Introduction to Vulkan API Project

So after the first renderer in OpenGL I decided for myself that this subject is very interesting to me and I want to understand more and learn new things. I started googling about modern APIs and found out that in fact a lot of companies use either DirectX or Vulkan (or both). And my eyes fell on Vulkan for the reason that everywhere I read everyone said that Vulkan is very difficult to understand for beginners, you need to write a lot of code and so on. But it did not discourage me at all, and even on the contrary attracted me, so I started studying it. This project is my first experience with Vulkan, of course for this kind of projects I am not ashamed to write quite “dirty” code, because the purpose of the project is to touch Vulkan itself. GitHub page.

And here’s what I’ve learned:

1. Vulkan Fundamentals
   • Understanding Vulkan’s explicit control over GPU resources.
   • Learning the differences between Vulkan and OpenGL (and today also DirectX).
   • Setting up a Vulkan instance and enabling necessary extensions.
2. Instance and Device Creation
   • Creating a Vulkan instance and selecting a suitable physical device.
   • Understanding queue families and logical device creation.
   • Managing validation layers and debugging messages.
3. Swap Chains and Surface Management
   • Creating and configuring a swap chain for rendering.
   • Understanding image formats, presentation modes, and surface handling.
   • Managing framebuffers and synchronization objects.
4. Graphics Pipeline
   • Understanding the Vulkan pipeline architecture and its fixed stages.
   • Writing SPIR-V shaders and creating shader modules.
   • Setting up pipeline states, including rasterization, depth testing, and blending.
   • Creating render passes and framebuffers.
5. Command Buffers and Synchronization
   • Recording and submitting command buffers.
   • Understanding semaphores and fences for GPU synchronization.
   • Managing multiple frames in flight for efficient rendering.
6. Vertex Input and Buffers
   • Creating vertex and index buffers.
   • Using Vulkan’s memory management model and buffer allocation strategies.
   • Understanding descriptor sets and uniform buffers for passing data to shaders.
7. Texture Mapping
   • Loading and transferring texture data to the GPU in Vulkan.
   • Creating image views, samplers, and managing mipmaps in Vulkan.
   • Using descriptor sets to bind textures to shaders.
8. Depth and Stencil Buffering
   • Implementing depth buffering for correct rendering order.
   • Configuring stencil testing for advanced rendering techniques.