Learn Vulkan API with Practical Examples and Tutorials

Vulkan API: A Cross-Platform Graphics and Compute API for High-Efficiency Applications

If you are a developer or a gamer, you might have heard of Vulkan API, a new-generation graphics and compute API that enables high-performance, cross-platform access to modern GPUs. But what exactly is Vulkan API and why should you care about it? In this article, we will give you a comprehensive introduction to Vulkan API, its features, benefits, development tools, and examples. By the end of this article, you will have a better understanding of what Vulkan API can do for you and how you can get started with it.

Introduction

Vulkan API is an open standard developed by the Khronos Group, a consortium of hardware and software companies that create and maintain industry standards for graphics, compute, vision, and neural networks. Vulkan API was launched in 2016 as a successor to OpenGL, a widely used graphics API that has been around since 1992. Vulkan API aims to provide a more modern, efficient, and flexible way to access the power of GPUs across different platforms and devices.

vulkan api

Some of the main features and benefits of Vulkan API are:

• It is a low-level, explicit, and close-to-the-metal API that gives developers more control over how their applications interact with the GPU, reducing CPU overhead and improving performance.

• It is a cross-platform, cross-vendor, and cross-device API that supports Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Stadia, SteamOS, Raspberry Pi, NVIDIA Shield, NVIDIA Jetson, and more.

• It is an extensible and evolving API that incorporates new technologies and features such as ray tracing, DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling), video decoding, variable rate shading, mesh shaders, timeline semaphores, subgroup operations, memory model improvements, etc.

• It is an open standard that is driven by industry feedback and collaboration. Anyone can contribute to the development of Vulkan API through GitHub issues, forums, working groups, special interest groups (SIGs), etc.

To get started with Vulkan API development, you will need a compatible GPU (either discrete or integrated), a driver that supports Vulkan API (either from the GPU vendor or from an open source project such as Mesa), a SDK (software development kit) that provides libraries, tools, samples, documentation, etc., and an IDE (integrated development environment) that supports Vulkan coding and debugging. You can find more information on how to set up your development environment on the official .

Vulkan API Overview

Vulkan API is not a completely new invention. It is based on the experience and lessons learned from previous graphics APIs such as OpenGL, OpenGL ES (Embedded Systems), Mantle (a proprietary low-level graphics API developed by AMD), DirectX 12 (a proprietary low-level graphics API developed by Microsoft), Metal (a proprietary low-level graphics API developed by Apple), etc. Vulkan API takes the best ideas from these APIs and combines them into a unified standard that works across multiple platforms and devices.

The architecture and design principles of Vulkan API are:

• It - It is a stateless, object-oriented, and command-based API that separates the creation and management of resources (such as buffers, images, shaders, pipelines, etc.) from the submission and execution of commands (such as draw calls, compute dispatches, memory transfers, etc.). - It is a parallel, asynchronous, and concurrent API that allows multiple threads to record and submit commands to multiple queues that can execute on different GPU cores or engines (such as graphics, compute, transfer, etc.). - It is a deterministic and explicit API that requires developers to specify the dependencies and synchronization between commands, queues, resources, and stages of the graphics pipeline (such as vertex input, vertex shader, rasterization, fragment shader, etc.). - It is a portable and interoperable API that enables applications to run on different GPUs with minimal or no changes in the code, and to interoperate with other APIs such as OpenGL, DirectX 12, Metal, OpenCL, CUDA, etc.

The supported platforms and devices of Vulkan API are:

Platform

Device

Driver

Windows

NVIDIA GeForce/Quadro/Tesla/Tegra

NVIDIA Game Ready/Studio/Enterprise

Windows

AMD Radeon/Ryzen/FirePro/Instinct

AMD Adrenalin/Pro/Radeon Software for Enterprise

Windows

Intel HD Graphics/Iris/Iris Plus/Iris Pro/Xe Graphics/Xe HPG/Xe HP/Xe HPC

Intel Graphics Driver for Windows/DCH Driver for Windows

Windows

Qualcomm Adreno

Qualcomm Snapdragon Developer Kit Driver for Windows 10 on ARM64

Linux

NVIDIA GeForce/Quadro/Tesla/Tegra

NVIDIA Linux Graphics Driver/NVIDIA JetPack SDK/NVIDIA L4T Driver Package

Linux

AMD Radeon/Ryzen/FirePro/Instinct

AMDGPU-PRO Driver/AMDGPU Open Source Driver/Mesa RADV Driver/Mesa ACO Compiler Backend/ROCm Open Compute Platform

Linux

Intel HD Graphics/Iris/Iris Plus/Iris Pro/Xe Graphics/Xe HPG/Xe HP/Xe HPC

Mesa ANV Driver/Mesa Iris Driver/Mesa Compute Runtime/Intel oneAPI Level Zero/Runtime for Linux/Intel Graphics Compiler for Linux/Intel Media Driver for Linux/Intel Graphics Memory Management Library for Linux/Intel Threading Building Blocks for Linux/Intel Open Image Denoise for Linux/Intel Embree for Linux/Intel Open VKL for Linux/Intel Open SWR for Linux/Intel OSPRay for Linux/Intel OSPray Studio for Linux/Intel oneAPI Rendering Toolkit for Linux

