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About

metal-cpp is a low overhead and header only C++ interface for Metal that helps developers add Metal functionality to graphics applications that are written in C++ (such as game engines). metal-cpp removes the need to create a shim and allows developers to call Metal functions directly from anywhere in their existing C++ code.

Highlights

  • Drop in C++ alternative interface to the Metal Objective-C headers.
  • Direct mapping of all Metal Objective-C classes, constants and enums to C++ in the MTL C++ namespace.
  • No measurable overhead compared to calling Metal Objective-C headers, due to inlining of C++ function calls.
  • No usage of wrapper containers that require additional allocations.
  • Requires C++17 due to the usage of constexpr in NS::Object.
  • Identical header files and function/constant/enum availability for iOS, macOS and tvOS.
  • Backwards compatibility: All bool MTL::Device::supports...() functions check if their required selectors exist and automatically return false if not.
  • String (ErrorDomain) constants are weak linked and automatically set to nullptr if not available.

Changelog

Version Changes
macOS 15, iOS 18 Add all the Metal APIs in macOS 15 and iOS 18.
macOS 14, iOS 17 Add support for the MetalFX framework.
Add all the APIs in macOS 14 and iOS 17.
macOS 13.3, iOS 16.4 Add all the APIs in macOS 13.3 and iOS 16.4.
macOS 13, iOS 16 Add all the APIs in macOS 13 and iOS 16.
New optional NS::SharedPtr<T> type to assist with memory management.
New convenience function to create a CA::MetalLayer.
New MTLSTR(str) macro allows faster string creation from literals.
Fix a problem with the signature of functions that take an array of pointers as input.
Fix a problem with the signature of the setGroups() function in MTL::LinkedFunctions.
macOS 12, iOS 15 Initial release.

Memory Allocation Policy

metal-cpp follows the object allocation policies of Cocoa, Cocoa Touch, and CoreFoundation. Understanding these rules is especially important when using metal-cpp, as C++ objects are not eligible for automatic reference counting (ARC).

metal-cpp objects are reference counted. To help convey and manage object lifecycles, the following conventions are observed:

  1. You own any object returned by methods whose name begins with alloc , new , copy , mutableCopy , or Create. The method returns these objects with retainCount equals to 1.
  2. You can take ownership of an object by calling its retain() method. A received object is normally guaranteed to remain valid within the method it was received in. You use retain in two situations: (1) In the implementation of an accessor method (a setter) or to take ownership of an object; and (2) To prevent an object from being deallocated as a side-effect of some other operation.
  3. When you no longer need it, you must relinquish ownership of an object you own. You relinquish ownership by calling its release() or autorelease() method.
  4. You must not relinquish ownership of an object you do not own.

When an object's retainCount reaches 0, the object is immediately deallocated. It is illegal to call methods on a deallocated object and it may lead to an application crash.

AutoreleasePools and Objects

Several methods that create temporary objects in metal-cpp add them to an AutoreleasePool to help manage their lifetimes. In these situations, after metal-cpp creates the object, it adds it to an AutoreleasePool, which will release its objects when you release (or drain) it.

By adding temporary objects to an AutoreleasePool, you do not need to explicitly call release() to deallocate them. Instead, you can rely on the AutoreleasePool to implicitly manage those lifetimes.

If you create an object with a method that does not begin with alloc, new, copy, mutableCopy, or Create, the creating method adds the object to an autorelease pool.

The typical scope of an AutoreleasePool is one frame of rendering for the main thread of the program. When the thread returns control to the RunLoop (an object responsible for receiving input and events from the windowing system), the pool is drained, releasing its objects.

You can create and manage additional AutoreleasePools at smaller scopes to reduce your program's working set, and you are required to do so for any additional threads your program creates.

If an object's lifecycle needs to be extended beyond the scope of an AutoreleasePool instance, you can claim ownership of it by calling its retain() method before the pool is drained. In these cases, you are responsible for making the appropriate release() call on the object after you no longer need it.

You can find a more-detailed introduction to the memory management rules here: https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/MemoryMgmt/Articles/mmRules.html, and here: https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/CoreFoundation/Conceptual/CFMemoryMgmt/Concepts/Ownership.html

For more details about the application's RunLoop, please find its documentation here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundation/nsrunloop

Use and debug AutoreleasePools

When you create an autoreleased object and there is no enclosing AutoreleasePool, the object is leaked.

To prevent this, you normally create an AutoreleasePool in your program's main function, and in the entry function for every thread you create. You may also create additional AutoreleasePools to avoid growing your program's high memory watermark when you create several autoreleased objects, such as when rendering.

