I've tried out a ParticleEmitter in Reality Composer Pro to produce a burst of particles that don't move (i.e. speed close to zero).
When viewing from different angles, it clearly looks like the particles are rendered exactly in the wrong order, that is, front first and back last. In other words, back particles obscure front particles.
I would prefer it the correct way around.
I've only tried this interactively in Reality Composer Pro, not programmatically, but I assume I would get the same result.
My Reality Composer Pro "File" (zipped):
https://gert-rieger-edv.de/Posts/Post-1/RealityParticles.zip
Screenshot:
Click on the ParticleEmitter object, then on its Play button, then select the Particles tab and click on "Burst" a few times to get a few random particles.
Mac Studio 2025
Apple M4 Max
macOS 15.7.2 (24G325)
Reality Composer Pro
Version 2.0 (494.60.2)
Delve into the world of graphics and game development. Discuss creating stunning visuals, optimizing game mechanics, and share resources for game developers.
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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?
Turn-based games: 2 players
When an opponent declines a game in the Game Center MatchMaker VC, that player sees that they quit, but no message is sent to the listener about that fact. For the person who started the match, their MMVC shows it's their turn
again. Why doesn't Game Center end the match?
Topic:
Graphics & Games
SubTopic:
General
Hello!
I'm a developer working on a plugin for the Elgato Stream Deck, called GPU Metrics. The plugin currently only works on Windows but I'd like to bring it to macOS. However, based on forum posts I've read (and StackOverflow) there isn't a very clear path to query GPU metrics like usage, temperature, used GPU memory, and power consumption. There are some tools out there that do similar things, but I wanted to see what would be the recommendation from Apple's engineering team to get this data via a public API.
Requirements:
Access GPU utilization, temperature, memory usage, power usage
C/C++ based API for querying the metrics so I can expose the data to JavaScript via Node Addon
No need to compatibile with Intel-based Macs, as Apple silicon will be fine for now
Plugin GitHub
Thank you!
Noah
I've recently run into an issue in Xcode where the sks editor's preview canvas just vanishes for every project on my computer. I don't think it is an issue with my sks files because this works as expected on another computer with the same files, and when it happens it happens for ALL sks files in all projects. There used to be menu items to toggle the canvas and its settings, but those are now gone for me in sks files (they show up for swift files that have previews, however).
Any idea what is going on here? How do I get the canvas back? I literally cannot get any work done on my primary computer because of this...
Setup: MSAA rendering using a memoryless texture as the color attachment (render_image) and a "normal" texture as the resolve attachment (resolve_image). MTL_DEBUG_LAYER / API validation is enabled for this.
When trying to add the memoryless texture to a residency set, I get the following error:
-[MTLDebugResidencySet validateResource:], line 114: error 'residency sets do not support memoryless resources.
Which is as expected and identical to Metal 3.
However, if I don't add it to the residency set, I then get the following error when committing to the command queue:
-[MTL4DebugCommandQueue commit:count:options:], line 67: error 'Commit With Options Validation
Attachment texture (Label: render_image) used in command buffer (at index 0) is not added to any residency set on the command buffer or command queue.
So which way around is actually correct in Metal 4?
Either way, this makes the use of memoryless textures/attachments impossible right now when validation is enabled.
FWIW: when disabling all validation, either way seems to work just fine.
Tested on: M1 Max, macOS 26.3, Xcode 26.2 & 26.4b2
Topic:
Graphics & Games
SubTopic:
Metal
The sample code just draw a triangle and sample texture.
both sample code can draw a correct triangle and sample texture as expected. there are no error message from terminal.
Sample code using constexpr Sampler can capture and replay well.
Sample code using a argumentTable to bind a MTLSamplerState was crashed when using Metal capture and replay on Xcode.
Here are sample codes.
Sample Code
Test Environment:
M1 Pro
MacOS 26.3 (25D125)
Xcode Version 26.2 (17C52)
Feedback ID: FB22031701
Hello,
Could someone post code that shows how to implement GCVirtualController to move a box around the screen?
I've been poking around with GCVirtualController and gotten as far as having the D-pad and A B buttons appear on the display. But how do I make it do anything?
Topic:
Graphics & Games
SubTopic:
SpriteKit
When I enter webp image to the assets catalog I get warrning:
/Users/..../Assets.xcassets The image set "Card-Back" references a file "Card-Back.webp", but that file does not have a valid extension.
It works, I see all my images perfect.
How can I fix the 200+ warrnings?
I am using Unity's GameKit to implement a turnbase game.
I want to make a UI in Unity to show all the games I can join.
I tried using
var matches = await GKTurnBasedMatch.LoadMatches();
to get all the open matches.
But it seems that I can only get the matcm related to the current apple account.
Can you help me get all the matches?
ALSO
I used
var match = await GKTurnBasedMatchmakerViewController.Request(request);
to exit the gamecenter interface and start a game (automatic matching, no one was invited)
Another device used
var match = await GKTurnBasedMatch.Find(request);
to find the game, but it did not find the game, but it start a new game (automatic matching).
Can you help me solve these problems?
