Steve Troughton-Smith

https://mastodon.social/@stroughtonsmith

App developer & mini painter. I make apps and break things.

UIKit. Swift. Gaming. Warhammer. Generative AI. Reverse-engineering. Husband. 🏳️‍🌈 He/him.

Web: https://www.highcaffeinecontent.com/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/steventroughtonsmith
GitHub: https://github.com/steventroughtonsmith

Public Key

npub1p3tcm8sn2vthncy77k9leyzxysaw8c94whmw3y5dxq2r6jhetmmqfgjet5

NIP-05 Address

stroughtonsmith_at_mastodon.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsqc4udncf4x9meuz00tzlujprzgwhruz6htahgj2xnq9paftu4aaspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsy7q0cu

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1p3tcm8sn2vthncy77k9leyzxysaw8c94whmw3y5dxq2r6jhetmmqfgjet5

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Last Notes

2026-06-26 14:05:47 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.online/@9to5Mac/116813178949743625
Apple starved the silicon supply chain for years, it was widely discussed back when GPU prices started to skyrocket. Famously, Palm blamed Apple for not being able to source components for its webOS devices
"We told HP we needed better displays [for the Pre 3]. They'd come back and say, ‘Apple bought them all. Our suppliers tell us we need to build them a factory if we want the displays' and they weren't willing to put the billion dollars upfront to do that"
https://archive.ph/20130204111620/http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/5/3062611/palm-webos-hp-inside-story-pre-postmortem#selection-4443.330-4443.587
#note18nt…d96w

2026-06-01 17:43:37 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.social/@stroughtonsmith/114658018646351487
It's been a year and I'm still not sure what a 'good Liquid Glass app' looks like. Everything stalled at 'good enough'
#note14vm…fglr

2026-05-04 18:32:50 UTC

The idea that we can rewind the clock to when developers cared enough to make high-quality unique iPad apps like Push Pop Press did is a complete fantasy. If you push the reset button on iPad today, developers aren't remotely in the mood to rebuild the kind of unique, bespoke app ecosystem the device had before iOS 7 and the last big reset. If iPad were invented today, it would have a fate much more similar to Vision Pro than anybody wants to think about
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/05/04/macbook-neo-and-how-the-ipad-could-be/

2026-03-20 16:20:13 UTC

Here's one for the icons-in-menus haters on macOS Tahoe:
defaults write -g NSMenuEnableActionImages -bool NO
It even preserves the couple of instances you do want icons, like for window zoom/resize
/cc @npub1e0x…xqda
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/262/411/291/386/137/original/f5c6c4d442d375f1.jpeg

2026-03-12 08:54:33 UTC

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next app 😉

2026-03-12 08:39:02 UTC

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because I know nothing about it

2026-03-12 08:31:11 UTC

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✈️ If you've been curious about this 3D modeling tool, and just want to check it out yourself, I have pushed a build to TestFlight for iOS, macOS, and visionOS.
It's not a product, it doesn't have a name, it has many obvious bugs and issues that haven't had a polish pass, and it doesn't save anything to disk. It may never be something I finish; it's just a snapshot in time of the development, to play with
https://testflight.apple.com/join/qZpy4YED
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/215/267/480/170/962/original/85b26a25312c4469.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/215/267/774/550/910/original/ae60ffaa9ce31ab6.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/215/268/069/485/362/original/9760d202242a5fff.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/215/268/491/603/844/original/8cddc218146ee1d6.jpeg

2026-03-10 20:57:17 UTC

A $499 MacBook Neo with the brains of a couple-year-old iPhone can run Xcode, Photoshop, Blender, Terminal, and pretty much everything else you can think of, yet your $3,200 iPad Pro, with a desktop-class chip, cannot 😑
What are we doing here?

