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Unity Engine

GetNativeTexturePtr()

Retrieve a native (underlying graphics API) pointer to the Texture resource.
Read time 1 minuteLast updated 4 days ago

Definition

  • Type: Method
  • Namespace: UnityEngine
  • Assembly: UnityEngine.CoreModule
public nint GetNativeTexturePtr()

Returns

Type

Description

IntPtrPointer to an underlying graphics API Texture resource.

Remarks

Use this function to retrieve a pointer/handle corresponding to a particular Texture as it is represented on the native graphics API level. This can be used to enable Texture manipulation from native code plugins.
Note: When you use the Unity APIs to modify the pixel data of a Texture object, it changes the underlying graphics API native pointer. Call GetNativeTexturePtr to get the new native pointer.
For specific platforms, Unity has the following specifications:
  • On Direct3D-like devices, Unity returns a pointer to the base Texture type (
    ID3D11Resource
    on D3D11, 
    ID3D12Resource
    on D3D12).
  • On OpenGL-like devices, the GL Texture "name" is returned; cast the pointer to an integer type to get it.
  • On Metal, Unity returns an 
    id<MTLTexture>
    pointer.
  • On Vulkan, Unity returns an 
    VkImage
    pointer.
  • On platforms that do not support native code plug-ins, this function always returns NULL.
Note that calling this function when using multi-threaded rendering will synchronize with the rendering thread (a slow operation), so best practice is to set up needed Texture pointers only at initialization time.
Additional Resources: Native code plugins, Texture2D.CreateExternalTexture, Cubemap.CreateExternalTexture, RenderTexture.GetNativeDepthBufferPtr.