Hello! I'm currently porting a videogame console emulator to iOS and I'm trying to make the renderer (tested on MacOS) work on iOS as well.
The emulator core is written in C++ and uses metal-cpp for rendering, whereas the iOS frontend is written in Swift with SwiftUI. I have an Objective-C++ bridging header for bridging the Swift and C++ sides.
On the Swift side, I create an MTKView. Inside the MTKView delegate, I run the emulator for 1 video frame and pass it the view's backing layer for it to render the final output image with. The emulator runs and returns, but when it returns I get a crash in Swift land (callstack attached below), inside objc_release, which indicates I'm doing something wrong with memory management.
My bridging interface (ios_driver.h):
#pragma once
#include <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#include <QuartzCore/QuartzCore.h>
void iosCreateEmulator();
void iosRunFrame(CAMetalLayer* layer);
Bridge implementation (ios_driver.mm):
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
extern "C" {
#include "ios_driver.h"
}
<...>
#define IOS_EXPORT extern "C" __attribute__((visibility("default")))
std::unique_ptr<Emulator> emulator = nullptr;
IOS_EXPORT void iosCreateEmulator() { ... }
// Runs 1 video frame of the emulator and
IOS_EXPORT void iosRunFrame(CAMetalLayer* layer) {
void* layerBridged = (__bridge void*)layer;
// Pass the CAMetalLayer to the emulator
emulator->getRenderer()->setMTKLayer(layerBridged);
// Runs the emulator for 1 frame and renders the output image using our layer
emulator->runFrame();
}
My MTKView delegate:
class Renderer: NSObject, MTKViewDelegate {
var parent: ContentView
var device: MTLDevice!
init(_ parent: ContentView) {
self.parent = parent
if let device = MTLCreateSystemDefaultDevice() {
self.device = device
}
super.init()
}
func mtkView(_ view: MTKView, drawableSizeWillChange size: CGSize) {}
func draw(in view: MTKView) {
var metalLayer = view.layer as! CAMetalLayer
// Run the emulator for 1 frame & display the output image
iosRunFrame(metalLayer)
}
}
Finally, the emulator's render function that interacts with the layer:
void RendererMTL::setMTKLayer(void* layer) {
metalLayer = (CA::MetalLayer*)layer;
}
void RendererMTL::display() {
CA::MetalDrawable* drawable = metalLayer->nextDrawable();
if (!drawable) {
return;
}
MTL::Texture* texture = drawable->texture();
<rest of rendering follows here using the drawable & its texture>
}
This is the Swift callstack at the time of the crash:
To my understanding, I shouldn't be violating ARC rules as my bridging header uses CAMetalLayer* instead of void* and Swift will automatically account for ARC when passing CoreFoundation objects to Objective-C. However I don't have any other idea as to what might be causing this. I've been trying to debug this code for a couple of days without much success.
If you need more info, the emulator code is also on Github
Metal renderer: https://github.com/wheremyfoodat/Panda3DS/blob/ios/src/core/renderer_mtl/renderer_mtl.cpp#L58-L68
Bridge implementation: https://github.com/wheremyfoodat/Panda3DS/blob/ios/src/ios_driver.mm
Bridging header: https://github.com/wheremyfoodat/Panda3DS/blob/ios/include/ios_driver.h
Any help is more than appreciated. Thank you for your time in advance.
我们想在游戏类 App 内接入 Game Center。用户可以在游戏内创建多个角色,若用户在游戏内创建了2个角色:角色1、角色2,请问:
当用户将角色1与 Game Center 绑定后,数据将上报至 Game Center。此时玩家想要将角色1与 Game Center 解除绑定,解绑后,再将角色2与 Game Center 绑定。那么这时角色1的数据是留存在 Game Center 中,还是将被移除?
I'm currently converting my game from SceneKit to RealityKit. What's the easiest way to run an animation in which every frame I want to run custom code, similar to SCNAction.customAction which accepts a callback that is called repeatedly until the action completes?
As GKGameCenterViewController has been deprecated, it seems that GKAccessPoint is now the correct way to present the GameCentre leaderboard.
But the placement options for the GKAccessPoint are very limited and lead to misaligned UI that looks clunky, as the GKAccessPoint does not align with the system navigation toolbar.
Am I missing something here or am I just stuck with a lopsided UI now?
I much preferred how this previously worked, where I could present the GKGameCenterViewController in a sheet from my own button
Hello, I’m porting my UIKit/SceneKit app to SwiftUI/RealityKit and I’m wondering how to change the camera target programmatically. I created a simple scene in Reality Composer Pro with two spheres. My goal is straightforward: when the user taps a sphere, the camera should look at it as the main target.
Following Apple’s videos, I implemented the .gesture modifier and it is printing the tapped sphere correctly, but updating my targetEntity state doesn’t change anything, so the camera won't update its target. Is there a way to access the scene content at that level? Or what else should I do?
Here’s my current code implementation:
Thanks!
When trying to play with friends Krazy Krownz doesn’t allow me to click multiplayer even though my Apple Game Center connected and my friends Apple game center connected as well. I even tried sending an invite from Apple Game Center to friends and Krazy Krownz doesn’t even show up on the list of available multiplayer games.
