Apple Silicon
- Thread starter podperson
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Somian
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I'm wondering that too as I'm looking forward to keep using Cheetah3D. But hey, I've even used Cheetah3D on good' old Power PC Macs 
From my understanding, this transition moves Macs and iDevices closer, but from the software perspective there are still major differences.
It seems like iOS is becoming a subset of MacOS, but Cheetah3D is written in Cocoa. I assume this would all have to be re-done in SwiftUI or something to be easily ported to iPad.
However, I think since Martin would have to port the real-time renderer to Metal anyway (due to the OpenGL deprectation) this is an interesting thing to think about. iOS also supports keyboard/mouse now and this would be the world's first real 3D package available on an iPad starting at less than $400, and it would fly!
From my understanding, this transition moves Macs and iDevices closer, but from the software perspective there are still major differences.
It seems like iOS is becoming a subset of MacOS, but Cheetah3D is written in Cocoa. I assume this would all have to be re-done in SwiftUI or something to be easily ported to iPad.
However, I think since Martin would have to port the real-time renderer to Metal anyway (due to the OpenGL deprectation) this is an interesting thing to think about. iOS also supports keyboard/mouse now and this would be the world's first real 3D package available on an iPad starting at less than $400, and it would fly!
Martin
0
The Apple Silicon switch is very interesting but it's also causing me some headaches. Especially since quite some questions are still unanswered. So it's difficult to say how much work it actually requires. It also depends on how long it takes until external frameworks like the FBX SDK become natively available. The UI changes of macOS 11 will also require quite some adjustments. Add this to the work I already have with the OpenGL->Metal switch and it becomes pretty hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I've already applied for a DTK. Once I've received it I can probably say more.(Ops, just read that there will be an NDA). I hope it will be as easy as the PPC->x86 switch which was very easy and rewarding.
The big technical problem for and an iPad version was always the lack of OpenGL support. But since I'm currently porting Cheetah3D to Metal this will hopefully be resolved in the future. That both platforms will run on the same CPU/GPU architecture will make things even easier. By the way, there is no Swift requirement to create an iPad app. ObjectiveC is equally good.
But there is no technical (or financial) reason why I have no interest in the iPad. It's the App Store. I was four years in the Mac App Store and that was the biggest mistake I've made in the history of Cheetah3D. Nothing caused more damage to Cheetah3D than the MAS. So I'm a burned child and I don't want to repeat that mistake.
The probability for a iPad version therefore remains is low. Very low. Sorry.
The big technical problem for and an iPad version was always the lack of OpenGL support. But since I'm currently porting Cheetah3D to Metal this will hopefully be resolved in the future. That both platforms will run on the same CPU/GPU architecture will make things even easier. By the way, there is no Swift requirement to create an iPad app. ObjectiveC is equally good.
But there is no technical (or financial) reason why I have no interest in the iPad. It's the App Store. I was four years in the Mac App Store and that was the biggest mistake I've made in the history of Cheetah3D. Nothing caused more damage to Cheetah3D than the MAS. So I'm a burned child and I don't want to repeat that mistake.
The probability for a iPad version therefore remains is low. Very low. Sorry.
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I think my biggest worry with the move of Macs to Apple Silicon is that eventually Macs will be locked into an App Store much like iThings.
I always found ObjectiveC easy to read, but was a nightmare to write very unenjoyable. Not sure how much of that was ObjectiveC and how much was Xcode, I find Xcode the worst IDE I have ever used to write code.
I always found ObjectiveC easy to read, but was a nightmare to write very unenjoyable. Not sure how much of that was ObjectiveC and how much was Xcode, I find Xcode the worst IDE I have ever used to write code.
It is interesting different peoples views of the Apps Stores . I don't mind the existence of the Mac App Store I just don't want to be locked into it.
I think anything else I might say (rant?) about the App Stores and Xcode would be way off topic so I think I will leave it at that.
Interesting I discovered cheetah when searching for 3D apps when I moved from PC to Mac, Cheetah was one of the first results (there was also a Java based one Wings3d? and of course Blender) before there was a Mac App Store, the interface was closer to trueSpace than most others, it was a reasonable price and the community was and still is very welcoming and helpful.
. I don't mind the existence of the Mac App Store I just don't want to be locked into it.I think anything else I might say (rant?) about the App Stores and Xcode would be way off topic so I think I will leave it at that.
Interesting I discovered cheetah when searching for 3D apps when I moved from PC to Mac, Cheetah was one of the first results (there was also a Java based one Wings3d? and of course Blender) before there was a Mac App Store, the interface was closer to trueSpace than most others, it was a reasonable price and the community was and still is very welcoming and helpful.
Last resort...
obj-c is definitely easier to read than write — which is a Good Thing.
Whether macs get locked into App Store is orthogonal to the cpu they use. Apple could lock macos on intel to the App Store if they wanted to.
@podperson I think both your points are very good ones
I hope the transition to Apple Silicon will be relatively easy for you Martin. I'm going to hold off buying a new iMac, or equivalent desktop Mac, whatever that will be, until the new Apple Silicon Macs are released. I hope my 2012 iMac lasts that long!