is it best to use switfui or metal to animate a lot of elements

When deciding whether to use SwiftUI or Metal for animating a lot of elements, it depends on the specific requirements and complexity of your animations.

SwiftUI

SwiftUI is highly recommended for most UI animations due to its ease of use and integration with other Apple frameworks. It allows you to create custom animations and transitions with less code and better productivity. SwiftUI also supports advanced features like custom containers, mesh gradients, and scrolling customizations. You can even apply custom Metal shaders directly to SwiftUI views for more complex visual effects.

• Ease of Use: SwiftUI is designed to be easy to learn and use, making it a great choice for most UI animations.
• Integration: SwiftUI integrates seamlessly with UIKit and AppKit, allowing you to animate views across different frameworks.
• Advanced Features: SwiftUI supports custom animations, mesh gradients, and even custom Metal shaders for more complex effects.

For more details, you can check out the Platforms State of the Union and SwiftUI essentials sessions.

Metal

Metal is a lower-level graphics API that provides fine-grained control over GPU rendering and is ideal for highly complex and performance-intensive animations. If your application requires very detailed and custom rendering that goes beyond what SwiftUI can offer, Metal would be the better choice.

• Performance: Metal provides direct access to the GPU, making it suitable for performance-intensive tasks.
• Complexity: Metal is more complex to use compared to SwiftUI and requires a deeper understanding of graphics programming.

In summary, for most applications, SwiftUI should be sufficient and is easier to work with. However, if you need highly detailed and performance-intensive animations, Metal would be the better choice.