Canta

Canta is a Tolkien elvish word meaning shape/framework. This library acts as a framework for creating vulkan applications.

Features

• Device creation.
• Resource management.
• Indexed ("bindless") resources.
• Automatic frame synchronisation.
• Render graph.
• Pipeline/Shader management.
• Included ImGui backend.

Device Creation

Simple graphics device creation.

auto device = canta::Device::create({
    .applicationName = "hello world",
    .enableMeshShading = false,
    // ... enable other feature flags
});

Render Graph

Includes a render graph to help with synchronisation dependencies between shader passes.

// Create graph
auto renderGraph = canta::RenderGraph::create({
    .device = device.get(),
    .name = "graph"
});

// Create graph resources
auto objectBuffer = renderGraph.addBuffer({
    .size = sizeof(Object) * numObjects,
    .name = "object_buffer"
});

auto backbuffer = renderGraph.addImage({
    .width = 1920,
    .height = 1080,
    .format = canta::Format::RGBA8_SRGB,
    .name = "backbuffer"
});

// Create graph passes
renderGraph.addPass({
    .name = "run_objects",
    .type = canta::PassType::COMPUTE
})
    .addStorageBufferWrite(objectBuffer, canta::PipelineStage::COMPUTE_SHADER) // add write dependency
    .setPipeline(runPipeline)
    .pushConstants(objectBuffer)
    .dispatch(x, y);

renderGraph.addPass({
    .name = "main_draw"
    .type = canta::PassType::COMPUTE
})
    .addStorageBufferRead(objectBuffer, canta::PipelineStage::COMPUTE_SHADER) // reads output from "run_objects" pass
    .addStorageImageWrite(backbuffer, canta::PipelineStage::COMPUTE_SHADER)
    .setPipeline(drawPipeline)
    .pushConstants(backbuffer, objectBuffer)
    .dispatch(x, y);

// Set output target
renderGraph.setBackbuffer(backbuffer);

// Compile and run
renderGraph.compile();
renderGraph.execute({}, {}); // First arg is semaphores to wait on and second is semaphores to signal for use with frame sync

Pipeline Manager

Includes a pipeline manager which facilitates the creation and management of shaders and pipeline objects. Shaders/Pipelines are cached after the first use so passing the same arguments to getShader/getPipeline will return the same object.

auto pipelineManager = canta::PipelineManager::create({
    .device = device.get();
    .rootPath = "assets/shaders"
});

// Create and cache shader object
auto shader = pipelineManager.getShader({
    .path = "path/to/shader",
    .stage = canta::ShaderStage::COMPUTE,
    .name = "compute_shader"
});

// Create and cache pipeline.
auto pipeline  = pipelineManager.getPipeline({
    .vertex = {
        .module = pipelineManager.getShader({
            .path = "path/to/vertex/shader",
            .stage = canta::ShaderStage::VERTEX
            .name = "vertex_shader"
        }),
        .entryPoint = "main"
    },
    .fragment = {
        .module = pipelineManager.getShader({
            .path - "path/to/fragment/shader",
            .stage = canta::ShaderStage::FRAGMENT,
            .name = "fragment_shader"
        }),
        .entryPoint = "fragmentMain"
    },
    .name = "raster_pipeline"
});

Dependencies

System

• SDL2
• Vulkan
• spdlog

Downloaded with cmake

• Ende
• volk
• VulkanMemoryAllocator
• Tessil/robin-map
• SPIRV-Cross
• slang

Embeded in project

• imgui
• rapidjson
• imnodes