2026-03-09 17:17:30 UTC

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Quick UI pass on buttons and controls, and an undo stack
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/200/351/121/677/022/original/789f07d08d72b042.jpeg

2026-03-09 15:41:36 UTC

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I still don't know what the end goal is, here. I feel like I'm building foundational tech for something else, but I'm not sure what yet
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/199/972/348/214/113/original/3b7fc76ee392d6ad.mp4

2026-03-09 15:29:42 UTC

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https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/199/927/280/176/735/original/aa243acd507ecfd1.jpeg

2026-03-08 23:29:44 UTC

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More scenes from the app
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/196/151/478/104/101/original/35e53a5d000486a4.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/196/151/782/727/576/original/56550db7b21cbbf1.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/196/152/200/375/574/original/b0ab8ac4c20eb7c5.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/196/152/495/314/345/original/8688d6f5b5950999.jpeg

2026-03-08 23:07:26 UTC

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This is an iPad
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/196/063/525/457/140/original/b74a27f89c40074c.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/196/063/861/087/317/original/15aeab713e83bd47.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/196/064/406/226/103/original/e4c2e29ddde010c1.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/196/064/801/025/123/original/0d5b9d14cfe09689.jpeg

2026-03-08 22:24:52 UTC

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How it started | How it's going
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/195/896/940/879/528/original/ff65d8eda094fba7.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/195/897/382/200/692/original/ae6a2aec6c97f999.jpeg

2026-03-08 20:13:43 UTC

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As this renderer progresses, I can work with more-and-more-complex scenes, and do longer-and-longer-running successful renders
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/195/381/296/257/141/original/a878d7ff4e11ec34.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/195/381/716/387/723/original/d7da02a38132f3d8.jpeg

2026-03-08 16:26:57 UTC

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The Logitech Muse hardware does feel like a piece of junk. Connecting it to the headset is really flakey — you pretty much have to unpair it and re-pair it every time you want to use it, before visionOS will recognize it and account for it in passthrough, but I suspect that's Apple's bug. Together, though, it makes it feel pretty lame to use.
Anyway, my stylus-drawing code works on visionOS too
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/194/490/021/740/905/original/65e78c65d8eb09ef.jpeg

2026-03-08 10:54:55 UTC

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Little bit of Apple Pencil shape-drawing, and support for cutouts
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/193/183/979/984/007/original/1cdb7bfcaa605e1e.mp4

2026-03-08 09:32:21 UTC

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I was expecting a couple-day forced vacation, but it seems like OpenAI reset everybody's usage limits to apologize for service issues yesterday so I'm back to full 😂

2026-03-07 23:31:47 UTC

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Keeping all three platforms in sync (Mac, iOS, and visionOS) is important to me. If I ever were to ship something like this, it would be cross-platform from day one
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/190/498/259/665/618/original/fa0a3dcc93f5b665.jpeg

2026-03-07 22:42:17 UTC

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Hello
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/190/303/623/958/853/original/4532e247836da18a.jpeg

2026-03-07 22:24:23 UTC

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I know how to use Photoshop, and I wish 3D tools were as easy to use as a Photoshop. So I think that's the kind of app I want to create*. Not knowing what I don't know, I'm sure to stumble across features that no self-respecting modeling tool would add, but are great for people like me. That's the beauty of cross-domain knowledge, I guess.
Anyway here's a pen tool.
(*you know, if this ever actually becomes something I would want to ship and put my name to)
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/190/233/172/048/466/original/0a10283b9db15934.mp4

2026-03-07 18:44:55 UTC

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I gave it an easy task to start with: a 'Frame Selection'/'center camera' button. Select an object or a group of objects and reposition the camera to fit
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/189/370/212/088/122/original/8c9d745b18998875.mp4

2026-03-07 18:35:42 UTC

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This 3D modeling app and the switch to the more-expensive GPT 5.4 model might finally be the thing that burns through my weekly usage budget. It's now 25K lines of code; the more-complex renderer really ballooned things a bit, but it's worth it.
I finally moved it out of my temp folder and into my projects folder, and handed it off to a fresh GPT 5.4 session with a bunch of documented context about the intricacies of the project. Hopefully that's enough to jump-start it
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/189/333/943/263/738/original/c3a279f66896fb42.jpeg

2026-03-07 15:02:33 UTC

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Slowly improving my glass
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/188/495/844/672/317/original/e4a993b70a4e3e51.jpeg

2026-03-07 13:42:57 UTC

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Retro.
@npub1tg9…uu4f
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/188/182/877/230/157/original/88b6c8f850520f45.jpeg

