Xcode Template for Custom Quartz Composer Patches

Create a new Xcode project with this templateOkay, so, now that the Game Research and Immersive Design Lab’s infamous first-responder project is finished, I’m getting back to work on Quartz Composer hackery.

Frustrated with the tedium of going through all the Xcode project files in a text editor and manually replacing all of the identifiers and filenames when creating a new Quartz Composer Patch, I decided to finally figure out how to create a new Xcode template. It’s pretty straightforward, actually, given Karsten Kusche’s instructions.

I started with QCJP’s Custom Patch code, made it a little more generic, and substituted macros for all the specific names.

This release is out-of-date.
Please see the latest version.

Download the installer.

To make a Quartz Composer Patch, now all you need to do is:

  1. Create a new Xcode project with this template
  2. Give the project a name Give the project a name
  3. Build the project Build the project
  4. Move the .plugin file into /Library/Graphics/Patches/
  5. Launch Quartz Composer Launch Quartz Composer

And, of course, modify the code, if you want to do something other than draw a triangle.

Steve Mokris is a developer at Kosada, Inc.