[kupan787]

Hey, I was just thinking with this new QuartzExtreem, what kind of cool new stuff could be done by a programmer? Like what kind of cool new utility programs could be made, or hacks (using the .ape format). Also with this talk or that WindowsFX program (or wahtever it is called), could someone utilize quartz in some new ways?

Would it be possible to write an .ape that allowed all windows on screen to be given a transparent value? Or how about one that made all inactive windows be transparent?

I have yet to check out the .ape stuff, nor I have seen or heard about any new quartz apis (or maybe I have missed them).

[Chuckit]

As shown by WindowShadeX, it's always been possible to make windows transparent.

I could be wrong, but I don't think Quartz Extreme offers very much to programmers. It's just a new compositor that operates much better than the old one. Any hacks like you're thinking of would probably be thanks to APE.

[Rickster]

I'm not sure there's much that can be done in the way of spiffy hacks to existing apps using QuartxExtreme, but there's plenty that can be done in creating new applications.

QE doesn't just accelerate window compositing and related operations -- it integrates OpenGL, 2D, and video graphics at GPU-powered speeds. This sounds rather mundane on the surface, but wait until programmers start making good use of it...

• Developers of 3D modeling apps and games often invest lots of effort in creating their own widget systems in order to have "heads-up displays" that mix 2D information, buttons, menus, and other widgets into the 3D scene. Now they can just overlay native Carbon and Cocoa controls on their 3D content, freeing them to spend more time making their 3D content better.
• Developers can worry less about overburdening the CPU when making spiffy custom interfaces like you see in futuristic computers in the movies. Seen Minority Report or Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within? Much more easily doable with QE.
• If you can integrate 2D with 3D, why not do it the other way around? Got a funky-looking specialized custom control that's hard to get looking right in your app? Try modeling it in 3D with pixel shaders and special effects -- your accelerated OpenGL widget can fit right into a toolbar or other Aqua control space.
• This all applies to video, too. The QE demo from WWDC this past spring featured real-time compositing of several "green-screen" plates from a movie -- you could drag layers around as they animated, and it didn't miss a beat.

See /Developer/Examples/OpenGL for stuff that uses the new APIs designed to let developers leverage QuartzExtreme.