So...Whats the benefit of using Metal vs Open CL?..because I haven't seen it yet!

[AzzieScott]

What is really the benefit of using Metal opposed to Open CL. I have yet to see a performance increase using metal with Premiere Pro as described by both Apple and Adobe?

I have a 2018 iMac Pro 3.0 GHz 10 Core processor with the  Vega 64 graphics card and 128 gig ram. My machine is pretty beefy. Im also using a Thunderbolt 3 radio ssd drive that I edit off of, but when I use OpenCL I get great performance and my timeline render line is yellow no drop frames, but with Metal I get choppy performance and my timeline render line is red lots of dropped frames. Im editing RED 8K footage. Again with OpenCL I get great performance.  I thought Metal was suppose to offer a little better performance? Can anyone offer any input on this?

[R Neil Haugen]

I'm on PC so no Apple expert here but I've read a bit of their published rationale. They're quite certain you'll have a better experience with Metal so they're building the OS around it, especially coming in with Mojave.

And I'm sure they know best ... ahem.

Neil

[yenaphe]

Metal is apple own take on hardware acceleration. Apple will tell you that it's the best thing on earth, but from experience,  it's less optimized than open CL. Sadly they are deprecating Open CL support on Mac, so Looks like the future will all be Metal.

[yenaphe · Accepted solution]

Also, btw: Important information on GPU-acceleration with CUDA and Apple Metal | Adobe Blog

[AzzieScott]

Well I don't understand why adobe would phase out OpenCL for metal if the experience is worse on Metal. That Just makes no sense.

[Peru Bob]

AzzieScott  wrote

Well I don't understand why adobe would phase out OpenCL for metal if the experience is worse on Metal. That Just makes no sense.

yenaphe  wrote:
Sadly they are deprecating Open CL support on Mac, so Looks like the future will all be Metal.

I think yenaphe meant Apple is phasing it out, not Adobe.

[AzzieScott]

Ok So what exactly does that mean for Mac users? Will I still be able to use Open CL in PPCC on my Mac now and going forward? Because Metal just doesn't preform great and I would be pissed if Metal was my only option.

[R Neil Haugen]

As per Apple's rather direct instruction, yes, OpenCL will be unavailable in the Mac-overse soon. Including Adobe apps.

You aren't the only one unhappy with that decision ... but Apple has always known best what's good for you. Sometimes they're even right. Sigh.

Neil

[R Neil Haugen]

To add to PeruBob's comments ... Apple has announced they are ending support within the OS for OpenCL, and will only be supporting Metal from this OS forward. And ... they have asked all vendors making apps for their OS to respect this and drop OpenCL support moving forward also.

It ain't Adobe's decision, it was Apple's.

Neil

[AzzieScott]

@Neil I spoke with one of the adobe techs and he informed me that OpenCL isn't going anywhere and will be available in PPCC in the foreseeable future because OpenCL,Metal and Cuda are for specific graphics cards and chipsets. So I wonder what's the real story?

[R Neil Haugen]

Apple has been relegating their newer rigs to Metal with OS changes from what so many have posted here and elsewhere. That's about all I can add.

Neil

[Mo Moolla]

This is a very interesting article worth reading:

https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/06/28/why-macos-mojave-requires-metal----and-deprecates-opengl

Mo

[R Neil Haugen]

Especially worth noting among all the Apple-is-BRILLIANT! comments are the many comments about use across devices ... "superior" performance is being defined as how well it works down through the associated smartphones, NOT by how well it works in full-blown desktops.

And that is the main complaint of the Mac users on this forum ... Metal isn't as good as OpenCL on their desktops.

Which all the above takes us back to the Apple CEO's comment a year/two back that he didn't understand why anyone still bought a desktop. Their development is primarily in devices ... their standards are about how anything performs across devices.

The market Apple is focused on as a company is devices. Computers are just an allied product that they still produce for those who choose to buy them. Not that the CEO is much concerned with them, sadly.

Even as a long-time PC user, I miss the old Apple.

Neil

[MortenCarlsen]

OpenCL will remain for many years to come. They have deprecated it; YES. But OpenGL GLSL 1.10 is still running on all macOS although deprecated the past decade.

It is good for all of use that they are doing this. Because Apple sucked at making OpenCL/GL compatible with their OS as they write their own implementation. And mac devs. always had to wait months and years to utilize new features. 

Apple has always had trouble with Graphic Drivers. Even now. Metal (Proclaimed as the fastest in the world) has yet to prove everything. As of now OpenGL and OpenCL are MUCH MUCH faster. OpenGL is still king at pure graphics. Works circles around Craig F. and his coined term Metal !

Also, Metal in Premiere Pro is so much slower than same version with OpenCL

On a side note and as a developer... It is funny how Apple states that Metal is so fast an so easy to write.

In the end my project i.e. in PPRO has less lines of code for running openCL than metal. Same in Stand alone apps.

More lines of code to make the same thing happen. This is just so typical Apple. Proclaim big things which arent !

[michael*b]

re: "metal is much slower":

i tested the same premiere project on 3 different macs the results are:

metal is faster than opencl on the newest macbook pro 2019

and only minor (4min06 vs 3min59) slower on a macbook pro 2017

MacBook Pro 2019:

metal: 2min09

openCL: 2min25

MacBook Pro 2017 and imac almost alike:

metal: 4min06

OpenCL: 3min59