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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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133
Apr ’25
Cannot load .mtlpackage to MTLLibrary
After watching WWDC 2025 session "Combine Metal 4 machine learning and graphics", I have decided to give it a shot to integrate the latest MTL4MachineLearningCommandEncoder to my existing render pipeline. After a lot of trial and errors, I managed to set up the pipeline and have the app compiled. However, I am now stuck on creating a MTLLibrary with .mtlpackage. Here is the code I have to create a MTLLibrary according the WWDC session https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/262/?time=550: let coreMLFilePath = bundle.path(forResource: "my_model", ofType: "mtlpackage")! let coreMLURL = URL(string: coreMLFilePath)! do { metalDevice.makeLibrary(URL: coreMLURL) } catch { print("error: \(error)") } With the above code, I am getting error: Error Domain=MTLLibraryErrorDomain Code=1 "Invalid metal package" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Invalid metal package} What is the correct way to create a MTLLibrary with .mtlpackage? Do I see this error because the .mtlpackage I am using is incorrect? How should I go with debugging this? I'd really appreciate if I could get some help on this as I have been stuck with it for some time now. Thanks in advance!
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169
Nov ’25
What are the CAMetalLayer.nextDrawable threading rules?
What evidence exists that it's safe to call nextDrawable() on CAMetalLayer off the main thread? I have seen developers claiming that it's OK, but the official docs are silent on the topic. Attempting to do so with Strict Concurrency Checking set to Complete complains that CAMetalLayer is not @Sendable. I want to call it off the main thread since there doesn't seem to be any way to prevent it from blocking the UI for up to a second. I have read hints and allegations that this won't happen if you avoid asking for too many drawables, but that doesn't seem to be true 100% of the time in my experience. Supposing it is allowed, I wonder how races are handled such as when the layer's size is changed on the main thread, or if the layer is removed from the layer hierarchy.
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514
Dec ’24
Bone deformation
I have been tasked with creating content for the Apple Vision Pro. Just the 3D content and animation, not the programming end of things. I can't seem to get any kind of mesh deformation animation to import into Reality Composer Pro. By that I mean bones/skin, or even point cache. I work on PC, and my main software is 3DS Max, but I'm borrowing an iMac for this job, and was instructed to use RCP on it for testing before handing things off to the programmer. My files open and play fine in other USD programs, like Omniverse, or USD View, just not Reality Composer Pro. I've seen the dinosaur demo in AVP, so I know mesh deformation is possible. If there are other essential tools that might make this possible, I have not been made aware of them. I am experimenting with bouncing things off of Blender, in case that exports better, but not really having luck there either -though my results are different. Thanks.
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107
Sep ’25
EXC_BREAKPOINT, QuartzCore , Crash CA::Render::Image::new_image
We are seeing crashes in Xcode organizer. So far we are not able to reproduce them locally. They affect multiple app releases (some older, built with Xcode 15.x and newer built with Xcode 16.0). They only affect iOS 18.5. Is there anything that changed in latest iOS? It's hard to tell what exactly is causing this crash because setting symbolic breakpoint on CA::Render::Image::new_image(unsigned int, unsigned int, unsigned int, unsigned int, CGColorSpace*, void const*, unsigned long const*, void (*)(void const*, void*), void*) triggers this breakpoint all the time, but not necessarily with exactly the previous stack frames matching the crash report. Is it a known issue? crash.crash Thank you.
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294
Jul ’25
RealityView IOS Navigation
I have a visionOS app that I’m adding support for IOS and will like to keep using RealityView. I know there are the following modifiers to add some navigation .realityViewCameraControls(.orbit) .realityViewCameraControls(.dolly) .realityViewCameraControls(.pan) But how can I add more than one? For example I would like to orbit with one finger, Pan with 2 fingers and dolly by pinching. Is this possible and if so can someone share some sample code on how to achieve that? Thanks, Guillermo
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434
Feb ’25
Metal HUD Logging issue
Hi I've noticed one issue in Metal HUD, but I'm not sure if it is a bug in the Metal HUD or if there is a purpose for this behavior. Metal HUD has an option to send the data to system log in raw format where the numbers are like metal-HUD: ,,,,,..., https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode/monitoring-your-metal-apps-graphics-performance/ If the HUD is displayed, it works just fine, but it seems that when the HUD is hidden (with shift-F9), it still send the data to system log, but the numbers are the same all the time and are not updated while is still being updated. I would expect that it should log the data no matter if the HUD is displayed or not, this of course leads to incorrect FPS calculations Here is an example of the system log entries when the HUD is not visible:
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104
May ’25
vsync, drawable present, instrument gui
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?