2026-03-07 00:31:51 UTC

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The raytracer rewrite bears fruit — it can now make it through a long-running raytrace on visionOS without bringing the userspace down. It still chokes on more-complex shaders like glass, but it's a big improvement
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/185/072/128/886/222/original/3672d89927a063d1.jpeg

2026-03-07 00:01:17 UTC

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Working on light and glass
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/184/951/944/873/838/original/d172b0f330570b2a.jpeg

2026-03-06 22:13:58 UTC

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I feel like I need a bunch of Apple's glass spheres on my desk to try to fine-tune my raytracer 😂

2026-03-06 22:00:32 UTC

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Also I've switched my Codex model to GPT 5.4, OpenAI says it outperforms gpt-5.3-codex and it has over double the context window, so I figured a renderer rewrite was the right time to step up a level

2026-03-06 21:54:21 UTC

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I was tired of running into raytracer resource limits, so now it uses wavefronts and a scheduler with a 4+ Kloc rewrite. Seems a lot better for complex scenes and lots of glass. All that work spent optimizing the previous renderer's performance ramp and failure recovery pays off now that the new renderer is so much more robust
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/184/452/801/923/325/original/71f860dfd9d9d06d.jpeg

2026-03-06 19:37:35 UTC

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That’s a whole lot of raytracing from a little iPad. Biggest render to date, at 5120x2880 — took about an hour to get to the final pass.
Crashed right at the end, so I didn’t get to take a picture of the final output 🥲
The raytracer still needs a bunch of work, but it’s more and more capable day by day
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/183/915/023/049/017/original/56da953ebff400a6.jpeg

2026-03-06 19:13:55 UTC

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Even my iPhone 12 Pro Max can raytrace!
Which I guess is not all that surprising, considering the A14 chip is the same generation as the M1
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/183/821/982/061/443/original/085e9c7bf9058191.jpeg

2026-03-06 17:55:12 UTC

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Complex scenes are kinda fun 😎
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/183/511/731/080/514/original/3113b752bdbeee62.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/183/512/421/996/669/original/98ac472ce731fe69.jpeg

2026-03-06 17:31:29 UTC

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(Maybe I should vibe code Xcode, next.)

2026-03-06 17:30:59 UTC

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iPadOS has never been better for rich, complex, desktop-class apps. Almost all of the old barriers and blockers are gone.
Sadly, Apple waited until most developers had run out of patience with the platform.
If this thing had Xcode, a real Xcode, it would be effectively complete
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/183/417/029/858/730/original/21920372a829e4b2.jpeg

2026-03-06 15:45:37 UTC

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The raytrace operation will now be dispatched into the background on iOS, allowing for long-running background tasks
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/183/001/228/581/098/original/9d2e601a05409ad3.mp4

2026-03-06 11:59:58 UTC

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I never really thought about it before, but multitouch is actually legit for 3D modeling tools, maybe even better than a desktop. On a Mac, you need to hold modifier keys (or buy a multi-button mouse) to do everything you want with the viewport, but on touch you can orbit, pan, zoom, and multi-select very easily. If you special-case the stylus too, like I am, it feels very powerful.
Almost all of this extends to spatial computing, though visionOS struggles a bit with two-hand gestures

2026-03-06 11:55:54 UTC

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I made sure all my interactions work right with the Logitech Muse (i.e. stylus won't orbit the viewport, will modally lock to highlighted gizmo axes, etc), so now I can do a bit of vertex editing on the Apple Vision Pro, channeling @npub1lmm…p0ts
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/182/097/915/126/919/original/1c39b1b9a990d595.mp4

2026-03-06 01:02:55 UTC

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Late night modeling on my iPad 🤪
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/179/531/195/574/710/original/5b8baa5f27395d1a.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/179/531/587/455/035/original/442725569311798d.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/179/531/976/409/159/original/f3cafa339ef641b2.jpeg

2026-03-05 23:56:11 UTC

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Playing a bit of musical chairs with the floating controls in the toolbars now that I'm starting to run out of space for new UI
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/179/269/567/714/321/original/b3f267278ea4c62d.jpeg

