"Rapid progress since June 2014" Gee, I wonder what happened in June 2014 to inspire this....
What did happen?
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Vulkan – Graphics and computing belong together
21–30 of 97 posts
Re: Vulkan – Graphics and computing belong together
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've spent 15 years working on OpenGL, but I'd kick it to the kerb in a heartbeat. AMD and NVIDIA are free to implement Vulkan on Windows and Linux, but the problem is that we will probably be stuck with OpenGL 4.0 on Mac OS X for the foreseeable future.
From the website: > Will work on any platform that supports OpenGL ES 3.1 and up Furthermore, Apple is on the working group.
It doesn't just magically work, someone still has to write the drivers & user space libraries.
Apple would also then have to support three graphics APIs, vintage OpenGL, Metal (on iOS) and Vulkan (on iOS and OS X?), across four hardware platforms (AMD, NVIDIA, Intel, Imagination on ARM).
Re: Vulkan – Graphics and computing belong together
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know too much about the topic (I wish I did), but how what makes you think so? I see that it says "Will work on any platform that supports OpenGL ES 3.1 and up" and Apple platforms seem not to support that (as of now). However Apple is part of the working group, doesn't that make it very likely they are working on an implementation, too?
Apple are traditionally tardy when it comes to OpenGL. Yosemite is still on 4.1 (2010 release), lacking support for things like compute shaders.
Oh, I see, didn't realize that.
That is a pity because I would very much like for cross platform gaming to become much more of a thing and Vulkan does seem likely to be a big milestone in that, esp. considering Valve's involvement.
Re: Vulkan – Graphics and computing belong together
#24Re: Vulkan – Graphics and computing belong together
#25Re: Vulkan – Graphics and computing belong together
#26Very exciting! I wonder: when will we be able to start making projects with this? It would be interesting to see how it compares with OpenCL when it comes to doing things like Bullet physics' GPU rigid body solver and so on. Also, of course, ray tracing! :D
Maybe there isn't a spec yet, but it seems there are demos running through vulkan: http://blog.imgtec.com/powervr/trying-out-the-new-vulkan-gra...
Re: Vulkan – Graphics and computing belong together
#27Very exciting! I wonder: when will we be able to start making projects with this? It would be interesting to see how it compares with OpenCL when it comes to doing things like Bullet physics' GPU rigid body solver and so on. Also, of course, ray tracing! :D
Maybe there isn't a spec yet, but it seems there are demos running through vulkan: http://blog.imgtec.com/powervr/trying-out-the-new-vulkan-gra...
Thanks, this article has some really useful comments. Here's another thread on r/gamedev about it[1]. Not much discussion as of now but hopefully as people wake up it may have interesting comments too.
[1]: http://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/2xrobv/an_overview_...
Re: Vulkan – Graphics and computing belong together
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Vulkan is the evolution of Mantle (get it... get it :)) ?) AMD contributed a lot to the development of this API and then collaborated with Microsoft to create DX12. Mantle will remain as a testbed of future technologies
I get that AMD wants this because it will make CPU performance less important for gamers, as they can't currently compete against Intel here. AMDs APU concept would become more attractive that way. Valve etc. want this because OpenGL sucks, but DX is Win only. Microsoft will want to defend its DX stronghold - can they, on a technical level? Will Nvidia play along?
NVIDIA will totally play along. They already have something that looks a lot like Vulcan, called NV_command_list, in their beta 346-series drivers.
Apologies for the SliderShare link, I hate SlideShare.
" rel="nofollow">http://www.slideshare.net/tlorach/opengl-nvidia-commandlista...
Sample code here:
" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/nvpro-samples>
Re: Vulkan – Graphics and computing belong together
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Vulkan is the evolution of Mantle (get it... get it :)) ?) AMD contributed a lot to the development of this API and then collaborated with Microsoft to create DX12. Mantle will remain as a testbed of future technologies
I get that AMD wants this because it will make CPU performance less important for gamers, as they can't currently compete against Intel here. AMDs APU concept would become more attractive that way. Valve etc. want this because OpenGL sucks, but DX is Win only. Microsoft will want to defend its DX stronghold - can they, on a technical level? Will Nvidia play along?
> Valve etc. want this because OpenGL sucks
Actually Valve labeled OpenGL to be "shockingly efficient" in one of their presentations (postmortem of porting the Source Engine to Linux).
Re: Vulkan – Graphics and computing belong together
#30Direct access to the GPU...is that done in some kind of sandbox at least? How do Mantle/Metal/DX12 do it?
»Direct« as in »a very thin layer around the GPU's capabilities and workings«, instead of what OpenGL does currently with massive amounts of state that the driver has to handle and a movel that doesn't at all work like the GPU does. This removes a quite hefty translation layer between your software and the GPU, leading to better performance, fewer hacks and workarounds (hopefully), etc.