Google LLC brought a number of new developments to its open-source Flutter user interface development framework today with Flutter 3.24, including a major boost to graphics performance.
The company also rolled out Dart 3.5, a programming language created by Google to build mobile and web applications with C-syntax that is used with Flutter.
Flutter works as a user interface toolkit for developers to build and prototype apps for mobile, web and desktop rapidly by writing for a single codebase. That means they can write once and deploy everywhere, without the need to rewrite any code for different devices and platforms. The framework makes app development extremely portable.
This update brings a preview of Flutter GPU, a system that enables advanced graphics and 3D scenes directly in the framework. Historically, cross-platform frameworks forced developers to compromise on graphics performance given the need to abstract away the differences between different platforms.
“Flutter has taken a different approach than most, with its own rendering layer that offers hardware-accelerated graphics and smooth performance on every device,” said Michael Thomsen, a product manager at Flutter. “We’ve made substantial progress with Impeller and shaders, unlocking exciting new possibilities in graphics — like 3D.”
Impeller is a rendering engine built into Flutter that precompiles shaders, a type of program that controls how pixels are displayed on the screen that define how 3D objects are displayed. Shaders alter an objects color, lighting and texture to create a realistic and immersive effect based on shadows, distance and where the object is with respect to the viewer.
The early preview of Flutter GPU provides powerful low-level access to programmable pipelines that allow developers to submit draw calls directly to the graphical processing unit of a given device. This will permit the creation of specialized rendering capabilities, Thomsen said. For example, developers can target 2D Canvas alternatives, 3D scene graphs or particle systems to create vivid and performant scenes.
Easier Flutter delivery for iOS and macOS
With this release, the Flutter team has introduced early support for the Swift Package Manager, a tool that manages the distribution of Swift code.
Swift is Apple Inc.’s high-level, general purpose programming language for building apps on its platforms and devices including iOS, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Watch. SwiftPM automates the process of downloading, configuring, compiling and linking software dependencies. It is a method for developers get code blocks, libraries and apps together onto Apple devices including desktops, laptops, phones and wearables.
“Once Swift Package Manager is widely adopted by plugin developers, it should simplify the Flutter installation process itself, and lower the barrier to entry for newcomers, particularly those that aren’t familiar with the iOS ecosystem,” said Thomsen.
In addition, the team modernized the Flutter Cupertino widget library for iOS and macOS with updates to checkbox, button and switch. Issues with auto-fill in text fields and accessibility with Flutter widgets have been resolved and 37 missing Cupertino widgets have been added to the widget catalog.
The update also adds “platform view” and “webview” for Flutter macOS apps, which allows developers to integrate native macOS UI components directly into Flutter apps. This means that developers will be able to make their apps look and feel exactly like the rest of the operating system, providing a more unified user experience.