after launching a nearby exoerience on quick look or inside our app, all the user in the group watch sometimes teh model blinking abd becoming transparet...
... just one user hasnt the issue, either the one who launched shareplay or the user who force align the immersive space in front
weird
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Hello. In the iOS app i'm working on we are very tight on memory budget and I was looking at ways to reduce our texture memory usage. However I noticed that comparing ASTC8x8 to ASTC12x12, there is no actual difference in allocated memory for most of our textures despite ASTC12x12 having less than half the bpp of 8x8. The difference between the two only becomes apparent for textures 1024x1024 and larger, and even in that case the actual texture data is sometimes only 60% of the allocation size. I understand there must be some alignment and padding going on, but this seems extreme. For an example scene in my app with astc12x12 for most textures there is over a 100mb difference in astc size on disk versus when loaded, so I would love to be able to recover even a portion of that memory.
Here is some test code with some measurements i've taken using an iphone 11:
for(int i = 0; i < 11; i++) {
MTLTextureDescriptor *texDesc = [[MTLTextureDescriptor alloc] init];
texDesc.pixelFormat = MTLPixelFormatASTC_12x12_LDR;
int dim = 12;
int n = 2 << i;
int mips = i+1;
texDesc.width = n;
texDesc.height = n;
texDesc.mipmapLevelCount = mips;
texDesc.resourceOptions = MTLResourceStorageModeShared;
texDesc.usage = MTLTextureUsageShaderRead;
// Calculate the equivalent astc texture size
int blocks = 0;
if(mips == 1) {
blocks = n/dim + (n%dim>0? 1 : 0);
blocks *= blocks;
} else {
for(int j = 0; j < mips; j++) {
int a = 2 << j;
int cur = a/dim + (a%dim>0? 1 : 0);
blocks += cur*cur;
}
}
auto tex = [objCObj newTextureWithDescriptor:texDesc];
printf("%dx%d, mips %d, Astc: %d, Metal: %d\n", n, n, mips, blocks*16, (int)tex.allocatedSize);
}
MTLPixelFormatASTC_12x12_LDR
128x128, mips 7, Astc: 2768, Metal: 6016
256x256, mips 8, Astc: 10512, Metal: 32768
512x512, mips 9, Astc: 40096, Metal: 98304
1024x1024, mips 10, Astc: 158432, Metal: 262144
128x128, mips 1, Astc: 1936, Metal: 4096
256x256, mips 1, Astc: 7744, Metal: 16384
512x512, mips 1, Astc: 29584, Metal: 65536
1024x1024, mips 1, Astc: 118336, Metal: 147456
MTLPixelFormatASTC_8x8_LDR
128x128, mips 7, Astc: 5488, Metal: 6016
256x256, mips 8, Astc: 21872, Metal: 32768
512x512, mips 9, Astc: 87408, Metal: 98304
1024x1024, mips 10, Astc: 349552, Metal: 360448
128x128, mips 1, Astc: 4096, Metal: 4096
256x256, mips 1, Astc: 16384, Metal: 16384
512x512, mips 1, Astc: 65536, Metal: 65536
1024x1024, mips 1, Astc: 262144, Metal: 262144
I also tried using MTLHeaps (placement and automatic) hoping they might be better, but saw nearly the same numbers.
Is there any way to have metal allocate these textures in a more compact way to save on memory?
Hey I'm using the CIDepthBlurEffect Core Image Filter in my app. It seems to work ok but I get these errors in the console when calling the class.
CoreImage Metal library does not contain function for name: sparserendering_xhlrb_scan
CoreImage Metal library does not contain function for name: sparserendering_xhlrb_diffuse
CoreImage Metal library does not contain function for name: sparserendering_xhlrb_copy_back
CoreImage Metal library does not contain function for name: plain_or_sRGB_copy
Am I missing some sort of import to gain these Metal functions? I am using my own custom shaders but I assume you'd be able to use them along side the built in ones.
So, I'm done with GPTK and decided to delete it. The only thing I installed was brew -v install apple/apple/game-porting-toolkit and the external libraries from the ditto command. Now, I tried to remove it, but even after
brew remove game-porting-toolkit
brew autoremove
all of the dependencies installed with brew are still there. The most obvious was game-porting-toolkit-compiler, but even after removing this there are so many libraries that are now orphaned and it's just impossible to manually identify those. Is there a way or is the easiest way to simply uninstall Homebrew completely and reinstall it again?
I'm trying to understand how Apple handles dragging windows around in an immersive space. 3d Gestures seem to be only half of the solution in that they are great if you're standing still and want to move the window an exaggerated amount around the environment, but if you then start walking while dragging, the amplified gesture sends the entity flying off into the distance. It seems they quickly transition from one coordinate system to another depending on if the user is physically moving. If you drag a window and start walking the movement suddenly matches your speed. When you stop moving, you can push and pull the windows around again like a super hero. Am I missing something obvious in how to copy this behavior? Hello world, which uses the 3d gesture has the same problem. You can move the world around but if you walk with it, it flies off. Are they tracking the head movement and if it's moved more than a certain amount it uses that offset instead? Is there anything out of the box that can do this before I try and hack my own solution?