Use the Environment Variable OBJC_DEBUG_MISSING_POOLS=YES to print a runtime warning when an autoreleased object is leaked because no enclosing AutoreleasePool is available for its thread.

You can also run leaks --autoreleasePools on a memgraph file or a process ID (macOS only) to view a listing of your program's AutoreleasePools and all objects they contain.

NS::SharedPtr

The metal-cpp headers include an optional NS::SharedPtr<> (shared pointer) template that can help you manually manage memory in your apps.

Shared pointers in metal-cpp are different from std::shared_ptr<> in that they implement specific optimizations for its memory model. For example, metal-cpp's shared pointers avoid the overhead of the standard library's version by leveraging the reference counting implementation of the NS::Object type.

Note

The metal-cpp shared pointer’s destructor method always calls the release() method of the pointer that it wraps.

You can create an NS::SharedPtr<> by calling the metal-cpp's factory method that's appropriate for your application's intent:

  • You can transfer ownership of a pointer to a new shared pointer instance by calling the NS::TransferPtr() factory function, which is the correct function for Resource Acquisition is Initialization (RAII) implementations because it doesn't increase the pointee's retain count.

  • You can share ownership of a pointer with another entity by calling the NS::RetainPtr() factory function. This function can also extend an object's lifecycle beyond an AutoreleasePool instance's scope because it creates a strong reference to the pointee and increases its retain count.

Usage of NS::SharedPtr<> is optional.

nullptr

Similar to Objective-C, it is legal to call any method, including retain() and release(), on nullptr "objects". While calling methods on nullptr still does incur in function call overhead, the effective result is equivalent of a NOP.

Conversely, do not assume that because calling a method on a pointer did not result in a crash, that the pointed-to object is valid.

Adding metal-cpp to a Project

Simply include Metal/Metal.hpp. To ensure that the selector and class symbols are linked, add to one of your cpp files:

#define NS_PRIVATE_IMPLEMENTATION
#define MTL_PRIVATE_IMPLEMENTATION

#include "Metal/Metal.hpp"

If you want to use the QuartzCore wrapper, add:

#define CA_PRIVATE_IMPLEMENTATION

#include "QuartzCore/QuartzCore.hpp"

Generating a Single Header File

Purely optional: You can generate a single header file that contains all metal-cpp headers via:

./SingleHeader/MakeSingleHeader.py Foundation/Foundation.hpp QuartzCore/QuartzCore.hpp Metal/Metal.hpp MetalFX/MetalFX.hpp

By default the generator script writes its output to ./SingleHeader/Metal.hpp. Use the -o option to customize output filename.

Global Symbol Visibility

metal-cpp marks all its symbols with default visibility. Define the macro: METALCPP_SYMBOL_VISIBILITY_HIDDEN to override this behavior and hide its symbols.

Examples

Creating the device

Objective-C (with automatic reference counting)
id< MTLDevice > device = MTLCreateSystemDefaultDevice();

// ...
Objective-C
id< MTLDevice > device = MTLCreateSystemDefaultDevice();

// ...

[device release];
C++
MTL::Device* pDevice = MTL::CreateSystemDefaultDevice();

// ...

pDevice->release();
C++ (using NS::SharedPtr)
NS::SharedPtr< MTL::Device > pDevice = NS::TransferPtr( MTL::CreateSystemDefaultDevice() );

// ...

Metal function calls map directly to C++

Objective-C (with automatic reference counting)
MTLSamplerDescriptor* samplerDescriptor = [[MTLSamplerDescriptor alloc] init];

[samplerDescriptor setSAddressMode: MTLSamplerAddressModeRepeat];
[samplerDescriptor setTAddressMode: MTLSamplerAddressModeRepeat];
[samplerDescriptor setRAddressMode: MTLSamplerAddressModeRepeat];
[samplerDescriptor setMagFilter: MTLSamplerMinMagFilterLinear];
[samplerDescriptor setMinFilter: MTLSamplerMinMagFilterLinear];
[samplerDescriptor setMipFilter: MTLSamplerMipFilterLinear];
[samplerDescriptor setSupportArgumentBuffers: YES];

id< MTLSamplerState > samplerState = [device newSamplerStateWithDescriptor:samplerDescriptor];
Objective-C
MTLSamplerDescriptor* samplerDescriptor = [[MTLSamplerDescriptor alloc] init];

[samplerDescriptor setSAddressMode: MTLSamplerAddressModeRepeat];
[samplerDescriptor setTAddressMode: MTLSamplerAddressModeRepeat];
[samplerDescriptor setRAddressMode: MTLSamplerAddressModeRepeat];
[samplerDescriptor setMagFilter: MTLSamplerMinMagFilterLinear];
[samplerDescriptor setMinFilter: MTLSamplerMinMagFilterLinear];
[samplerDescriptor setMipFilter: MTLSamplerMipFilterLinear];
[samplerDescriptor setSupportArgumentBuffers: YES];

id< MTLSamplerState > samplerState = [device newSamplerStateWithDescriptor:samplerDescriptor];

[samplerDescriptor release];

// ...

