Real-Time Renderer with Metal

A (timid) real-time 3D renderer written in C++ with GPU acceleration via Metal.

Project Structure

Detailed File Breakdown

├── build/
│   └── renderer             # Compiled binary
├── include/
│   ├── AppDelegate.hpp
│   ├── Math.hpp              # Utility functions for vector and matrix math  
│   ├── Mesh.hpp            # Represents 3D models and geometry data
│   ├── MyMTKViewDelegate.hpp
│   └── Renderer.hpp
├── src/
│   ├── AppDelegate.cpp     # Manages the application
│   ├── Main.cpp
│   ├── MyMTKViewDelegate.cpp # Custom delegate for the MetalKit view
│   ├── Renderer.cpp        # Main rendering logic
│   └── shader.metal         # Metal shading code
├── third-party/
│   ├── metal-cpp/           # Metal C++ bindings
│   └── metal-cpp-extensions/

Features

• Real-Time 3D Rendering using Metal
• Custom Vertex & Fragment Shaders for lighting and materials
• Dynamic Point Lights with attenuation and time-based pulsing
• Modular Codebase for easy extension and reuse

Shader Overview

The Metal shader (shader.metal) includes:

• Vertex Shader
  • Transforms vertices into clip space
  • Calculates per-vertex world positions, normals, and colors
• Fragment Shader
  • Computes lighting using:
    • Ambient, diffuse, and specular components
    • Distance-based attenuation
    • Time-based pulsing effects

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• macOS with Xcode and Metal support
• make, clang installed

Build Instructions

Run the following from the root directory:

make -j8

The output binary will be located at ./build/renderer.

Run the Renderer

./build/renderer

📄 License

This project is licensed under the terms outlined in the LICENSE file.

Acknowledgments

• Apple Metal for the GPU framework
• metal-cpp for enabling C++ bindings to Metal