Loading STL objects in Swift 2 (Metal)

Question

I'm trying to create a 3D model viewer, i've gone through a few tutorials for OpenGL and Metal to create 3D models and do some basic rotations with the pan gesture etc. This example from www.raywenderlich.com , a Sample Project Git(error free) , the one on the web(original code) has some errors with Xcode 7.1.1. I want to load STL files to display on the device instead of the Cube. I've searched a lot, but can't find tutorials for loading STL files to project 3d object onto the view (Metal / Swift).

Any help would be great. I'm using swift 2 with xCode 7.1.1

Answer 1

In iOS 9 (and OS X 10.11 and tvOS), the Model I/O framework provides help for loading 3D assets from file formats like (and including) STL. By using Model I/O together with GLKit or MetalKit , you can load those assets right into OpenGL or Metal buffers for rendering.

Apple has a sample code project called MetalKitEssentials that shows a bunch of this stuff in action — it's ObjC, but all the relevant API calls are the same in Swift so it's pretty easy to translate, especially if you already have some working Swift Metal code to reference.