Blog All Apple Dev User Interface Web Dev Misc SpriteKit Scene Size Updated 7 Oct 2026 A SpriteKit scene is an infinite canvas. Its size defines its drawable window. Floating point precision issues appear for objects positioned very far away from the origin. iOS App Lifecycle Updated 3 Oct 2026 Access UIKit application state data in a SwiftUI app using UIApplicationDelegateAdaptor. UIKit Dynamics Updated 2 Oct 2026 Did you know that UIKit has a built-in physics engine? RealityKit Light & Shadow 11 Aug 2026 Lighting and shadow casting in RealityKit have assumptions and behavior that are not readily documented. RealityKit TextComponent Bug 3 Aug 2026 RealityKit TextComponent renders inverted text on Mac Catalyst. The issue is reported as FB24126863. Below is a workaround. SpriteKit Lighting 2 Jul 2026 A demo scene to play with SpriteKit built-in lighting and hard shadows. SpriteKit and Metal Shaders 2 Jul 2026 Apply Metal shaders to SpriteKit content with SKRenderer and a MetalKit view. SKRenderer and MTKView 1 Jul 2026 Render SpriteKit directly into a Metal view with SKRenderer instead of SKView/SpriteView. This setup provides more control over the rendering pipeline, and runs more smoothly on some devices like iPhone 13. SpriteKit Motion Blur 19 Jun 2026 Per-sprite motion blur with SpriteKit and GLSL fragment shaders. Swift & C 31 May 2026 It's possible to use C directly inside Swift. Below is a tutorial on how to mix Swift and C in the same Xcode project. RealityKit Physics Thresholds 7 Mar 2026 Physical objects that are less than 4cm apart can collide in a RealityKit physics simulation. RealityKit Contact Events 13 Feb 2026 How to detect contact between overlapping physics bodies. RealityKit Unprefixed Types 9 Feb 2026 RealityKit uses unprefixed types, like SwiftUI, but unlike traditional frameworks such as SpriteKit or Core Graphics. RealityKit Texture Tiling 7 Feb 2026 Tile and transform textures in RealityKit using the textureCoordinateTransform property of a Material. RealityKit Scene Instances 4 Feb 2026 Don't store references to a RealityKit Scene instance. Just pass an explicit reference to it where needed. RealityKit FOV & Hit Detection 1 Feb 2026 ARView built-in hit detection only works with vertical camera FOV orientation. Below is custom hit detection code for any FOV orientation. RealityKit Physics Speed 29 Dec 2025 We can slow down or speed up RealityKit physics with rather obscure Core Media types. Alternate Tech World 21 Oct 2025 Spatial computing could be made of many small devices that work together and with the physical world to create augmented experiences. RealityKit Gravity 4 Oct 2025 RealityKit physics gravity can be controlled with the PhysicsSimulation component. SpriteKit Bit Masks 17 Mar 2025 Bit masks are used to tag objects and define which objects can interact with each other. Scaling Physics in SpriteKit 22 Dec 2024 Leverage access to the update loop in order to control physics and rendering separately. SpriteKit Number Counter 14 Nov 2024 An animated number counter made with SpriteKit, inspired by SwiftUI's ContentTransition.numericText effect. UIKit contentMode 18 Apr 2024 Try different contentMode values to change the appearance of some UIKit views during device rotation. Xcode Comments 9 Apr 2024 Xcode has a syntax to style comments, which I find very useful for code documentation and presentation. Textures with Core Graphics 18 Mar 2024 Generate textures for SpriteKit using Core Graphics. Xcode Shortcuts 17 Feb 2024 Keyboard shortcuts I often use in Xcode. Disabling Cache for Web Development 14 Mar 2018 How to disable caching on web browsers during development. Position Fixed and CSS Transforms 7 Feb 2018 An HTML element with position: fixed will lose its fixed positioning if a CSS transform is applied to its ancestors. Remove all transforms from ancestors to recover fixed positioning. From inline-block to CSS Grid 30 Jan 2018 CSS tutorial: how to rewrite an inline-block layout in CSS Grid. Note Apps Speed 12 Dec 2017 Video recordings of note apps responsiveness. Barrier to Entry Into Programming 14 Nov 2017 "The barrier to entry into programming is low. Much lower than a bachelor degree." Programmers Love to Write Code 13 Nov 2017 James Somers, a writer and programmer, wrote a fantastic essay on the state of software engineering called "The Coming Software Apocalypse." This is a TL;DR version of his essay. Why Is Programming Writing? 15 Aug 2017 Is programming text-based for necessary reasons or contingent ones? What would another universal and expressive programming medium look like? I Like The Way You Move 24 Jul 2017 In computer graphics, photorealism drives the field toward a goal that everyone can relate to and evaluate. Other areas of computing, like user interface design, have harder goals to define. I’ll look at the example of computer animation tools. HARC 21 Jul 2017 A peek into the Human Advancement Research Community. Design by Simulation 20 Jul 2017 Ivan Sutherland invented a revolutionary way of designing on a computer in 1962. We can find some of his core ideas in modern 3D software. Feel The Ship 18 Jul 2017 Another gem from Star Trek Voyager about user interface design in a 1998 episode. This time pilot Tom Paris wants to feel the ship. The Maltese Language 9 Jul 2017 Did you know people in the Maghreb write their dialect in Latin and use numbers to denote specific Arabic characters? Goal Driven Programming 7 Jul 2017 Is 3D animation with inverse kinematics a valid example of goal-driven programming? Reinventing The Wheel 2 Jul 2017 You shouldn't reinvent the wheel. Reinventing the wheel is the best way to understand the wheel. "It's Simple" 8 Jun 2017 Don't use “it’s simple” to explain something. Memorial 14 Feb 2014 The second ultimate work of art.
