[Development] Vulkan

[Tom Kulaga]

Thanks guys for the detailed updates. I an appreciate any big sweeping
changes, aren't lite nor simple.

I was after using Vulkan (to learn the API) with a widgets interface for
now and going with the native window handle sounds simplest and best.

I'll give it a try (a D3D12 type vulkan widget) and see what I come up with
and if it's going to be of use to anyone I'll post it.

Thanks again

On Sun, 10 Apr 2016 02:45 Agocs Laszlo <laszlo.agocs at theqtcompany.com>
wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Sean's summary is perfect. If you are after integrating your Vulkan
> renderer into a non-Quick app, use a QWindow and
> QWidget::createWindowContainer, like the D3D12 samples did. All you need is
> a native window handle (e.g. a HWND on Windows which is exactly what
> QWindow::winId() will give you; on other platforms there are
> backend-specific means to acquire the native window via
> QPlatformNativeInterface).
>
> Integrating Vulkan rendering into an OpenGL-based Qt Quick scene can be
> more complicated, so at first I would rather look at the (unfortunately
> vendor-specific) GL_NV_draw_vulkan_image extension. This, in combination
> with GL_KHR_vulkan_glsl, is likely the easiest way to get started and
> combine the two worlds.
>
> Right now Qt Quick is undergoing certain changes to make it more modular,
> focusing on OpenGL, D3D, and the QPainter-based 2D Renderer for the time
> being. This will allow multiple backends in the future, instead of being
> tied to OpenGL (or the current iteration of the separate, somewhat hackish
> 2D renderer). There are a number of issues to be investigated still, but we
> expect most of the work to become available in Qt 5.8 and beyond.
>
> However, it is important to note that a full-blown Vulkan (or Metal for
> that matter) backend for Qt Quick is not something that will be rushed, so
> I wouldn't expect much on that front short-term. The benefits of the new
> low-level APIs are expected to be fairly limited for the workloads typical
> user interfaces generate. (this naturally does not apply to Qt 3D)
>
> Best regards,
> Laszlo
> ________________________________________
> From: Development <development-bounces+laszlo.agocs=
> theqtcompany.com at qt-project.org> on behalf of Sean Harmer <
> sean.harmer at kdab.com>
> Sent: Saturday, April 9, 2016 11:06:23 AM
> To: development at qt-project.org
> Cc: Tom Kulaga
> Subject: Re: [Development] Vulkan
>
> On Saturday 09 April 2016 01:57:24 Tom Kulaga wrote:
> > Hi All,
> >
> > Is anyone actively working on vulkan integration? Or even a
> QVulkanWidget?
> > I saw that d3d12 had a preview widget so thought it was reasonable to
> ask.
> >
> > If anyone isn't I'm keen to have a crack. In terms of implementation, is
> it
> > as naively simple as creating a new widget similar to the QOpenGLWidget
> > one, just to get a drawable canvas up and running? I believe that on
> Linux
> > a xcb_window_t is used for vulkan samples and deep in the QPA I saw it
> too.
> >
> > I was wondering if for a novice like me this would be feasible to
> actually
> > do?
> >
> > Does the whole rendering stack need to transfer over to vulkan?
>
> It all depends what level of integration you are after. Using a QWindow and
> using Vulkan with it doesn't require much. Making something equivalent to
> QOpenGLWidget is much more work as you have to worry about compositing
> QPainter content into the window too.
>
> Making a Vulkan backend for Qt Quick 2 is also more work, considerably more
> work than much of the other low hanging fruits that could be used to
> improve
> performance there on the existing OpenGL backend. Although, like the D3D12
> backend it might give better results on windows (for Vulkan capable
> hardware).
>
> Putting a Vulkan backend on Qt 3D is a very real possibility and one where
> Vulkan could potentially make a big impact. This is something I want to
> investigate later after we have done a stable release or two of Qt 3D. The
> good thing is that Qt 3D's architecture maps very well to Vulkan (by
> design).
>
> Some IHV's provide drivers that have OpenGL/Vulkan interop in that you can
> use
> both Vulkan and OpenGL on the same surface which would be another
> interesting
> option if this support becomes widespread.
>
> If you want to have a go, then certainly nobody is going to stop you and
> you
> may well get some help. We have some early proof of concept stuff we can
> look
> to tidy up and publish along these lines.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Sean
> --
> Dr Sean Harmer | sean.harmer at kdab.com | Managing Director UK
> Klarälvdalens Datakonsult AB, a KDAB Group company
> Tel. UK +44 (0)1625 809908, Sweden (HQ) +46-563-540090
> KDAB - Qt Experts - Platform-independent software solutions
> _______________________________________________
> Development mailing list
> Development at qt-project.org
> http://lists.qt-project.org/mailman/listinfo/development
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.qt-project.org/pipermail/development/attachments/20160410/c01aeb4c/attachment.html>