[samplerState release];
C++
MTL::SamplerDescriptor* pSamplerDescriptor = MTL::SamplerDescriptor::alloc()->init();

pSamplerDescriptor->setSAddressMode( MTL::SamplerAddressModeRepeat );
pSamplerDescriptor->setTAddressMode( MTL::SamplerAddressModeRepeat );
pSamplerDescriptor->setRAddressMode( MTL::SamplerAddressModeRepeat );
pSamplerDescriptor->setMagFilter( MTL::SamplerMinMagFilterLinear );
pSamplerDescriptor->setMinFilter( MTL::SamplerMinMagFilterLinear );
pSamplerDescriptor->setMipFilter( MTL::SamplerMipFilterLinear );
pSamplerDescriptor->setSupportArgumentBuffers( true );

MTL::SamplerState* pSamplerState = pDevice->newSamplerState( pSamplerDescriptor );

pSamplerDescriptor->release();

// ...

pSamplerState->release();
C++ (using NS::SharedPtr)
NS::SharedPtr< MTL::SamplerDescriptor > pSamplerDescriptor = NS::TransferPtr( MTL::SamplerDescriptor::alloc()->init() );

pSamplerDescriptor->setSAddressMode( MTL::SamplerAddressModeRepeat );
pSamplerDescriptor->setTAddressMode( MTL::SamplerAddressModeRepeat );
pSamplerDescriptor->setRAddressMode( MTL::SamplerAddressModeRepeat );
pSamplerDescriptor->setMagFilter( MTL::SamplerMinMagFilterLinear );
pSamplerDescriptor->setMinFilter( MTL::SamplerMinMagFilterLinear );
pSamplerDescriptor->setMipFilter( MTL::SamplerMipFilterLinear );
pSamplerDescriptor->setSupportArgumentBuffers( true );

NS::SharedPtr< MTL::SamplerState > pSamplerState( pDevice->newSamplerState( pSamplerDescriptor ) );

A subset of bindings for Foundation classes is provided for seamless integration

Objective-C (with automatic reference counting)
NSAutoreleasePool*  pool   = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
NSString*           string = [NSString stringWithCString: "Hello World" encoding: NSASCIIStringEncoding];

printf( "string = \"%s\"\n", [string cStringUsingEncoding: NSASCIIStringEncoding] );
Objective-C
NSAutoreleasePool* pool   = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
NSString*          string = [NSString stringWithCString: "Hello World" encoding: NSASCIIStringEncoding];
								
printf( "string = \"%s\"\n", [string cStringUsingEncoding: NSASCIIStringEncoding] );

[pool release];
C++
NS::AutoreleasePool* pPool   = NS::AutoreleasePool::alloc()->init();
NS::String*          pString = NS::String::string( "Hello World", NS::ASCIIStringEncoding );

printf( "pString = \"%s\"\n", pString->cString( NS::ASCIIStringEncoding ) );

pPool->release();
C++ (using NS::SharedPtr)
NS::SharedPtr< NS::AutoreleasePool > pPool   = NS::TransferPtr( NS::AutoreleasePool::alloc()->init() );
NS::String*                          pString = NS::String::string( "Hello World", NS::ASCIIStringEncoding );

printf( "pString = \"%s\"\n", pString->cString( NS::ASCIIStringEncoding ) );

Containers

Use the CoreFoundation framework to create NS::Array and NS::Dictionary instances.

MTL::AccelerationStructureTriangleGeometryDescriptor* pGeoDescriptor  = MTL::AccelerationStructureTriangleGeometryDescriptor::alloc()->init();
CFTypeRef                                             descriptors[]   = { ( CFTypeRef )( pGeoDescriptor ) };
NS::Array*                                            pGeoDescriptors = ( NS::Array* )( CFArrayCreate( kCFAllocatorDefault, descriptors, SIZEOF_ARRAY( descriptors), &kCFTypeArrayCallBacks ) );

// ...

pGeoDescriptors->release();

Containers, such as NS::Array and NS::Dictionary, retain the objects they hold and release them when the container is deallocated.

Accessing the Metal Drawable

#import <QuartzCore/QuartzCore.hpp>

// ...

CA::MetalLayer*    pMetalLayer    = /* layer associated with the view */;
CA::MetalDrawable* pMetalDrawable = pMetalLayer->nextDrawable();

// ...