour: targetColour) if let colourAnimation = try? AnimationResource.makeActionAnimation(for: colourAction, duration: duration, bindTarget: .material(0).baseColorTint) { playAnimation(colourAnimation) } } } This doesn't work in VisionOS 26. My current fix is to directly set the material base colour - but this feels like the wrong approach: @MainActor static func registerEntityAction() { ColourAction.subscribe(to: .updated) { event in guard let animationState = event.animationState, let entity = event.targetEntity, let modelComponent = entity.components[ModelComponent.self], var material = modelComponent.materials.first as? PhysicallyBasedMaterial else { return } let interpolatedColour = event.action.startColour.mixedWith(event.action.targetColour, by: Float(animationState.normalizedTime)) material.baseColor.tint = UIColor(interpolatedColour) entity.components[ModelComponent.self]?.materials[0] = material animationState.storeAnimatedValue(interpolatedColour) } } So before I raise this as a bug, was I doing anything wrong in the former version and got lucky? Is there a better approach?
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99
Sep ’25
Unity GameKit Plugin w/ Matchmaking Queue is not working
TLDR; I can't get QueueName to work with matchmaking a turn-based match in Unity using matchmaking rules. Long version: I'm using the apple unity plugin found here: https://github.com/apple/unityplugins/blob/main/plug-ins/Apple.GameKit/Apple.GameKit_Unity/Assets/Apple.GameKit/Documentation~/Apple.GameKit.md I have created a Queue, RuleSet and a simple Rule to match players by following these docs tightly: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/gamekit/finding-players-using-matchmaking-rules. Here is the single rule I have that drives matchmaking: { "data" : { "type" : "gameCenterMatchmakingRules", "id" : "[hiddden-rule-id]", "attributes" : { "referenceName" : "ComplimentaryFactionPreference", "description" : "default desc", "type" : "MATCH", "expression" : "requests[0].properties.preference != requests[1].properties.preference", "weight" : null }, "links" : { "self" : "https://api.appstoreconnect.apple.com/v1/gameCenterMatchmakingRules/[hidden-rule-id]" } }, "links" : { "self" : "https://api.appstoreconnect.apple.com/v1/gameCenterMatchmakingRules" } } which belongs to a rule set which belongs to a queue. I have verified these are setup and linked via the App Store Connect API. Additionally, when I tested queue-based matchmaking without a queue established, I got an error in Unity. Now, with this, I do not. However there is a problem when I attempt to use the queue for matchmaking. I have the basic C# function here: public override void StartSearch(NSMutableDictionary<NSString, NSObject> properties) { if (searching) return; base.StartSearch(properties); //Establish matchmaking requests _matchRequest = GKMatchRequest.Init(); _matchRequest.QueueName = _PreferencesToQueue(GetSerializedPreferences()); _matchRequest.Properties = properties; _matchRequest.MaxPlayers = PLAYERS_COUNT; _matchRequest.MinPlayers = PLAYERS_COUNT; _matchTask = GKTurnBasedMatch.Find(_matchRequest); } The _PreferencesToQueue(GetSerializedPreferences()); returns the exact name of the queue I added my ruleset to. After this function is called, I poll the task generated from the .Find(...) function. Every time I run this function, a new match is created almost instantly. No two players are ever added to the same match. Further, I'm running two built game instances, one on a mac and another on an ipad and when I simultaneously test, I am unable to join games this way. Can someone help me debug why I cannot seem to match make when using a queue based approach?
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923
Sep ’25
macOS 26 Games app – Achievement description shows incorrect text before unlocking
Hello, I found an issue with the Games app on macOS 26 (Tahoe) when viewing achievements: In App Store Connect, each achievement has different values set for the pre-earned description and the post-earned description. When testing with GameKit directly (GKAchievementDescription), both values are returned correctly. However, in the macOS Games app, the post-earned description is shown even before the achievement is earned. This seems to be a display issue specific to the Games app on macOS. Could you confirm if this is a known bug in the Games app, or if there is a reason why pre-earned descriptions are not being shown? Thank you.