2026-03-05 23:34:09 UTC

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Boolean operations seem pretty complex, but I made a start at it
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/179/182/906/163/196/original/a30aab17cabd0abd.mp4

2026-03-05 21:50:02 UTC

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The touch gestures all work on visionOS too, but on all platforms it has keyboard and mouse support for all your precise selection and modifier key needs
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/178/773/518/476/539/original/bd38d3b350160712.jpeg

2026-03-05 21:39:10 UTC

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All of this still works great on iPhone too
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/178/729/168/295/028/original/4a6521c08e83764b.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/178/729/489/038/529/original/842dec2b5b9b3600.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/178/730/791/162/422/original/54900147cb398561.png

2026-03-05 21:30:10 UTC

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Some more things to show off here on this iPad mini 6!
• Longpress band gesture
• Multi-select
• Vertex editing
• Subdividing
• My 'generate a Cornell Box' button
• (And the raytracer, of course)
There is a lot of really neat stuff in this app. Still using Codex 5.3 Medium, still haven't touched a line of code myself
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/178/695/039/578/848/original/807974e3e5da0eea.mp4

2026-03-05 20:26:30 UTC

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I thought it was finally time to add vertex editing and subdivision. Now it's a 3D modeling tool and not just a raytracer
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/178/444/691/149/099/original/a1e6512ae5bf2f11.mp4

2026-03-05 16:53:16 UTC

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This project, which runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro (with Immersive Space), is now 16.5K lines of code
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/177/606/589/524/903/original/0b2b0fd20cc32690.jpeg

2026-03-05 16:47:59 UTC

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The raytracer is, for now, a no-go on visionOS. It's possible I could throttle it and stay within visionOS' systemwide render budget. But it's probably worth improving the RT performance a bunch on its own first before I come back and try it here. I might run out of steam on this prototype before then.
This entire app project is still in my 'Temp' folder, where throwaway projects live 😅
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/177/585/442/729/437/original/66cb0ff80c718e59.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/177/585/772/247/235/original/cacb3ae3df2b55c7.jpeg

2026-03-05 16:34:14 UTC

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I figured why not use RealityKit for the material previews, so now they are actual spheres.
Miraculously, it all still works — the Metal viewport, the Metal immersive scene, and the RealityKit UI elements, but it's very clear the Vision Pro (M2) doesn't have much headroom to build an actual app around this stuff
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/177/530/771/427/756/original/1c3312e677c046b0.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/177/531/101/771/431/original/cefc9e21b85dc830.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/177/531/431/604/548/original/e95f4cbfb17cbfe5.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/177/531/742/247/143/original/5a4888ad1b59e98b.jpeg

2026-03-05 15:26:12 UTC

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So now that visionOS 26 lets you spawn immersive scenes from UIKit apps, I had Codex implement me an immersive scene using Metal and CompositorServices that mirrors the in-window viewport and lets you live in your scene 😁
It's real frickin cool.
The raytracer might be off limits for visionOS, but there's a lot of interesting stuff to do in other areas
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/177/263/843/477/706/original/ea49e6a76ad99821.mp4

2026-03-05 13:48:52 UTC

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I love how visionOS, uniquely, *explodes* when rendering goes wrong.
Hello [MacBook] Neo.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/176/881/517/289/149/original/e7d5b972d966bc64.jpeg

2026-03-05 13:34:08 UTC

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Pretty much everything I've worked on with Codex up to now has been stuff I could have built myself, within my area of expertise (or learnable), it just would have taken weeks or months.
This 3D scene app is something I never would have been able to build myself. I would have needed a team of rendering experts with domain-specific knowledge and human-years of research

2026-03-05 10:48:22 UTC

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What if you could step into your Bryce scenes?
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/176/171/777/285/939/original/17cae5e9a92a0b3c.jpeg

2026-03-05 09:59:55 UTC

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You can see here that the moment I invoke the raytracer, everything goes to shit on visionOS. The userspace went down right at the end of the video, where it cut
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/175/981/196/163/821/original/4332b9d1056d2a68.mp4

