Quartz (graphics layer)

Short description: Graphics rendering system used in macOS

{{Mac OS X graphics model

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In Apple's macOS operating system, Quartz is the Quartz 2D and Quartz Compositor part of the Core Graphics framework. Quartz 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 synonymous with Core Graphics.[1]

In a general sense, Quartz or Quartz technologies can refer to almost every part of the macOS graphics model from the rendering layer down to the compositor including Core Image and Core Video.[2] Other Apple graphics technologies that use the "Quartz" prefix include these:

* Quartz Extreme
* QuartzGL (originally Quartz 2D Extreme)
* QuartzCore
* Quartz Display Services
* Quartz Event Services

## Contents

* 1 Quartz 2D and Quartz Compositor
* 2 Use of PDF
* 3 See also
* 4 References
* 5 External links

## Quartz 2D and Quartz Compositor

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 10.4 Tiger, Apple introduced Quartz 2D Extreme, enabling Quartz 2D to offload rendering to compatible GPUs. However, GPU rendering was not enabled by default due to potential video redraw issues or kernel panics.[4] In Mac OS X v10.5 Quartz 2D Extreme was renamed to QuartzGL. However, it still remains disabled by default, as there are some situations where it can degrade performance, or experience visual glitches; it is a per-application setting which can be turned on if the developer wishes.[citation needed]

The Quartz Compositor is the compositing engine used by macOS. In Mac OS X Jaguar and later, the Quartz Compositor can use the graphics accelerator (GPU) to vastly improve composition performance. This technology is known as Quartz Extreme and is enabled automatically on systems with supported graphics cards.[1]

## Use of PDF

It is widely stated that Quartz "uses PDF internally" (notably by Apple in their 2000 Macworld presentation and Quartz's early developer documentation[5]), often by people making comparisons with the Display PostScript technology used in NeXTSTEP and OPENSTEP (of which macOS is a descendant). Quartz's internal imaging model correlates well with the PDF object graph, making it easy to output PDF to multiple devices.[6]

## See also

* Quartz Composer

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Apple - Developer - Graphics & Imaging Overview". https://developer.apple.com/graphicsimaging/overview.html.
2. ↑ "Apple - Developer - Graphics & Imaging Reference". https://developer.apple.com/reference/GraphicsImaging/idxQuartz-date.html.
3. ↑ "Apple - Developer - Quartz Programming Guide for QuickDraw Developers: Drawing Destinations". https://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Conceptual/QuickDrawToQuartz2D/tq_other/chapter_3_section_3.html.
4. ↑ "Apple - Info - Docs - About the Mac OS X 10.4.3 Update (Delta)". http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301984.
5. ↑ "Mac OS X DP4 Inside Quartz". May 24, 2000. https://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2000/05/mac-os-x-dp4.ars/4.
6. ↑ Paquette, Mike. "Why Apple didn't use X for the window system". http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=75257&cid=6734612.

## External links

* Quartz 2D Programming Guide at developer.apple.com
* Core Graphics API Reference at developer.apple.com
* Quartz in Tiger (from a review of Mac OS X 10.4 in Ars Technica)
* Introduction to OS X graphics APIs
* Cocoa Graphics with Quartz: Part 1
* Cocoa Graphics with Quartz: Part 2

* v
* t
* e

macOS

* History
* Architecture
* Components
* Server
* Software

Versions|

* Server 1.0 Hera
* Public Beta Kodiak
* 10.0 Cheetah
* 10.1 Puma
* 10.2 Jaguar
* 10.3 Panther
* 10.4 Tiger
* 10.5 Leopard
* 10.6 Snow Leopard
* 10.7 Lion
* 10.8 Mountain Lion
* 10.9 Mavericks
* 10.10 Yosemite
* 10.11 El Capitan
* 10.12 Sierra
* 10.13 High Sierra
* 10.14 Mojave
* 10.15 Catalina

Applications|

* App Store
* Automator
* Calculator
* Calendar
* Chess
* Contacts
* Dictionary
* DVD Player
* FaceTime
* Finder
* Game Center
* Grapher
* Home
* iTunes (history)
* Launchpad
* Mail
* Messages
* News
* Music
* Notes
* Notification Center
* Podcasts
* Photo Booth
* Photos
* Preview
* QuickTime
* Reminders
* Safari (version history)
* Stickies
* TextEdit
* Time Machine

Discontinued|

* Dashboard
* Front Row
* iChat
* iPhoto
* iSync
* Sherlock

Utilities|

* Activity Monitor
* AirPort Utility
* AppleScript Editor
* Archive Utility
* Audio MIDI Setup
* Bluetooth File Exchange
* Boot Camp
* ColorSync
* Configurator
* Console
* Crash Reporter
* DigitalColor Meter
* Directory Utility
* DiskImageMounter
* Disk Utility
* Font Book
* Grab
* Help Viewer
* Image Capture
* Installer
* Keychain Access
* Migration Assistant
* Network Utility
* ODBC Administrator
* Screen Sharing
* System Preferences
* System Information
* Terminal
* Universal Access
* VoiceOver

Discontinued|

* Software Update
* Remote Install Mac OS X

Technology and user interface|

* AirDrop
* Apple File System
* Apple menu
* Apple Push Notification service
* AppleScript
* Aqua
* Audio Units
* AVFoundation
* Bonjour
* Bundle
* CloudKit
* Cocoa
* ColorSync
* Command key
* Core Animation
* Core Audio
* Core Data
* Core Foundation
* Core Image
* Core OpenGL
* Core Text
* Core Video
* CUPS
* Cover Flow
* Darwin
* Dock
* FileVault
* Fonts
* Gatekeeper
* Grand Central Dispatch
* icns
* iCloud
* I/O Kit
* Kernel panic
* Keychain
* launchd
* Mach-O
* Menu extra
* Metal
* Mission Control
* OpenCL
* Option key
* Preference Pane
* Property list
* Quartz
* Quick Look
* Smart Folders
* Speakable items
* Spotlight
* Stacks
* System Integrity Protection
* Uniform Type Identifier
* Universal binary
* WebKit
* XNU
* XQuartz

Deprecated|

* HFS+

Discontinued|

* BootX
* Brushed metal
* Carbon
* Classic Environment
* Inkwell
* QTKit
* Rosetta
* Spaces
* Xgrid

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