I am currently using RealityKit (perspective camera) to render a character in my swiftUI app.
The character has customization such as clothing items and hair and all objects are properly weighted to the rig.
The way the model is setup in Blender is like so: Groups of objects that will be swapped (ex: Shoes -> Shoes objects) and an armature. I then export it to usdc with all objects active. This is the resulting entity hierarchy, viewed in Reality Composer Pro:
My problem is that when I export with the Armature Modifier applied to the objects, so that animations get exported, the ModelComponent gets flattened to the armature and swapping entities is no longer as simple as removing the entity with the corresponding name.
What's the best practice here? Should animation be exported separately and then applied to the skeleton? If so, how is that achieved? I'm not really sure how to proceed here.
hi
When analyzing our game using Instruments, I've always been confused about the two items "Drawable Present" and "Drawable Presented" in the GPU column. The timing of Drawable Present seems to be when the CPU layer calls commandbuffer:present, rather than when the actual encoding is completed on the GPU. Also, what does drawable presented specifically mean? In our case, when a CPU stall occurs, it appears that the vsync interval changes in the next frame, and a surface that has already been calculated is not displayed. Why is this happening?
Hi,
I’m testing Unity’s Spaceship HDRP demo on iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPad Pro M4 (iOS 26.1).
Everything renders correctly, and my custom MetalFX Spatial plugin initializes successfully — it briefly reports active scaling (e.g. 1434×660 → 2868×1320 at 50% scaling), then reverts to native rendering a few frames later.
Setup:
Xcode 16.1 (targeting iOS 18)
Unity 2022.3.62f3 (HDRP)
Metal backend
Dynamic Resolution enabled in HDRP assets and cameras
Relevant Xcode console excerpt:
[MetalFXPlugin] MetalFX_Enable(True) called.
[SpaceshipOptions] MetalFX enabled with HDRP dynamic resolution integration.
[SpaceshipOptions] Disabled TAA for MetalFX Spatial.
[SpaceshipOptions] Created runtime RenderTexture: 1434x660
[MetalFX] Spatial scaler created (1434x660 → 2868x1320).
[MetalFX] Processed frame with scaler.
[MetalFXPlugin] Sent RenderTexture (1434x660) to MetalFX. Output target 2868x1320.
[SpaceshipOptions] MetalFX target set: 1434x660
[SpaceshipOptions] Camera targetTexture cleared after MetalFX handoff.
It looks like HDRP clears the camera’s target texture right after MetalFX submits the frame, which causes it to revert to native rendering.
Is there a recommended way to persist or rebind the MetalFX output texture when using HDRP on iOS?
Unity doesn’t appear to support MetalFX in the Editor either:
Thanks!
I recently needed to develop an application to obtain the window list, which requires Screen Recording permissions. Apple's official documentation mentions using the two functions CGPreflightScreenCaptureAccess and CGRequestScreenCaptureAccess to request permissions. These functions are stated to be available since version 10.15. However, when I used these two functions on a device running macOS 10.15.7, I encountered the errors shown in the attached screenshot. I used the nm tool to inspect the symbols in the CoreGraphics.framework and found that these two functions were not present. Could you help me understand why this is happening?
Topic:
Graphics & Games
SubTopic:
General
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.
I am trying to implement a ChacterControllerComponent using the following URL.
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/realitykit/charactercontrollercomponent
I have written sample code, but PhysicsSimulationEvents.WillSimulate is not executed and nothing happens.
import SwiftUI
import RealityKit
import RealityKitContent
struct ImmersiveView: View {
let gravity: SIMD3<Float> = [0, -50, 0]
let jumpSpeed: Float = 10
enum PlayerInput {
case none, jump
}
@State private var testCharacter: Entity = Entity()
@State private var myPlayerInput = PlayerInput.none
var body: some View {
RealityView { content in
// Add the initial RealityKit content
if let immersiveContentEntity = try? await Entity(named: "Immersive", in: realityKitContentBundle) {
content.add(immersiveContentEntity)
testCharacter = immersiveContentEntity.findEntity(named: "Capsule")!
testCharacter.components.set(CharacterControllerComponent())
let _ = content.subscribe(to: PhysicsSimulationEvents.WillSimulate.self, on: testCharacter) {
event in
print("subscribe run")
let deltaTime: Float = Float(event.deltaTime)
var velocity: SIMD3<Float> = .zero
var isOnGround: Bool = false
// RealityKit automatically adds `CharacterControllerStateComponent` after moving the character for the first time.
if let ccState = testCharacter.components[CharacterControllerStateComponent.self] {
velocity = ccState.velocity
isOnGround = ccState.isOnGround
}
if !isOnGround {
// Gravity is a force, so you need to accumulate it for each frame.
velocity += gravity * deltaTime
} else if myPlayerInput == .jump {
// Set the character's velocity directly to launch it in the air when the player jumps.
velocity.y = jumpSpeed
}
testCharacter.moveCharacter(by: velocity * deltaTime, deltaTime: deltaTime, relativeTo: nil) {
event in
print("playerEntity collided with \(event.hitEntity.name)")
}
}
}
}
}
}
The scene is loaded from RCP. It is simple, just a capsule on a pedestal.
