Oh btw: if I would want to create an on-device shader editor for geometry modifiers or surface shaders, using the above method is currently the only option – correct? Or is there a way to take some metal files/source strings, compile them and write everything to a file? Is the newish MTLDynamicLibrary API (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/metal/mtldynamiclibrary/3553982-serialize) suitable for this?

Hi, thanks for your reply! I figured that might be the issue but had hoped there would be another way. That being said, I've tried to inline the header file contents and it actually works really well. As I can prepare the shaders before showing the content anyway, hitches shouldn't be too much of an issue. I'll file a feature request tomorrow and post the number here, thanks!

Thank you – appreciate it!

Thank you, that worked! 🙏

Thank you! I can't say for sure but I would assume that it's been there from the beginning. It exists at least since February 2021 when I began migrating our AR app from SceneKit to RealityKit. So probably no regression but I also would not call it a feature request per se as at least from my testings there is no way right now to produce shadows via DirectionalLight that does not lead to flickering. So it rather feels like a bug and behaves different to what I as a user would expect it to. Personally though, if I had a choice on what to prioritise I think I would pick the receivesContactShadows option, as they look a lot better to what can be produced with a directional light and they are also dynamic. Maybe if there were more options for the shadow quality on DirectionalLight it could serve as a nice fallback for older devices.

Sorry, I think I overlooked that reply. Unfortunate that's it's not gonna be fixed in time but crossing my fingers for a near future release! I'll let the cat know, thanks! ;) Yeah the issue with maxDistance close to zero was also that the shadow was clipped pretty quickly (and also partially) once you moved away from the shadow throwing object. And of course it looks kinda unrealistic plus the shadow is exactly the same, no matter how far the object is above the shadow catcher plane. The receivesLighting option for the scene understanding is nice, but I feel like it might be a little overkill for some cases. I think some option like 'receivesContactShadows' or something for individual entities could be neat, to specify e.g for a custom object that it should receive shadows like the plane anchors currently do.

Okay great, my Feedback number is: FB9517992 I've attached a sample project as well as a video recording. Do you know of any current workaround for this? I've been struggling with this issue since at least March. Apparently Spotlight can create raytraced shadows which look better but of course have the disadvantage of not emitting the light as evenly as a DirectionalLight. Also they seem to illuminate the shadow catcher plane in addition to casting shadows which is not what I want. Is there a chance that this will be fixed with the final iOS 15 release in September?

I am seeing this issue as well. Do you still need a sample project? Then I could provide one.

Hi @CodeName unfortunately not yet. Last couple days have been really packed but it is on my To-Do and not forgotten!

Yep the passthrough texture. In the capturedImageFragmentShader I've played around with various color adjustments and got quite close, but only like 90-95% match so I figured there might be a way to match it exactly. And then of course in the Custom Material fragment shader I think I could also adjust the colours. It's just a weird trial and error process at this point 😄 This project also mentions tone mapping https://developer.apple.com/documentation/metal/processing_hdr_images_with_metal and contains a kRec709Luma value. Interesting idea with the fullscreen quad. Do you mean as a post processing step? Because otherwise I'm unsure how I would handle the Z-difference as afaik RealityKit does not have something like SceneKits renderingOrder?

Hi @CodeName sure I can setup and post a sample project. Will try to find some time this week. I call the textureResource.replace(withDrawables:) method only once and then I am requesting a new drawable each frame (subscription to the Scene update event).

Thanks for the reply! I will give it a try and file feedback if needed. Is there a way I can apply the tone mapping to the texture by myself within the fragment shader?

Hi, did you find out anything new here? Thanks!

Gotcha, good to know! I've got it somewhat working now but run into some issues with the rendered color of my texture. Posted some details below – would be great if you could take a look. Thank you!

Thank you gchiste! I will go the system road then. Is this a feature that will generally not be implemented or should I file an enhancement request here as well?