2026-03-05 09:54:45 UTC

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Hadn't tried the visionOS build, but it works too.
With a caveat.
visionOS is far more fragile to anything like 3D rendering. Saturating the GPU like this slows the compositor to a slideshow, and even got to a point where Metal was leaking out of the window into the OS and I was seeing squares of corrupted video memory in front of me until I got the equivalent to a SpringBoard crash.
Functionally, this could be a visionOS app.
Practically, no.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/175/960/370/294/629/original/e6b5926dc244e0fc.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/175/960/643/718/787/original/3631f13ce3dc4b88.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/175/960/914/953/343/original/5589d9bedea3b696.jpeg

2026-03-05 00:14:03 UTC

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Just a normal teapot.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/173/677/014/256/531/original/47d32988e9e1b158.jpeg

2026-03-04 23:38:02 UTC

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Ha, cute, you can even fling the raytracer around 🤣
Also I added an expanded progress indicator
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/173/535/896/006/839/original/e08402066cd8e5b7.mp4

2026-03-04 23:35:39 UTC

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The old viewport gizmo was faked in 2D, so I had it rewrite it in Metal and with a different projection, and now it's much better. I also added exponential decay to the orbit gesture so you can fling the camera around
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/173/554/941/462/461/original/612b333d40dfe1c9.mp4

2026-03-04 18:22:16 UTC

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I made my control groups collapsible, with a priority system. Honestly they're my favorite part of this prototype
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/172/292/540/942/531/original/4dfe13fda52f05e5.mp4

2026-03-04 16:27:56 UTC

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So, like, what do I even do with this app?
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/171/842/878/372/009/original/4680a3405b5ce496.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/171/843/209/668/333/original/380ef43f513a72b3.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/171/844/218/092/827/original/8a1dcf2a533fc656.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/171/844/584/858/955/original/4d1a7de49f95c202.jpeg

2026-03-04 15:50:50 UTC

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Liquid, Glass
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/171/698/794/114/827/original/c345ac0e9677e4cf.png

2026-03-04 14:31:03 UTC

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Of course it runs on iPhone, what do you take me for?
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/171/384/108/761/949/original/203386cde57eb6ae.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/171/384/396/189/246/original/8b0a1b9ad69a5ebf.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/171/384/694/932/406/original/b5db20298b7cb769.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/171/385/030/990/032/original/2c3d3296d9029090.jpeg

2026-03-04 13:56:47 UTC

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Just casually building and raytracing a scene on an iPad mini 6, nbd
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/171/250/313/402/394/original/56596fa1d096970b.jpeg

2026-03-04 13:43:44 UTC

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While this raytracer may never become a finished app, there are certainly elements from it I intend to yoink for future projects — like the really neat toolbars that go around all the screen edges, they would fit into a complex pro app very nicely
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/171/198/986/502/212/original/7be92675e5d78f76.jpeg

2026-03-04 13:35:07 UTC

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I was sitting through hour-long renders (!) on my iPad yesterday, so I did an optimization pass on the hardware acceleration and it's much, much improved for simpler scenes, even on an M1
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/171/165/096/778/872/original/fb4c34d9fc103938.mp4

2026-03-04 13:20:45 UTC

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Trying not to fry my GPU with caustics, but Metal isn't happy
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/171/106/965/579/227/original/c0c8c7291ad78e3e.mp4

2026-03-04 13:11:20 UTC

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Maybe I should have bought a faster Mac before trying to write a raytracer…

2026-03-04 12:48:16 UTC

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'Attenuated shadows'
A little better
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/170/980/888/815/541/original/eef0485da862e08e.jpeg

2026-03-04 12:34:55 UTC

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The thing about material shaders is I don't quite know the right questions to ask — the unknown unknowns. Am I taking into account the right refraction, internal reflection, attenuated shadows, etc. Why is this too bright, why is this too dark. You can tell from these examples where things are obviously wrong, and it takes quite a bit of iteration
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/170/928/081/145/146/original/8bfe8ca28ffd763b.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/170/928/393/218/644/original/b565b9796a207c67.jpeg

2026-03-04 12:15:44 UTC

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I figured I needed some kind of glass shader
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/170/852/648/406/902/original/d0c34e151aefbdc7.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/170/852/970/851/974/original/6b06dc7db8f3724f.jpeg

