Metal framework
E849985
The Metal framework is Apple’s low-level, high-performance graphics and compute API used across its platforms for GPU-accelerated rendering and processing.
Observed surface forms (1)
| Surface form | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Metal | 0 |
Statements (76)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Apple framework
ⓘ
compute API ⓘ graphics API ⓘ |
| abstractionLevel | low-level ⓘ |
| announcedAt | Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2014 NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| APIStyle | object-oriented ⓘ |
| category | graphics and compute framework ⓘ |
| competesWith |
Direct3D 12
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
OpenCL NERFINISHED ⓘ OpenGL NERFINISHED ⓘ Vulkan NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| designGoal |
high performance
ⓘ
low overhead ⓘ |
| developer | Apple Inc. ⓘ |
| documentationSite | Apple Developer Documentation NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| firstAvailableOn | iOS 8 GENERATED ⓘ |
| hardwareTarget |
Apple GPUs
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Apple Silicon SoCs NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| integratesWith |
Core Animation
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Core Image NERFINISHED ⓘ Metal Performance Shaders NERFINISHED ⓘ MetalFX NERFINISHED ⓘ RealityKit NERFINISHED ⓘ SceneKit NERFINISHED ⓘ SpriteKit NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| laterExtendedTo |
macOS
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
tvOS NERFINISHED ⓘ visionOS NERFINISHED ⓘ watchOS NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| operatingSystem |
iOS
ⓘ
macOS ⓘ tvOS NERFINISHED ⓘ visionOS NERFINISHED ⓘ watchOS NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| platform | Apple platforms NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| primaryInterfaceLanguage |
C++ (via headers)
GENERATED
ⓘ
Objective-C GENERATED ⓘ Swift GENERATED ⓘ |
| provides |
blit command encoders
ⓘ
command buffers ⓘ command queues ⓘ compute command encoders ⓘ render command encoders ⓘ |
| purpose |
GPU-accelerated compute processing
ⓘ
GPU-accelerated graphics rendering ⓘ |
| replaces |
OpenCL on Apple platforms
ⓘ
OpenGL on Apple platforms NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| resourceModel | explicit resource management ⓘ |
| shaderLanguage | Metal Shading Language NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| shaderLanguageType | C++-like shading language ⓘ |
| supports |
2D graphics
ⓘ
3D graphics ⓘ GPGPU ⓘ GPU compute ⓘ argument buffers ⓘ compute shaders ⓘ function specialization ⓘ graphics shaders ⓘ indirect command buffers ⓘ multithreaded command encoding ⓘ pipeline state objects ⓘ precompiled shader libraries ⓘ ray tracing ⓘ resource heaps ⓘ sparse textures ⓘ tessellation ⓘ tile-based deferred rendering ⓘ |
| supportsFeature |
GPU-driven rendering
ⓘ
tile shading ⓘ variable rate shading (on supported hardware) ⓘ |
| usedFor |
games
ⓘ
image processing ⓘ machine learning workloads ⓘ professional graphics applications ⓘ video processing ⓘ |
| vendorLockIn | Apple ecosystem only ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.