Linux

Qualcomm Adreno

Mesa TURNIP Driver/Mesa Freedreno Driver/Mesa Panfrost Driver/Mesa Lima Driver/Mesa Etnaviv Driver/Mesa VC4/V3D Driver/Mesa V3DV Driver/Mesa Zink Driver/Mesa Clover OpenCL State Tracker/Mesa Gallium Nine State Tracker/Mesa OpenGL Compatibility Profile State Tracker/Mesa OpenGL Core Profile State Tracker/Mesa OpenGL ES 1.x/2.x/3.x State Tracker/Mesa Vulkan Overlay Layer/Mesa Vulkan WSI Layer/Mesa Vulkan Device Select Layer/Mesa Vulkan Validation Layer/Mesa Vulkan Transform Feedback Layer/Mesa Vulkan Debug Report Extension Layer/Mesa Vulkan Util Layer/Mesa Vulkan HUD Layer/Mesa Device Select Layer/Mesa Heads-Up Display Layer/Mesa Overlay Control Layer/Mesa Performance Query Extension Layer/Mesa GLX Indirect Rendering Extension Layer/Mesa GLX Direct Rendering Extension Layer/Mesa DRI Image Extension Layer/Mesa DRI2 Extension Layer/Mesa DRI3 Extension Layer/Mesa Present Extension Layer/Mesa GBM (Generic Buffer Manager) Library/Mesa EGL (Embedded-System Graphics Library) Library/Mesa GLAPI (OpenGL Application Programming Interface) Library/Mesa GALLIUM (Graphics Abstraction Layer Library Using Modular Components) Library/Mesa MAPI (MESA Application Programming Interface) Library/Mega MESA (MESA Extensions to the EGL API) Library /Mesa GLX (OpenGL Extension to the X Window System) Library/Mesa Waffle (Window and Framework Abstraction Library) Library/Mesa Piglit (OpenGL Regression Test Suite) Library/Mesa GTest (Google Test Framework for C++) Library/Mesa CTest (CMake Testing Tool) Library/Mesa VKMS (Virtual KMS) Driver/Mesa Softpipe Driver/Mesa LLVMpipe Driver/Mesa SWR Driver/Mesa KMSRO Driver/Mesa KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) Driver/Mesa DRM (Direct Rendering Manager) Library/Mesa GBM (Generic Buffer Manager) Backend/Mesa EGL (Embedded-System Graphics Library) Backend/Mesa X11 (X Window System) Backend/Mesa Wayland (Display Server Protocol) Backend/Mesa Surfaceless (Headless Rendering) Backend

Android

NVIDIA Tegra

NVIDIA Android Graphics Driver/NVIDIA JetPack SDK/NVIDIA L4T Driver Package

Android

AMD Ryzen Embedded

AMD Radeon Software for Embedded Systems

Android

Intel HD Graphics/Iris/Iris Plus/Iris Pro/Xe Graphics/Xe HPG/Xe HP/Xe HPC

Intel Graphics Driver for Android/Intel oneAPI Level Zero/Runtime for Android/Intel Graphics Compiler for Android/Intel Media Driver for Android/Intel Graphics Memory Management Library for Android/Intel Threading Building Blocks for Android/Intel Open Image Denoise for Android/Intel Embree for Android/Intel Open VKL for Android/Intel Open SWR for Android/Intel OSPRay for Android/Intel OSPray Studio for Android/Intel oneAPI Rendering Toolkit for Android

Android

Qualcomm Adreno

Qualcomm Snapdragon Graphics SDK/Qualcomm Adreno GPU SDK/Qualcomm Adreno GPU Driver/Qualcomm Snapdragon Profiler/Qualcomm Snapdragon Power Optimization SDK/Qualcomm Snapdragon Neural Processing SDK/Qualcomm Hexagon DSP SDK/Qualcomm Hexagon NN Library/Qualcomm Hexagon Tools

Android

ARM Mali

ARM Mali Graphics SDK/ARM Mali GPU Driver/ARM Mali GPU Profiler/ARM Mali Offline Compiler/ARM Mali Vulkan Samples/ARM Mali OpenGL ES Samples/ARM Mali OpenCL Samples/ARM Mali Compute Library/ARM NN Library/ARM Compute Library Tools

iOS/macOS

Apple A-Series/B-Series/C-Series/G-Series/M-Series/S-Series/T-Series/W-Series/Z-Series

MoltenVK (Vulkan Portability Implementation on Metal)/gfx-portability (Vulkan Portability Implementation on Metal)/Dawn (WebGPU Implementation on Metal)/ANGLE (OpenGL ES Implementation on Metal)

Nintendo Switch

NVIDIA Tegra X1/X1+

Nintendo Switch System Software/Nintendo Switch SDK/Nintendo Switch Development Tools/Nintendo Switch Development Environment/Nintendo Switch Development Kit/Nintendo Switch Partner Development Kit/Nintendo Switch Game Development Kit/Nintendo Switch Game Developme