I’ve signed out and back in the same issue remain.
I’ve try to contact the game developer, but the website doesn’t work.
Topic:
Graphics & Games
SubTopic:
GameKit
Hi everyone,
I’ve been developing a custom, end-to-end 3D rendering engine called Crescent from scratch using C++20 and Metal-cpp (targeting macOS and visionOS). My primary goal is to build a zero-bottleneck, GPU-driven pipeline that maximizes the potential of Apple Silicon’s Unified Memory and TBDR architecture.
While the fundamental systems are stable, I am looking for architectural feedback from Metal framework engineers regarding specific synchronization and latency challenges.
Current Core Implementations:
GPU-Driven Instance Culling: High-performance occlusion culling using a Hierarchical Z-Buffer (HZB) approach via Compute Shaders.
Clustered Forward Shading: Support for high-count dynamic lights through view-space clustering.
Temporal Stability: Custom TAA with history rejection and Motion Blur resolve.
Asset Infrastructure: Robust GUID-based scene serialization and a JSON-driven ECS hierarchy.
The Architectural Challenge:
I am currently seeing slight synchronization overhead when generating the HZB mip-chain. On Apple Silicon, I am evaluating the cost of encoder transitions versus cache-friendly barriers.
&& m_hzbInitPipeline && m_hzbDownsamplePipeline && !m_hzbMipViews.empty();
if (canBuildHzb) {
MTL::ComputeCommandEncoder* hzbInit = commandBuffer->computeCommandEncoder();
hzbInit->setComputePipelineState(m_hzbInitPipeline);
hzbInit->setTexture(m_depthTexture, 0);
hzbInit->setTexture(m_hzbMipViews[0], 1);
if (m_pointClampSampler) {
hzbInit->setSamplerState(m_pointClampSampler, 0);
} else if (m_linearClampSampler) {
hzbInit->setSamplerState(m_linearClampSampler, 0);
}
const uint32_t hzbWidth = m_hzbMipViews[0]->width();
const uint32_t hzbHeight = m_hzbMipViews[0]->height();
const uint32_t threads = 8;
MTL::Size tgSize = MTL::Size(threads, threads, 1);
MTL::Size gridSize = MTL::Size((hzbWidth + threads - 1) / threads * threads,
(hzbHeight + threads - 1) / threads * threads,
1);
hzbInit->dispatchThreads(gridSize, tgSize);
hzbInit->endEncoding();
for (size_t mip = 1; mip < m_hzbMipViews.size(); ++mip) {
MTL::Texture* src = m_hzbMipViews[mip - 1];
MTL::Texture* dst = m_hzbMipViews[mip];
if (!src || !dst) {
continue;
}
MTL::ComputeCommandEncoder* downEncoder = commandBuffer->computeCommandEncoder();
downEncoder->setComputePipelineState(m_hzbDownsamplePipeline);
downEncoder->setTexture(src, 0);
downEncoder->setTexture(dst, 1);
const uint32_t mipWidth = dst->width();
const uint32_t mipHeight = dst->height();
MTL::Size downGrid = MTL::Size((mipWidth + threads - 1) / threads * threads,
(mipHeight + threads - 1) / threads * threads,
1);
downEncoder->dispatchThreads(downGrid, tgSize);
downEncoder->endEncoding();
}
if (m_instanceCullHzbPipeline) {
dispatchInstanceCulling(m_instanceCullHzbPipeline, true);
}
}
My Questions:
Encoder Synchronization: Would you recommend moving this loop into a single ComputeCommandEncoder using MTLBarrier between dispatches to maintain L2 cache residency, or is the overhead of separate encoders negligible for depth-downsampling on TBDR?
visionOS Bindless Latency: For stereo rendering on visionOS, what are the best practices for managing MTL4ArgumentTable updates at 90Hz+? I want to ensure that updating bindless resources for each eye doesn't introduce unnecessary CPU-to-GPU latency.
Memory Management: Are there specific hints for Memoryless textures that could be applied to intermediate HZB levels to save bandwidth during this process?
I’ve attached a screenshot of a scene rendered with the engine (PBR, SSR, and IBL).
RealityKit spatial audio crackles and pops on iOS 26.0 beta 5.
It works correctly on iOS 18.6 and visionOS 26.0 beta 5.
The APIs used are AudioPlaybackController, Entity.prepareAudio, Entity.play
Videos of the expected and observed behavior are attached to the feedback FB19423059.
The audio should be a consistent, repeating sound, but it seems oddly abbreviated and the volume varies unexpectedly.
Thank you for investigating this issue.
I'm developing a game that supports GameKit turn based matches. What I don't understand is this:
Is tapping on the Game Center notification push messages the only way for the GKTurnBasedEventListener to trigger? What if someone misses the push message (swiping it away by accident or something like that) but still wants to join? Is there some inbox somewhere where the pending messages can be seen or fetched?
Also it was mentioned in a very old WWDC video (from 2013, I think that's the latest with information about turn based matches) that the notification also includes a badge for the icon. However, I do not understand how to implement that. Is there any documentation for that?
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()
}