iPhone picture taking and lidar data acquisition

Using Swift
1

I do not yet know anything about Swift. Before I climb the learning curve on it I need to know how suitable it is for my Apple iPhone project. The code requirements are:

  1. Trigger a lidar data acquisition.
  2. Take a photograph using flash.
  3. Take a photograph by commanding the shutter open, and then a short time later commanding the shutter closed, and do this without flash.
  4. Coordinate this with three other iPhones that are doing the same thing.
  5. Process the data.

I am looking to use Swift in my Windows 11 PC to do the above because I want to avoid, if possible, purchasing a Mac to do this development work. I also do not want to risk getting caught by Apple using Xcode14 in VirtualBox.

Is it possible to use Swift on a Windows 11 PC to create an app for an iPhone that does every one of the above items? What would be the API calls to control the shutter, take a flash picture, and trigger taking lidar 3D data?

2

AVFoundation is the thing to use here. For #4 I'd be looking at either Network framework (which has functionality previously available via Bonjour / multipeer connectivity) or higher level distributed actors. Unless you want to do the synchronisation via other means (like finger snapping, or time based synchronisation, etc).

On a separate note I'd strongly advice getting real mac hardware for this project.

3

What is the advantage of using a real Mac for the project? Can Network Framework, and AVFoundation, be used to develop with in Windows 11?

4

I guess it could... There'll be a dozen of small things "off" here and there, I guess you'll spend more time overall than the price of imac, and unless your time is very cheap I can't recommend that.

5 Likes
5

What would be the system requirements for this Mac? I seek not the "minimum" requiremt, but system requirements that would provide very good development performance, yet not be wasteful in regard to excessive hardware.

6

There is no supported development environment for iOS applications other than macOS.

7

It depends. I tend to buy expensive hardware but do this rarely as it lasts for ages. As an example the 2015 MacBook Pro I just recently retired still has a year or two of life in it until it is a total pain to use for development. The good litmus test "does this Mac support latest macOS version". If I was on an extremely tight budget and was forced to buy a new budget Mac now I'd go for MacBook Air M1, 2020, currently listed as $999 on US store. There's also $699 Mac mini M1, 2020 - but that's only if you can tolerate being chained to a desk (I can't). Another factor might be windows support (I have no idea if M1/M2 support it at all, intel based Macs supported it well last time I played with it). There's of course a second hand market but that's not my cup of tea (btw Apple does sells refurbished Macs and this is not advertised well enough; if to go second hand that would be my choice).

8

I would be looking for a tower. This is for where I work, and I need a tower, with large monitors (at least two), a GTX 1070 graphics card or equivalent, and a split keyboard.

This Mac must be able to network with the at least four iPhones.