2026-03-04 10:39:29 UTC

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Recap: I vibecoded (code unseen, no plan) a 3D editor/renderer that has a scene graph, editing controls, primitives and gizmos, materials, procedural terrain and water, and hardware-accelerated Metal raytracing with soft shadows, clouds and bounce lighting, that runs on Mac and iPad.
Tool: Codex 5.3 Medium
Time: About a day's worth of work has gone into it
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/170/473/536/872/247/original/c037dd29bcff0fb5.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/170/473/892/352/073/original/a0d7d8e5f07d4513.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/170/474/173/974/444/original/120039775f2b9ce8.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/170/474/516/412/883/original/5733644723339052.jpeg

2026-03-04 02:09:36 UTC

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Procedural clouds seemed like a good idea
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/168/469/531/464/061/original/1d8a761b261a9fd1.jpeg

2026-03-04 01:03:28 UTC

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I thought my water should have some translucency and falloff, so I can put things underneath it
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/168/209/482/750/481/original/146ef3bdbebfe319.jpeg

2026-03-04 00:25:11 UTC

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It's real nice having a complex app like this on iPad, that's for sure. This is by far the most complex and impressive thing I've vibecoded with Codex 5.3. I haven't seen or touched a single line of code, I didn't have a detailed plan to work from — this isn't at all like the structured ports I detailed previously
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/168/058/677/779/589/original/09dfa03d1eb6eb30.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/168/059/016/875/704/original/545b4b581b1305f2.jpeg

2026-03-03 23:13:18 UTC

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I spent untold hours in Bryce3D as a kid making silly scenes just like this. It did this stuff with machines a thousand times less powerful than my Mac mini. Certainly puts things into perspective…
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/167/776/275/709/515/original/4475dd9c5d00fc43.jpeg

2026-03-03 22:33:40 UTC

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Not me offloading raytracing workloads to my iPad because it's so much faster than my Mac…

2026-03-03 22:19:16 UTC

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Procedural water to the horizon, sky, island generation
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/167/563/830/570/804/original/cfe4b12e55c3cfe9.jpeg

2026-03-03 21:28:50 UTC

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I think I'm just making Bryce now? That's a thing
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/167/365/530/240/252/original/edd4f9249094ba01.jpeg

2026-03-03 20:47:05 UTC

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We're doing water now.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/167/201/345/406/468/original/ce5466235b1178bd.jpeg

2026-03-03 18:35:58 UTC

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Submeshes and MTL texture loading
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/166/685/133/054/157/original/196e44b9f62ed48d.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/166/685/427/784/331/original/6b573eb5cc06114a.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/166/685/745/654/676/original/15d08d7b60164598.jpeg

2026-03-03 17:23:34 UTC

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I can almost render this dragon mesh now before the GPU gives up 🐉
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/166/401/144/403/490/original/e9930d9efa59178c.jpeg

2026-03-03 16:58:30 UTC

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Mandatory texture option
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/166/302/509/206/139/original/d4cbbf8ad87b0fca.jpeg

2026-03-03 16:38:25 UTC

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Turns out the M1 supports enough of the hardware accelerated raytracing APIs that I get a massive speedup here, too?
Trying to parse Apple's Metal feature support tables is hurting my brain, so I'll just accept it and move on
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/166/223/599/161/463/original/057307c340c315bb.jpeg

2026-03-03 16:03:19 UTC

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Added some targeted calls to the hardware raytracing APIs, and a toggle switch so I can flip between non-accelerated RT and accelerated RT. There are plenty of bottlenecks in my renderer to stop it taking /full/ advantage of acceleration, but holy heck it’s much faster regardless. This is on the M5 iPad Pro
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/166/085/479/001/086/original/4e8d0ec044f9ae3d.mp4

2026-03-03 14:40:41 UTC

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I think I should probably add a denoiser to this…
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/165/759/896/097/183/original/b3847c3476418317.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/165/760/230/805/476/original/3f86ec2958023c6c.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/165/760/588/032/502/original/0793692145a7bf6c.jpeg

