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Quartz (graphics layer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mac OS X graphics model |
| Rendering |
| QuickDraw • Core OpenGL • Quartz 2D • Core Image Core Animation • Core Video • ColorSync • QuickTime |
| Compositing |
Quartz specifically refers to a pair of Mac OS X technologies, each part of the Core Graphics framework: Quartz 2D and Quartz Compositor. It includes both a 2D renderer in Core Graphics and the composition engine that sends instructions to the graphics card. Because of this vertical nature, Quartz is often interchanged synonymously with Core Graphics.[1]
In a more general sense, the term Quartz or Quartz technologies can refer to almost every part of the Mac OS X graphics model from the rendering layer down to the compositor. In this use, the term covers Core Image and Core Video as well.[2]
Contents |
Quartz 2D is the primary two-dimensional (2D) text and graphics rendering library: It directly supports Aqua by displaying two-dimensional graphics to create the user interface, including on-the-fly rendering and anti-aliasing. Quartz can render text with sub-pixel precision; graphics are limited to more traditional anti-aliasing, which is the default mode of operation but can be turned off.[3] In Mac OS X v10.4, Apple introduced Quartz 2D Extreme, which allows Quartz 2D to leverage supported GPUs for rendering. In Mac OS X 10.4, Quartz 2D Extreme is not enabled by default, because it may lead to video redraw issues or kernel panics.[4] As of Mac OS X v10.5 Quartz 2D Extreme has been renamed to QuartzGL - however it still remains disabled by default.
Quartz Compositor is the compositing engine used by Quartz 2D and other renderers, such as OpenGL, Core Image, and QuickTime. In Mac OS X 10.2 and later, Quartz Compositor uses the processors (GPUs) on supported graphics cards to vastly improve composition performance. This technology is known as Quartz Extreme, and is enabled automatically on systems with supported graphics cards.[5]
It is widely stated that Quartz "uses PDF" internally, often by people making comparisons with the Display PostScript technology used in NeXTSTEP (of which Mac OS X is a descendant) and OPENSTEP. Quartz's internal imaging model correlates well with the PDF imaging model, making it easy to output PDF to multiple devices, but Quartz does not use PDF as an internal representation.[6]
- ^ Apple - Developer - Graphics & Imaging Overview. Retrieved on 2007-02-12.
- ^ Apple - Developer - Graphics & Imaging Reference. Retrieved on 2007-04-17.
- ^ Apple - Developer - Quartz Programming Guide for QuickDraw Developers: Drawing Destinations. Retrieved on 2007-02-12.
- ^ Apple - Info - Docs - About the Mac OS X 10.4.3 Update (Delta). Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
- ^ Apple - Developer - Graphics & Imaging Overview. Retrieved on 2007-02-12.
- ^ Paquette, Mike. Why Apple didn't use X for the window system. Retrieved on 2006-12-23.
- Quartz in Tiger (from a review of Mac OS X 10.4 in Ars Technica)
- Apple's Quartz page
- Apple's Quartz page for developers
- Introduction to OS X graphics APIs
- Cocoa Graphics with Quartz: Part 1
- Cocoa Graphics with Quartz: Part 2