Metal by Tutorials

Build your own low-level game engine in Metal!

This book introduces you to graphics programming in Metal — Apple’s framework for programming on the GPU. You’ll build your own game engine in Metal where you can create 3D scenes and build your own 3D games.

Who This Book Is For

This book is for intermediate Swift developers interested in learning 3D graphics or gaining a deeper understanding of how game engines work.

Topics Covered in Metal by Tutorials

• The Rendering Pipeline: Take a deep dive through the graphics pipeline.
• 3D Models: Import 3D models with Model I/O and discover what makes up a 3D model.
• Coordinate Spaces: Learn the math behind 3D rendering.
• Lighting: Make your models look more realistic with simple lighting techniques.
• Shading: Understand how vertex and fragment shaders work.
• Textures & Materials: Design textures and surfaces for micro detail.
• Multipass Rendering: Add shadows with advanced lighting effects.
• Tile-based Deferred Rendering: Take full advantage of your Apple GPU with this rendering technique.
• GPU-Driven Rendering: Move the rendering setup to the GPU.
• Tessellation: Discover how to use tessellation to add a higher level of detail using fewer resources.
• Environment: Add realistic skies and water to your scenes.
• Particle Systems: Learn how to make stunning visual effects using GPU compute shaders.
• Character Animation: Bring your 3D models to life with joints and animation.
• Raytracing: Learn how to perform raytracing on the GPU.
• Advanced Lighting & Shadows: Discover signed distance fields and render beautiful shadows.
• Performance Optimization: Tune up your game with Xcode’s new tools.

After reading this book, you’ll be prepared to take full advantage of graphics rendering with the Metal framework.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Hello, Metal! Chapter 2: 3D Models

Chapter 3: The Rendering Pipeline

Chapter 4: The Vertex Function

Chapter 5: 3D Transformations

Chapter 6: Coordinate Spaces

Chapter 7: The Fragment Function

Chapter 8: Textures

Chapter 9: Navigating a 3D Scene

Chapter 10: Lighting Fundamentals

Chapter 11: Maps & Materials

Chapter 12: Render Passes

Chapter 13: Shadows

Chapter 14: Deferred Rendering

Chapter 15: Tile-Based Deferred Rendering

Chapter 16: GPU Compute Programming

Chapter 17: Particle Systems

Chapter 18: Particle Behavior

Chapter 19: Tessellation & Terrains

Chapter 20: Fragment Post-Processing

Chapter 21: Image-Based Lighting

Chapter 22: Reflection & Refraction

Chapter 23: Animation

Chapter 24: Character Animation

Chapter 25: Managing Resources

Chapter 26: GPU-Driven Rendering

Chapter 27: Rendering With Rays

Chapter 28: Advanced Shadows

Chapter 29: Advanced Lighting

Chapter 30: Metal Performance Shaders

Chapter 31: Performance Optimization

Chapter 32: Best Practices

About the Authors

Caroline Begbie is a co-author of this book. Caroline is an indie iOS developer. When she’s not developing, she’s playing around with 2D and 3D animation software, or planning The Big Lap around Australia. She has previously taught the elderly how to use their computers, done marionette shows for pre-schools, and created accounting and stock control systems for mining companies.

Marius Horga is a co-author of this book. Marius is an iOS developer and Metal API blogger. He is also a computer scientist. He has more than a decade of experience with systems, support, integration and development. You can often see him on Twitter talking about Metal, GPGPU, games and 3D graphics. When he’s away from computers, he enjoys music, biking or stargazing.