Do I need a separate code to run testCharacter from this state?
I think if your buffer is less than 4k its recommended to use
setVertexBytes, the question I have is can I keep hammering on setVertexBytes as the primary method to issue multiple draw calls within a render buffer and rely on Metal to figure out how to orphan and replace the target buffer?
A lot of the primitives I am drawing are less than 4k and the process of wiring down larger segments of memory for individual buffers for each draw primitive call seems to be a negative.
And it's just simpler to copy, submit and forget about buffer synchronization.
Topic:
Graphics & Games
SubTopic:
Metal
We have a macOS app (not yet released, but in use by ourselves), that provides scoreboards for streaming sport events.
Today it is expected, that there are nice animations for goals, etc. We are streaming using NDI, which requires a CVPixelBuffer for each frame.
We currently create these animations using CABasicAnimation, CAAnimation and CAKeyframeAnimation. In addition we use ScreenCaptureKit to generate the frames.
This works fine with 25/30 fps, as long as the window where our animations are performed in is visible. But this is not what it should be. We have a smaller window as main app window and control display performing the animations in reduced size, while the streaming animations need to be in HD format and later maybe in 4K.
When using an offscreen window, the animations are not calculated. We get 1 frame per second or so. So we actually have to connect an external display to the MacBook and open the large windows there. Ugly solution.
Do we use a completely wrong approach? Or is there a way to tell the macOS to perform the animations although it is an offscreen window?
If it cannot work that way, what is an alternative?
Updated my app to include turn-based matches. Beta testing through FlightTest and all was well between iOS 18.x and 26.2 devices. One beta tester upgraded to 26.2 during beta testing and now when the MatchMaker VC is opened, it does not show existing matches. Worse, he can create new matches and play his turn, but the new match won't even show up in MMVC, even after opponent takes turn.
My app has been reviewed and is ready for release, but I'd like to know how to solve this before I release. He has tried re-installing the app, including an updated FlightTest version that is the same as the about-to-be-released reviewed version.
Topic:
Graphics & Games
SubTopic:
GameKit
Hello, when I'm looking to customize the icons of my phone, the applications that are in the grouping genres without replacing with all-black images, I don't know what happens by changing the color of the applications in group of change no color throws just listen not the black stuff
Topic:
Graphics & Games
SubTopic:
General
Does anyone know if we will be able to airplay content from another Apple device, say an iPad or iPhone to the Vision Pro?
Hi,
seems MSL is missing support for a clock() shader instruction available in other graphics APIs like Vulkan or OpenGL for example..
useful for counting cost in number of clock cycles of some code insider shader with much finer granularity than launching a micro kernel with same instructions and measuring cycles cost from CPU..
also useful for MoltenVK to support that extensions..
thanks..
Hi everyone,
I'm new to visionOS development. I'm trying to create a physics-based scene (with gravity) where users can pick up and move objects on a workbench. I am struggling with physics interactions during the drag gesture:
Kinematic Mode: If I switch to .kinematic during the drag, the object moves smoothly but clips through other objects (no collisions).
Dynamic Mode: I tried keeping it .dynamic and applying linear velocity toward the hand position, but the movement feels laggy and unresponsive.
Hybrid Approach: I tried switching to .kinematic during DragGesture.onChange and back to .dynamic on collision, but this causes the entity to jitter/shake violently when touching other objects.
Has anyone found a clean way to drag objects while maintaining solid collisions.
Thanks for your help!
Imagine a native macOS app that acts as a "launcher" for a Java game.** For example, the "launcher" app might use the Swift Process API or a similar method to run the java command line tool (lets assume the user has installed Java themselves) to run the game.
I have seen How to Enable Game Mode. If the native launcher app's Info.plist has the following keys set:
LSApplicationCategoryType set to public.app-category.games
LSSupportsGameMode set to true (for macOS 26+)
GCSupportsGameMode set to true
The launcher itself can cause Game Mode to activate if the launcher is fullscreened. However, if the launcher opens a Java process that opens a window, then the Java window is fullscreened, Game Mode doesn't seem to activate. In this case activating Game Mode for the launcher itself is unnecessary, but you'd expect Game Mode to activate when the actual game in the Java window is fullscreened.
Is there a way to get Game Mode to activate in the latter case?
** The concrete case I'm thinking of is a third-party Minecraft Java Edition launcher, but the issue can also be demonstrated in a sample project (FB13786152). It seems like the official Minecraft launcher is able to do this, though it's not clear how. (Is its bundle identifier hardcoded in the OS to allow for this? Changing a sample app's bundle identifier to be the same as the official Minecraft launcher gets the behavior I want, but obviously this is not a practical solution.)
Leaderboards working fine in iOS 26.1 but seem to be broken in 26.2 and also in the 26.3 developer beta. Players cannot submit scores and neither can they view scores on Apple's default leaderboards. Custom leaderboards that rely on pulling information using GameKit APIs also fail.
Is there a workaround or patch for this?