64-Bit
Core Animation
Multicore
UNIX
Security
Bonjour
Welcome to the next level in computer animation. No, it’s not a feature film — it’s your desktop. Core Animation is an API that makes it simple for Mac developers to add visually stunning graphics and animations to applications. Without any esoteric graphics and maths techniques, you can create fluid, stutter-free effects and experiences as groundbreaking as Spaces and Time Machine.
Order from depth.
Using Core Animation, Mac developers can create snazzy animations in their programs using different media types, such as text, 2D graphics, OpenGL renderings and video, simultaneously. These items are placed on layers, and a scene can contain a few layers or thousands of layers, each with its own content. Core Animation can add different effects to layers, then composite and render them in real time. When content changes, Core Animation updates it automatically.
Two heads are better than one.
Core Animation takes advantage of the multiple cores in most new Intel-based Mac computers. When developers use the framework for an application, the process runs in its own thread. On a multicore Mac, that means the application runs on one core, and Core Animation runs on the other. Core Animation runs on any Core Image-capable Mac (including most Mac systems shipped in the past two years).
Shift from manual to automatic.
No need to create animations by managing individual elements on a frame-to-frame basis. Just describe the start state, the end state, and any interim states or keyframes, and let Core Animation do the rest. You can also describe how your animation should react to user input, and it adjusts accordingly. Core Animation opens up the power of Apple’s graphics technologies and proven aesthetics to every developer. You’ll be seeing its effect in a new generation of amazing apps to come.
