Editing Quartz (graphics layer)

{{Short description|Graphics rendering system used in macOS}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2013}}
{{Mac OS X graphics model
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In [[Apple Inc.|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''.<ref name="apple1">{{cite web | title=Apple - Developer - Graphics & Imaging Overview | url=https://developer.apple.com/graphicsimaging/overview.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041120084353/https://developer.apple.com/graphicsimaging/overview.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=November 20, 2004 | access-date=February 12, 2007}}</ref>

In a general sense, ''Quartz'' or ''Quartz technologies'' can refer to almost every part of the {{nowrap|macOS}} graphics model from the rendering layer down to the compositor including Core Image and Core Video.<ref>{{cite web | title=Apple - Developer - Graphics & Imaging Reference | url=https://developer.apple.com/reference/GraphicsImaging/idxQuartz-date.html | access-date=April 17, 2007 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111205191948/http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/navigation/topic_details/resourceType_10.html | archive-date=December 5, 2011 | df=mdy-all }}</ref> 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

==Quartz 2D and Quartz Compositor==
[[Quartz 2D]] is the primary two-dimensional (2D) text and graphics rendering library:  It directly supports [[Aqua (user interface)|Aqua]] by displaying [[2D computer graphics|two-dimensional graphics]] to create the user interface, including on-the-fly [[rendering (computer graphics)|rendering]] and [[Spatial anti-aliasing|anti-aliasing]]. Quartz can render text with [[subpixel rendering|sub-pixel precision]]; graphics are limited to more traditional anti-aliasing, which is the default mode of operation but can be turned off.<ref>{{cite web|title=Apple - Developer - Quartz Programming Guide for QuickDraw Developers: Drawing Destinations |url=https://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Conceptual/QuickDrawToQuartz2D/tq_other/chapter_3_section_3.html |access-date=February 12, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905214109/http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Conceptual/QuickDrawToQuartz2D/tq_other/chapter_3_section_3.html |archive-date=September 5, 2008 }}</ref> In [[Mac&nbsp;OS&nbsp;X 10.4 Tiger]], Apple introduced Quartz 2D Extreme, enabling Quartz 2D to offload rendering to compatible [[Graphics processing unit|GPU]]s. However, GPU rendering was not enabled by default due to potential video redraw issues or [[kernel panic]]s.<ref>{{cite web | title=Apple - Info - Docs - About the Mac OS X 10.4.3 Update (Delta) | url=http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301984 | access-date=September 20, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016043656/http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301984 | archive-date=October 16, 2007 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref> 
In [[Mac&nbsp;OS&nbsp;X v10.5]] Quartz 2D Extreme was renamed to QuartzGL.

The [[Quartz Compositor]] is the [[compositing]] engine used by [[macOS]].  In [[Mac&nbsp;OS&nbsp;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.<ref name="apple1"/>
==See also==
*[[Quartz Composer]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/GraphicsImaging/Conceptual/drawingwithquartz2d/Introduction/Introduction.html Quartz 2D Programming Guide] at '''developer.apple.com'''
* [https://developer.apple.com/reference/coregraphics Core Graphics API Reference] at '''developer.apple.com'''
* [https://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2005/04/macosx-10-4.ars/13 Quartz in Tiger] (from a review of {{nowrap|Mac OS X}} 10.4 in Ars Technica)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040423020135/http://developer.apple.com/referencelibrary/GettingStarted/GS_GraphicsImaging/ Introduction to OS X graphics APIs]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20061130133031/http://www.cocoadevcentral.com/d/intro_to_quartz/ Cocoa Graphics with Quartz: Part 1]}}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20061205085935/http://cocoadevcentral.com/d/intro_to_quartz_two/ Cocoa Graphics with Quartz: Part 2]}}

{{Apple}}
{{Core Foundation}}
{{macOS}}

[[Category:Graphics software]]
[[Category:MacOS]]