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323
Sep ’25
Swift game sometimes runs on efficiency cores then snaps back to performance cores
I've been working on Swift game which is not yet launched or available for preview. The game works in such a way that it has idle CPU while the user is thinking and sustained max CPU and GPU on as many cores as possible when he makes a move. Rarely, due to OS activity or something else outside of my control (for example when dropping the OS curtain even if for just a bit then remove it), the game or some of its threads are moved to efficiency cores which results in major stuttering which persists precisely until the game is idle again at which point the game is moved back on performance cores - but if the player keeps making moves the stuttering simply won't go away and so I guess compuptation is locked onto efficiency cores. The issue does not reproduce on MacCatalyst on Intel. How do I tell Swift to avoid efficiency cores? BTW Swift and SceneKIT have AMAZING performance especially when compared to others.
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134
Mar ’25
Metal 4 & Acceleration Structures
I have really enjoyed looking through the code and videos related to Metal 4. Currently, my interest is to update a ReSTIR Project and take advantage of more robust ways to refit acceleration Structures and more powerful ways to access resources. I am working in Swift and have encountered a couple of puzzles: What is the 'accepted' way to create a MTL4BufferRange to store indices and vertices? How do I properly rewrite Swift code to build and compact an Acceleration Structure? I do realize that this is all in Beta and will happily look through Code Samples this Fall. If other guidance is available earlier, that would be fabulous! Thank you
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633
Sep ’25
Reality Composer Pro Transparent Textures
Hey everyone, I am currently developing an app in visionOS and using RealityComposerPro create scenes in put in my app. I have a humanoid model with hair strands, and each strand of hair has an opacity map. However, some reflections are still visible even though the opacity is zero. There are also some weird culling among hair strands (in the left circle) and weird reflections in hair cards (in the right circle). Here's my settings for the materials. Since all the hair strands are interconnected with each other, it is hard to decide the drawing order in Xcode, so I am wondering if there's an easier way to handle transparency objects. Please let me know if you know anything helpful, much appreciated!
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139
Apr ’25
Threadgroup memory for fragment shader
Hello I am trying to get thread group memory access in fragment shader. In essence, I would like to have all the fragments in a tile to bitwiseOR some value. My idea was to use simd_or across the SIMD group, then make each SIMD group thread 0 to atomic or the value into thread group memory. Finally very first thread of the tile would be tasked with writing the value down to texture with write access. Now, I can allocate the thread group memory argument to the fragment function all right. MTLRenderEncoder has setThreadgroupMemoryLength call, which I am using the following way [renderEncoder setThreagroupMemoryLength: 16 offset: 0 atIndex:0] Unfortunately, all I am getting is the following error (runtime assertion) -[MTLDebugRenderCommandEncoder setThreadgroupMemoryLength:offset:atIndex:]:3487: failed assertion Set Threadgroup Memory Length Validation offset + length(16) must be <= threadgroupMemoryLength(0).` What I am doing wrong? How I can get thread group memory in the fragment shader? I know I could use tile shading and compute function but the problem is that here I really like to use fragment stuff. Will be grateful for help.
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102
Apr ’25
Float8 and Float16 "Reserved_Name__Do_not_use"
I am developing a macOS terminal app, running on an M4 Pro, and using Metal. I am not able use float8 or float16, both reporting Variable has incomplete type 'float16' (aka '__Reserved_Name__Do_not_use_float16'). Based on the system I should be able to use these. Either it is because it is also compiling to Intel, which they are not allowed, or something else. Either way I have not been able to figure out how to get past this. IIs there a compiler setting I need to set to make this work? if so which one and what setting do I need? I only want to run this on M processes, on the latest version of OS so not interested in Intel version or backward compatibility.
Topic: Graphics & Games SubTopic: Metal Tags:
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184
Aug ’25
moveCharacter reports collision with itself
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() }
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163
Aug ’25
RealityKit fails with EXC_BAD_ACCESS at CMClockGetAnchorTime in the simulator
Starting with iOS 18.0 beta 1, I've noticed that RealityKit frequently crashes in the simulator when an app launches and presents an ARView. I was able to create a small sample app with repro steps that demonstrates the issue, and I've submitted feedback: FB16144085 I've included a crash log with the feedback. If possible, I'd appreciate it if an Apple engineer could investigate and suggest a workaround. It's awkward to be restricted to the iOS 17 simulator, which does not exhibit this behavior. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help. Thank you.
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651
Apr ’25