2026-03-03 12:05:34 UTC

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Since I am doing this on the GPU, not CPU, finding a way to render complex meshes without blowing the budget is a headache. There's a hard cap on how much work you can do before the Metal driver crashes
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/165/150/468/717/687/original/62f344ff564bf3f4.jpeg

2026-03-03 10:55:55 UTC

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Raytracing uses every last ounce of my poor M1 Mac mini's GPU. It has never seen such a workout
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/164/876/777/818/844/original/ae2842cc4bdcd90e.jpeg

2026-03-03 10:41:35 UTC

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'Could somebody with no programming experience recreate Photoshop with an LLM?'
I have absolutely zero Metal and near-zero 3D modeling experience. I know the basics of how to use a scene editor, and the names of rendering terms.
And I effectively vibecoded all of this in less than half a day with Codex 5.3 Medium, based on screenshots of a cool-looking app I've never used (Valence3D) and just a general sense of what a 3D app should do
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/164/820/055/040/636/original/7a0e4529a1133f69.mp4

2026-03-03 10:31:44 UTC

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The floor also needed some bounce lighting
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/164/781/742/035/487/original/0cb93c696c26188c.jpeg

2026-03-03 10:06:30 UTC

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Upgraded my raytraced renderer with bounce lighting and true reflections. Now it looks pretty legit!
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/164/682/492/113/128/original/4fc9c69b1d11eae1.jpeg

2026-03-03 09:25:03 UTC

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You know what I really could use at WWDC?
Teach a generative model to build high-quality vector SF Symbols so we can make custom ones, like say a full set for 3D modeling suites or PencilKit drawing apps, on demand 👀
…asking for a friend…
@npub1qcd…xhar
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/164/518/908/144/441/original/f5266fc870d429e3.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/164/519/216/939/625/original/775cf9868445db29.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/164/519/506/643/452/original/d3be80576e2fe574.jpeg

2026-03-03 00:10:54 UTC

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6720 loc
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/162/340/496/709/978/original/e09a92cbdcc09d9c.jpeg

2026-03-03 00:05:19 UTC

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Multi-select and grouping
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/162/318/486/839/383/original/b2c3bb1548320d45.mp4

2026-03-02 23:24:07 UTC

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OBJ drag and drop
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/162/156/541/499/768/original/5b406e25fcff55a4.mp4

2026-03-02 23:09:44 UTC

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Some more glamour shots of this 3D app in the iPad Simulator
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/162/099/383/859/154/original/27459aa856429528.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/162/099/666/153/907/original/634bbfe2a58d0bea.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/162/099/964/157/945/original/95388f2eceab004c.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/162/109/992/428/525/original/2289c821d2f2b06f.jpeg

2026-03-02 23:04:22 UTC

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I started with a blank project template 5 hours ago. Now I've got a little 3D scene graph editor with gizmos, wireframe and shaded view modes, texturing, drag and drop OBJ file importing, and tile-based raytraced rendering, that runs on Mac and iPad.
Thanks Codex!
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/162/078/857/665/687/original/5fb760b0bfe7ea22.mp4

2026-03-02 22:30:29 UTC

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Y'all know I'm using UIKit/Catalyst, right?
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/161/945/337/862/791/original/a9a238cf9d06cd95.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/161/945/651/720/708/original/3478c2f1f90aaba9.jpeg

2026-03-02 22:27:22 UTC

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I'm not yet sure what the end goal is here, but I'm making a lot of progress regardless
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/161/933/073/497/901/original/578ab0d3114162da.mp4

2026-03-02 21:57:46 UTC

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You can just do stuff, now. It's wild.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/161/816/553/140/780/original/0cb7e3fa9543ad43.mp4

2026-03-02 21:06:21 UTC

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'We have Valence at home!'
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/161/614/185/420/399/original/2ab792e337405d11.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/161/614/521/197/519/original/9e9a1df567908b18.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/161/614/820/590/550/original/8b996c6c873618fc.jpeg

2026-03-02 19:03:40 UTC

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Operating well outside of my level of expertise here with Codex, but it's doing a pretty credible job at a lot of complex Metal rendering code I would never be able to wrap my head around
(Ignore the UV issues)
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/161/132/388/826/764/original/feaa114a899470cb.mp4