Mac Platform Information for Standalone Applications

Max builds universal binary standalone applications on the Mac. The standalone is an application package , which is also a folder that looks like a file in the Finder. Double-clicking on the file's icon launches the application.

Examining the contents of a Mac standalone

Control-click on the standalone application and choose Show Package Contents from the contextual menu. A new Finder window will open showing the contents of the package.

YourApplication.app [ note: the .app is not shown in the Finder ]

Contents [ folder ]

Frameworks [ folder ] – needed for external object support

Info.plist [ copied from your Info.plist if included in a collective build script ]

MacOS [ folder ]

YourApplication [ actually the Max Runtime executable ]

Resources [ folder ]

[ custom icon file goes here ]

C74 [ folder containing all supporting files]

Including Jitter components in your Mac standalone application

Although they are included by default, if you are not including the C74 Resources, be sure to add any shader, material, model, passes, or volume-dataset files that your application uses, copying to {Package}/Contents/Resources/C74/media/jitter/*. Many of the included image-processing shaders rely on one of the "passthru" vertex shader programs that reside in the shared folder inside the jitter-shaders folder.

Including Java components in your Macintosh standalone application

Although they are included by default, if you are not including the C74 Resources, copy any necessary Java class files to {Package}/Contents/Resources/C74/java-classes/classes.

Adding a custom icon for a Macintosh standalone application

Create a line with the appicon script keyword in your standalone's build script followed by the full pathname of an icon file you’ve created with Apple's Icon Composer tool or another application that creates these files. This will copy the icon file into the standalone application package's Resources folder.

In some cases, you may need to log out and log back in again before the standalone’s icon will show up.

Distributing your Mac standalone application

In most cases, Max standalone apps will be distributed outside of the Mac App Store. In order for the application to open properly, the standalone can be signed (if one pays the $99/year developer membership) or users of the standalone can informed that the Security and Privacy settings in System Preferences must be set to 'Allow apps downloaded from Anywhere'. To read more about signing your application, visit the Apple Developer Site.

For distribution on macOS versions starting with Big Sur (macOS 11), the developer will need to code sign their standalone application with the appropriate Entitlements in order to avoid the user being asked for microphone, camera, and disk access every time the app is launched. Learn more in this article.

Mac Standalone Applications