Metal is a low-level, low-overhead hardware-accelerated graphics and compute application programming interface (API) that debuted in iOS 8. It combines functionality similar to OpenGL and OpenCL under one API. It is intended to bring to iOS some of the performance benefits of similar APIs on other platforms, such as Khronos Group's cross-platform Vulkan and Microsoft's Direct3D 12 for Windows. Since June 8, 2015, Metal is available for iOS devices using the Apple A7 or later, as well as Macs (2012 models or later) running OS X El Capitan. Metal also further improves the capabilities of GPGPU programming by introducing compute shaders.

Metal uses a new shading language based on C++11; this is implemented using Clang and LLVM.

Support for Metal on OS X was announced at WWDC 2015.

Performance

Metal should have better performance than OpenGL, for several reasons:

Metal (Chinese: 金; pinyin: jīn), the fourth phase of the Chinese philosophy of Wu Xing, is the decline of the matter, or the matter's decline stage. Metal is yin in character, its motion is inwards and its energy is contracting. It is associated with the autumn, the west, old age, the planet Venus, the color white, dry weather, and the White Tiger (Bai Hu) in Four Symbols. The archetypal metals are silver and gold.

Attributes

In Chinese Taoist thought, Metal attributes are considered to be firmness, rigidity, persistence, strength, and determination. The metal person is controlling, ambitious, forceful, and set in their ways as metal is very strong. They are self-reliant and prefer to handle their problems alone. The metal person is also wise, business-oriented, and good at organization and stability. However, the metal person can also appreciate luxury and enjoy the good things in life. Just as metal can conduct electricity, the metal person has strong impulses and generative powers and can bring about changes and transformations for those who come into contact with them. The metal person is patient, as well as a good person with a strong will.

Metal is an album released by heavy metal band Manilla Road in 1982.

Track listing

Credits

References

In graphic design, a grid is a structure (usually two-dimensional) made up of a series of intersecting straight (vertical, horizontal, and angular) or curved guide lines used to structure content. The grid serves as an armature or framework on which a designer can organize graphic elements (images, glyphs, paragraphs, etc.) in a rational, easy-to-absorb manner. A grid can be used to organize graphic elements in relation to a page, in relation to other graphic elements on the page, or relation to other parts of the same graphic element or shape.

The less-common printing term "reference grid," is an unrelated system with roots in the early days of printing.

History

Antecedents

Before the invention of movable type a system based on optimal proportions had been used to arrange handwritten text on pages. One such system, known as the Villard Diagram, was in use at least since medieval times.

Evolution of the modern grid

After World War II, a number of graphic designers, including Max Bill, Emil Ruder, and Josef Müller-Brockmann, influenced by the modernist ideas of Jan Tschichold's Die neue Typographie (The New Typography), began to question the relevance of the conventional page layout of the time. They began to devise a flexible system able to help designers achieve coherency in organizing the page. The result was the modern typographic grid that became associated with the International Typographic Style. The seminal work on the subject, Grid systems in graphic design by Müller-Brockmann, helped propagate the use of the grid, first in Europe, and later in North America.

Race Driver: Grid, released in North America as simply GRID, is an addition to the TOCA Touring Car series, which is published and developed by Codemasters. The game is available for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and was released in Europe on 30 May 2008, in North America on 3 June 2008, and in Australia on 12 June 2008.

Gameplay

Grid was developed and published by Codemasters, the creators of the TOCA/Race Driver series. It is a game in which the player runs their own race team, acting as the primary driver. As players progress they gain sponsors and can hire a teammate to drive alongside them in certain events.

The game begins with the player accepting jobs to drive for other teams to earn money, and once the player gains enough capital they can purchase their own vehicles and drive independently, as well as continuing to drive for other teams should they choose to. Grid features a gameplay mechanic known as Flashback which allows the player to rewind gameplay by up to ten seconds and resume from their chosen point. This is a limited-use feature, determined by the difficulty setting.

The National Pro Grid League (NPGL) is a professional athletic organization consisting of co-ed teams. The teams compete in timed events in the competition space referred to as "the grid". The NPGL refers to the sport itself as GRID and describes it as "strategic team athletics racing".

For each Grid "Match", two opposing teams compete in eleven races progressing across four quadrants of the Grid. Each of the eleven races has a specific format that remains consistent, although the individual athletic tasks performed during each race vary from match to match. The athletic tasks performed incorporate weightlifting, gymnastics and bodyweight maneuvers denominated as "Elements" of each race.

History

The sport was founded and developed by Tony Budding, a former employee of CrossFit Inc., who had had significant involvement in the CrossFit Games as media director. The NPGL was originally to be named the National Pro Fitness League. However, the acronym NPFL was deemed to be too similar to more popular National Football League (NFL), and the name was changed to the National Pro GRID League. Because of its similarities to CrossFit, Budding was able to secure early investors, a television contract with the NBC Sports Group, and an opening night in Madison Square Garden. However, the NPGL halted operations midway through its inaugural season due to potential investors backing out, leading to cancellations of matches and causing for the season to finish its finals in a format very different than had been originally planned. Towards the end of the season, Budding was quietly let go as the CEO of the NPGL and replaced by Jim Kean and Budding is no longer involved with the NPGL.

Bug! is a 3D rendered platform/adventure video game developed by Realtime Associates for the Sega Saturn. Released in 1995 as a launch game for the Saturn in North America, it was one of the earliest 3D platform games. It was later localized to Europe and Japan, then ported to Windows 3.x and Windows 95 on August 31, 1996 by Beam Software, on one CD that contains both versions of the game.

A sequel was released in 1996, Bug Too!.

Plot

The background plot centers around the title character, Bug!, a famous Hollywood star hoping to make his "biggest break" ever. Players take control shortly after Bug! has signed up a deal for the lead role in an action film in which his girlfriend is kidnapped by Queen Cadavra and must set out to rescue her. The gameplay takes place "on the set" of each scene and cutscenes between levels indicate Bug! moving over from one set to the next.

Gameplay

Bug! was played like a traditional side-scrolling adventure game. In the same fashion as Sonic the Hedgehog , Bug! must jump and stung on the heads of his enemies to defeat them while making his way through large levels and collecting power-ups. What sets Bug! apart is the game's 3D levels, which take the side-view and tweak it. Bug! can walk sidewise up vertical surfaces and even upside down. Each set of levels (ranging from a bright, green grassy area to a deep red, desert level) has a deeply individual look and feel.