This directory contains sample apps that demonstrate how to use the Filament API in an iOS application.
iOS support for Filament is experimental. Currently, both the OpenGL ES 3.0 and Metal backends are supported. Building for the iOS simulator is also supported, but only for the OpenGL backend (Apple's simulator has no support for Metal).
Before attempting to build for iOS, read Filament's README. You must first cross-compile Filament for desktop and ARM64 on a macOS host before running the sample. The easiest way to do this is by running the following commands at the root of Filament's source tree:
$ ./build.sh -p desktop -i release # build required desktop tools (matc, resgen, etc)
$ ./build.sh -p ios -i debug # cross-compile Filament for iOS
This will automatically download Apple's iOS toolchain file for CMake and build Filament for iOS.
Afterwards, you should find all the Filament libraries inside of out/ios-debug/filament/lib/arm64:
libfilabridge.a
libfilaflat.a
libfilament.a
libutils.a
libsmol-v.a
The sample applications expect the libraries to be present here. Likewise, when building the sample
in Release mode, the linker looks for the libraries in out/ios-release/filament/lib/arm64. To
build Filament in Release mode, replace debug with release in the above build.sh command.
If you also want to be able to run on the iOS simulator, add the -s flag to the build.sh
command. For example, the following command will build for both devices (ARM64) and the simulator
(x86_64) in Debug mode:
$ ./build.sh -s -p ios debug
When building for the simulator, the sample will then link against the libraries present in
out/ios-debug/filament/lib/x86_64.
Open up one of the Xcode projects: - hello-triangle/hello-triangle.xcodeproj - hello-pbr/hello-pbr.xcodeproj
Each project contains two schemes, *-Metal and *-OpenGL, which use the Metal and OpenGL backends
respectively. Before building you will need to select one of the schemes, sign in to your Apple
developer account, and select an appropriate development team in the project editor.
At this point you should be able to hit the "Run" icon to run the sample on your device. Alternatively, if you have also built Filament for the simulator, select an iPhone simulator.
Occasionally, changes in Filament's CMakeLists.txt can require cleaning the CMake build
directories. This can be done by adding the -c flag to the build.sh script or by simply deleting
the out directory.
Before reporting build errors, please try cleaning the CMake directories first and building again from scratch.