Metal API for OSX 10.11 ... El Capitan

[Scott_Arm]

Apple announced the Metal API is coming to the next version of OSX due out this fall. Odd choice. Wonder if that means they're not going to support Vulkan.

 

[willardjuice]

Time to start the OpenGL/Vulkan death watch! If Android rolls their own API I think they are done.

 

[silent_guy]

Time to start the OpenGL/Vulkan death watch! If Android rolls their own API I think they are done.

https://forum.beyond3d.com/posts/1829844/

 

[sebbbi]

Not surprised at all

 

[Scott_Arm]

Not surprised at all

So, how many weeks have you been playing around with it?

 

[monstercameron]

Does metal need a new driver stack or is it a layer on top of GL|ES?
What hardware supports metal right now (intel, nv amd) ?

 

[Scott_Arm]

Metal is a low level api, like Mantle, Vulcan and D3D12. I've read some posts on this forum that suggest it's missing some good features from those other APIs. It doesn't sit on top of OpenGL. It's a separate API that's available only on iOS and OSX. Apple handles drivers for you, so if you have OSX 10.11 when it's out, or iOS 8 or higher, you have Metal support. Not sure what the hardware cutoff will be, or if they do feature levels for Metal.

https://developer.apple.com/metal/

 

[mczak]

It doesn't sit on top of OpenGL.

The opposite though probably should be possible (OpenGL on top of metal) and might even make some sense.

 

[gamervivek]

http://aras-p.info/blog/2015/03/13/thoughts-on-explicit-graphics-apis/

 

[Scott_Arm]

So, Metal for OSX may be a disaster.

http://www.macrumors.com/2015/11/06/blizzard-overwatch-mac/

Currently with the technology behind Macs and the way Overwatch runs it's just too challenging for us at this point to support it," Kaplan said. "Our focus right now is entirely on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Blizzard is not bringing their next game, Overwatch, to Mac. They've been very good at launching and supporting their games on Mac to this point.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Unity 5.3 has experimental Metal support for OSX

http://blogs.unity3d.com/2015/12/08/unity-5-3-all-new-features-and-more-platforms/

 

[Scott_Arm]

Unreal Engine 11 Preview 1 has Metal support for OSX.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Wow, a game!

Total War: Warhammer using the Metal API for MacOS

https://www.feralinteractive.com/en/news/751/

Only other games I know of are World of Warcraft and a beta implementation for Heroes of the Storm.

Also can't remember, but metal may now be the default renderer for Unreal Engine on Mac.