Quartz (macOS)

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Quartz is the graphics layer of the Apple operating system macOS . Quartz is a library for 2D and 3D graphics that forms the basic display model for Mac OS X. Based on the cross-platform PDF (Portable Document Format) standard, Quartz 2D can display and print high-quality text and graphics with anti- aliasing and offers support for OpenType, PostScript and TrueType character sets.

Components

Quartz consists of the following building blocks:

  • Quartz 2D: A graphics library that is used to display two-dimensional elements (raster and vector graphics including text). Fine structures are displayed with the help of antialiasing and subpixel rendering .
  • OpenGL : programming interface for three-dimensional graphics
  • QuickTime : multimedia architecture (e.g. video and audio decoding and output)
  • Quartz Compositor : window system

Starting with Mac OS X 10.2 "Jaguar", Quartz Compositor has been extended with Quartz Extreme. Quartz Extreme uses OpenGL just like a normal application and treats the desktop like a 3D scene. This means that the graphics card can be used to calculate the effects (such as shadows or animations), which relieves the main processor .

Comparable developments for other operating systems

Microsoft developed a similar technique for Windows Vista , the Windows Presentation Foundation .

On Linux, Xgl and AIGLX together with a composition manager like Enlightenment e17 or Compiz with Quartz Extreme are comparable.

literature

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