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126
May ’25
Game Center Challenges and Activities are not appearing
Hi, I'm trying to add game center challenges and activities to an already live game, but they are not appearing in game for testing, GameCenter, or the Games app. I know the game is setup with GameKit entitlements since this is a live game and it has working leaderboards and achievements. I've updated to Tahoe beta 8, added a challenge and activity on app store connect, added that to a new distribution and added that distribution to 'Add for Review' I'm using Unity and the Apple Unity plugin Not sure what other steps I'm missing Thanks
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1.1k
Sep ’25
SCNTechnique clearColor Always Shows sceneBackground When Passes Share Depth Buffer
Problem Description I'm encountering an issue with SCNTechnique where the clearColor setting is being ignored when multiple passes share the same depth buffer. The clear color always appears as the scene background, regardless of what value I set. The minimal project for reproducing the issue: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/30mx06xunh75wgl3t4sbd/SCNTechniqueCustomSymbols.zip?rlkey=yuehjtk7xh2pmdbetv2r8t2lx&st=b9uobpkp&dl=0 Problem Details In my SCNTechnique configuration, I have two passes that need to share the same depth buffer for proper occlusion handling: "passes": [ "box1_pass": [ "draw": "DRAW_SCENE", "includeCategoryMask": 1, "colorStates": [ "clear": true, "clearColor": "0 0 0 0" // Expecting transparent black ], "depthStates": [ "clear": true, "enableWrite": true ], "outputs": [ "depth": "box1_depth", "color": "box1_color" ], ], "box2_pass": [ "draw": "DRAW_SCENE", "includeCategoryMask": 2, "colorStates": [ "clear": true, "clearColor": "0 0 0 0" // Also expecting transparent black ], "depthStates": [ "clear": false, "enableWrite": false ], "outputs": [ "depth": "box1_depth", // Sharing the same depth buffer "color": "box2_color", ], ], "final_quad": [ "draw": "DRAW_QUAD", "metalVertexShader": "myVertexShader", "metalFragmentShader": "myFragmentShader", "inputs": [ "box1_color": "box1_color", "box2_color": "box2_color", ], "outputs": [ "color": "COLOR" ] ] ] And the metal shader used to display box1_color and box2_color with splitting: fragment half4 myFragmentShader(VertexOut in [[stage_in]], texture2d<half, access::sample> box1_color [[texture(0)]], texture2d<half, access::sample> box2_color [[texture(1)]]) { half4 color1 = box1_color.sample(s, in.texcoord); half4 color2 = box2_color.sample(s, in.texcoord); if (in.texcoord.x < 0.5) { return color1; } return color2; }; Expected Behavior Both passes should clear their color targets to transparent black (0, 0, 0, 0) The depth buffer should be shared between passes for proper occlusion Actual Behavior Both box1_color and box2_color targets contain the scene background instead of being cleared to transparent (see attached image) This happens even when I explicitly set clearColor: "0 0 0 0" for both passes Setting scene.background.contents = UIColor.clear makes the clearColor work as expected, but I need to keep the scene background for other purposes What I've Tried Setting different clearColor values - all are ignored when sharing depth buffer Using DRAW_NODE instead of DRAW_SCENE - didn't solve the issue Creating a separate pass to capture the background - the background still appears in the other passes Various combinations of clear flags and render orders Environment iOS/macOS, running with "My Mac (Designed for iPad)" Xcode 16.2 Question Is this a known limitation of SceneKit when passes share a depth buffer? Is there a workaround to achieve truly transparent clear colors while maintaining a shared depth buffer for occlusion testing? The core issue seems to be that SceneKit automatically renders the scene background in every DRAW_SCENE pass when a shared depth buffer is detected, overriding any clearColor settings. Any insights or workarounds would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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141
Jun ’25
How to use CharacterControllerComponent.
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?
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138
May ’25
Race conditions when changing CAMetalLayer.drawableSize?