SpriteKit Scene Size Updated 7 Oct 2026 A SpriteKit scene is an infinite canvas. Its size defines its drawable window. Floating point precision issues appear for objects positioned very far away from the origin.
iOS App Lifecycle Updated 3 Oct 2026 Access UIKit application state data in a SwiftUI app using UIApplicationDelegateAdaptor.
RealityKit Light & Shadow 11 Aug 2026 Lighting and shadow casting in RealityKit have assumptions and behavior that are not readily documented.
RealityKit TextComponent Bug 3 Aug 2026 RealityKit TextComponent renders inverted text on Mac Catalyst. The issue is reported as FB24126863. Below is a workaround.
SpriteKit Lighting 2 Jul 2026 A demo scene to play with SpriteKit built-in lighting and hard shadows.
SpriteKit and Metal Shaders 2 Jul 2026 Apply Metal shaders to SpriteKit content with SKRenderer and a MetalKit view.
SKRenderer and MTKView 1 Jul 2026 Render SpriteKit directly into a Metal view with SKRenderer instead of SKView/SpriteView. This setup provides more control over the rendering pipeline, and runs more smoothly on some devices like iPhone 13.
Swift & C 31 May 2026 It's possible to use C directly inside Swift. Below is a tutorial on how to mix Swift and C in the same Xcode project.
RealityKit Physics Thresholds 7 Mar 2026 Physical objects that are less than 4cm apart can collide in a RealityKit physics simulation.
RealityKit Unprefixed Types 9 Feb 2026 RealityKit uses unprefixed types, like SwiftUI, but unlike traditional frameworks such as SpriteKit or Core Graphics.
RealityKit Texture Tiling 7 Feb 2026 Tile and transform textures in RealityKit using the textureCoordinateTransform property of a Material.
RealityKit Scene Instances 4 Feb 2026 Don't store references to a RealityKit Scene instance. Just pass an explicit reference to it where needed.
RealityKit FOV & Hit Detection 1 Feb 2026 ARView built-in hit detection only works with vertical camera FOV orientation. Below is custom hit detection code for any FOV orientation.
RealityKit Physics Speed 29 Dec 2025 We can slow down or speed up RealityKit physics with rather obscure Core Media types.
Alternate Tech World 21 Oct 2025 Spatial computing could be made of many small devices that work together and with the physical world to create augmented experiences.
RealityKit Gravity 4 Oct 2025 RealityKit physics gravity can be controlled with the PhysicsSimulation component.
SpriteKit Bit Masks 17 Mar 2025 Bit masks are used to tag objects and define which objects can interact with each other.
Scaling Physics in SpriteKit 22 Dec 2024 Leverage access to the update loop in order to control physics and rendering separately.
SpriteKit Number Counter 14 Nov 2024 An animated number counter made with SpriteKit, inspired by SwiftUI's ContentTransition.numericText effect.
UIKit contentMode 18 Apr 2024 Try different contentMode values to change the appearance of some UIKit views during device rotation.
Xcode Comments 9 Apr 2024 Xcode has a syntax to style comments, which I find very useful for code documentation and presentation.
Disabling Cache for Web Development 14 Mar 2018 How to disable caching on web browsers during development.
Position Fixed and CSS Transforms 7 Feb 2018 An HTML element with position: fixed will lose its fixed positioning if a CSS transform is applied to its ancestors. Remove all transforms from ancestors to recover fixed positioning.
From inline-block to CSS Grid 30 Jan 2018 CSS tutorial: how to rewrite an inline-block layout in CSS Grid.
Barrier to Entry Into Programming 14 Nov 2017 "The barrier to entry into programming is low. Much lower than a bachelor degree."
Programmers Love to Write Code 13 Nov 2017 James Somers, a writer and programmer, wrote a fantastic essay on the state of software engineering called "The Coming Software Apocalypse." This is a TL;DR version of his essay.
Why Is Programming Writing? 15 Aug 2017 Is programming text-based for necessary reasons or contingent ones? What would another universal and expressive programming medium look like?
I Like The Way You Move 24 Jul 2017 In computer graphics, photorealism drives the field toward a goal that everyone can relate to and evaluate. Other areas of computing, like user interface design, have harder goals to define. I’ll look at the example of computer animation tools.
Design by Simulation 20 Jul 2017 Ivan Sutherland invented a revolutionary way of designing on a computer in 1962. We can find some of his core ideas in modern 3D software.
Feel The Ship 18 Jul 2017 Another gem from Star Trek Voyager about user interface design in a 1998 episode. This time pilot Tom Paris wants to feel the ship.
The Maltese Language 9 Jul 2017 Did you know people in the Maghreb write their dialect in Latin and use numbers to denote specific Arabic characters?
Goal Driven Programming 7 Jul 2017 Is 3D animation with inverse kinematics a valid example of goal-driven programming?
Reinventing The Wheel 2 Jul 2017 You shouldn't reinvent the wheel. Reinventing the wheel is the best way to understand the wheel.
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