Is the pseudocode below thread-safe? Imagine that the Main thread sets the CAMetalLayer's drawableSize to a new size meanwhile the rendering thread is in the middle of rendering into an existing MTLDrawable which does still have the old size. Is the change of metalLayer.drawableSize thread-safe in the sense that I can present an old MTLDrawable which has a different resolution than the current value of metalLayer.drawableSize? I assume that setting the drawableSize property informs Metal that the next MTLDrawable offered by the CAMetalLayer should have the new size, right? Is it valid to assume that "metalLayer.drawableSize = newSize" and "metalLayer.nextDrawable()" are internally synchronized, so it cannot happen that metalLayer.nextDrawable() would produce e.g. a MTLDrawable with the old width but with the new height (or a completely invalid resolution due to potential race conditions)? func onWindowResized(newSize: CGSize) { // Called on the Main thread metalLayer.drawableSize = newSize } func onVsync(drawable: MTLDrawable) { // Called on a background rendering thread renderer.renderInto(drawable: drawable) }
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133
1w
Game Porting Toolkit, missing GetThreadDpiHostingBehavior in USER32.DLL
I have been trying to run an open source Windows executable that I would like to help porting to macOS using the Game Porting Toolkit but I stumbled on an issue quite early in the application lifecycle. It looks like the funtion GetThreadDpiHostingBehavior is missing in USER32.dll Has anyone any idea how to solve that? During the startup, it fails with the following error: TiXL crashed. We're really sorry. The last backup was saved Unknown time to... C:\users\crossover\AppData\Roaming\TiXL\Backup Please refer to Help > Using Backups on what to do next. System.EntryPointNotFoundException: Unable to find an entry point named 'GetThreadDpiHostingBehavior' in DLL 'USER32.dll'. at System.Windows.Forms.ScaleHelper.DpiAwarenessScope..ctor(DPI_AWARENESS_CONTEXT context, DPI_HOSTING_BEHAVIOR behavior) at System.Windows.Forms.ScaleHelper.EnterDpiAwarenessScope(DPI_AWARENESS_CONTEXT awareness, DPI_HOSTING_BEHAVIOR dpiHosting) at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.CreateHandle(CreateParams cp) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateHandle() at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.get_MarshallingControl() at System.Windows.Forms.WindowsFormsSynchronizationContext..ctor() at System.Windows.Forms.WindowsFormsSynchronizationContext.InstallIfNeeded() at System.Windows.Forms.Control..ctor(Boolean autoInstallSyncContext) at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl..ctor() at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl..ctor() at System.Windows.Forms.Form..ctor() at T3.Editor.SplashScreen.SplashScreen.SplashForm..ctor() at T3.Editor.SplashScreen.SplashScreen.Show(String imagePath) in C:\Users\pixtur\dev\tooll\tixl\Editor\SplashScreen\SplashScreen.cs:line 25 at T3.Editor.Program.Main(String[] args) in C:\Users\pixtur\dev\tooll\tixl\Editor\Program.cs:line 111
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50
2w
Turn-Based Game and Invitations
I have two devices (iPod, iPhone), each using a different Apple ID. I have an existing game to which I'm adding TBM. When the iPod invites the iPhone, it sends an iMessage invite to the iPhone; when I click on that message, I get "Retrieving", then Game Center in Settings is opened, not my App (same version installed on both devices). I start my App on the iPhone and that match is not shown in the Matchmaker View Controller. When I send an invite from the iPhone to the iPod and I click on the iMessage invite, the app starts but the match isn't listed in the MatchMaker ViewController on the iPod (but is on the iPhone). In addition, when I click on the info circle on the iPhone, it who's the two players and "App Store" under the Game Center name. However, When I do the same on the iPod, it has a "Play your turn" there. Any ideas?
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443
2w
The App Store purchase button disappears when another window approaches
Since macOS 15.3.2, we have observed that when another window is moved near the App Store's install button, the button disappears. We have attached a related video in the Feedback submission here https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/feedback/20444423 Our application overlays a transparent, watermark-window on top of the system window, which causes the install button in the App Store to be hidden when a user attempts to install an application.Could you advise on how to avoid this issue?
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149
Nov ’25
RealityKit - Full 3D experience
I have a question I guess more for the Apple team. But why are there no totally 3D experiences for the Vision Pro lineup? I know they have given us tools to implement unity 3D games into iPhone and I guess you can also build it in RealityKit. But why at this moment are 3D games limited to just iPad and iPhone and can't you bring that into Vision Pro? Just to explain. When I say a totally 3D game, I mean games like Gorn. I mean the Vision Pro is definitely powerful enough, but it just feels limited to tabletop games and AR games. Is this something Apple is thinking about implementing?
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518
Oct ’25
Concurrent conflicting texture writes
Hello! I need to "draw" a set of particles into the texture. It would be trivial in render encoder of course. However, I would like to implement the task in compute kernel. Every particle draw operation is expected to set 5 texels - "center" one and left/right/upper/lower. Particles can and will overlap, so concurrent draws are to be expected. I tried using texture atomics - atomic_store() to be more precise. This worked, albeit pretty slowly - too slow for my purpose. Just to test what would happen, I tried using normal texture write(). I was expecting to see some kind of visual artefacts, but to my surprise, it worked very well (and much faster). My question: is it safe? I understand that calling write() doesn't guarantee any ordering of the operations, so if multiple threads write to the same texel, the final value may come from any of those threads. But suppose all the threads were to write the very same color? Can I assume that the texel in question will have said color after the compute kernel finishes? I am using M2 Pro MacBook, but ideally I would love to get the answer for the all Apple Silicon devices. My texture format is R32Int (so as to be able to use atomics), but I could do with any single-channel format, the purpose of the texture is to be binary mask of sorts. Thanks!
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409
Feb ’25
Game Center Achievement "Global Players" Always Showing 0% Issue
Hello, I’m the developer of the “ StepSquad” app. Our app uses the Game Center achievement feature, but we’ve been encountering a problem: the “Global Players” metric always shows 0%, even though there are friends who have already achieved these achievements. Initially, I thought it might be because the app was newly launched. However, it’s now been over two months since release, and it’s still showing 0%. If anyone has any insight into this issue, please leave a comment.
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554
Jan ’25