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The Modern Vulkan Cookbook: A practical guide to 3D graphics and advanced real-time rendering techniques in Vulkan
Discover essential real-time rendering techniques, curated by industry-leading computer graphics professionals, with over 60 recipes for extending or applying them directly to existing or new rendering engines focusing on Vulkan
Key FeaturesExplore a wide range of advanced 3D graphics programming techniques to leverage the full potential of Vulkan APILearn tips, tricks, and solutions to boost your 3D graphics for a wide range of cross-platform devicesImplement geometry projection, texturing, and lighting techniquesPurchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBookBook DescriptionVulkan is a graphics API that gives the program total control of the GPU, allowing the GPU to be used to its full potential. This cookbook will uncover useful techniques for emerging new technologies, such as hybrid rendering, extended reality – mixed reality (MR), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) – and GPU-driven rendering, and even features a dedicated chapter to help you debug and profile your graphics applications with tips and tricks tested in real-world scenarios.
The book starts by explaining basic Vulkan concepts while guiding you through the implementation of a basic graphics engine. The building blocks presented in the first few chapters will then help you implement more advanced techniques and algorithms, while getting you acquainted with the inner workings of Vulkan. Gradually, you’ll discover how Vulkan can be used to build hybrid renderers as well as leveraged for the future of graphics with AR/VR/MR. Moreover, you’ll gain an understanding of how it can be debugged or measured for performance.
By the end of this book, you’ll be well versed in how to use Vulkan to write graphics applications and how graphics algorithms are implemented using Vulkan.
What you will learnSet up your environment for Vulkan developmentUnderstand how to draw graphics primitives using VulkanUse state-of-the-art Vulkan to implement a wide variety of modern rendering techniques such as DLSS, TAA, OIT, and foveated renderingImplement hybrid techniques using rasterization and ray tracing to create photorealistic real-time enginesCreate extended reality (AR/VR/MR) applications using OpenXR and VulkanExplore debugging techniques for graphics applications that use VulkanWho this book is forThis book is for computer graphics engineers who have experience in at least one graphics API, such as OpenGL (any variations), DirectX, or Metal, and wish to delve into Vulkan using hands-on, practical examples. Graphics engineers looking to use Vulkan's capabilities to develop real-time hybrid renderers and create XR applications will also find this book helpful. Familiarity with graphics APIs (such as OpenGL, OpenGL ES, Metal, or DirectX), proficiency in C++ programming, and a basic understanding of computer graphics algorithms are assumed.
Table of ContentsVulkan Core ConceptsWorking with Modern VulkanImplementing GPU-Driven RenderingExploring Techniques for Lighting, Shading, and ShadowsDeciphering Order-Independent TransparencyAnti-Aliasing TechniquesRay Tracing and Hybrid RenderingExtended Reality with OpenXRDebugging and Performance Measurement Techniques
Key FeaturesExplore a wide range of advanced 3D graphics programming techniques to leverage the full potential of Vulkan APILearn tips, tricks, and solutions to boost your 3D graphics for a wide range of cross-platform devicesImplement geometry projection, texturing, and lighting techniquesPurchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBookBook DescriptionVulkan is a graphics API that gives the program total control of the GPU, allowing the GPU to be used to its full potential. This cookbook will uncover useful techniques for emerging new technologies, such as hybrid rendering, extended reality – mixed reality (MR), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) – and GPU-driven rendering, and even features a dedicated chapter to help you debug and profile your graphics applications with tips and tricks tested in real-world scenarios.
The book starts by explaining basic Vulkan concepts while guiding you through the implementation of a basic graphics engine. The building blocks presented in the first few chapters will then help you implement more advanced techniques and algorithms, while getting you acquainted with the inner workings of Vulkan. Gradually, you’ll discover how Vulkan can be used to build hybrid renderers as well as leveraged for the future of graphics with AR/VR/MR. Moreover, you’ll gain an understanding of how it can be debugged or measured for performance.
By the end of this book, you’ll be well versed in how to use Vulkan to write graphics applications and how graphics algorithms are implemented using Vulkan.
What you will learnSet up your environment for Vulkan developmentUnderstand how to draw graphics primitives using VulkanUse state-of-the-art Vulkan to implement a wide variety of modern rendering techniques such as DLSS, TAA, OIT, and foveated renderingImplement hybrid techniques using rasterization and ray tracing to create photorealistic real-time enginesCreate extended reality (AR/VR/MR) applications using OpenXR and VulkanExplore debugging techniques for graphics applications that use VulkanWho this book is forThis book is for computer graphics engineers who have experience in at least one graphics API, such as OpenGL (any variations), DirectX, or Metal, and wish to delve into Vulkan using hands-on, practical examples. Graphics engineers looking to use Vulkan's capabilities to develop real-time hybrid renderers and create XR applications will also find this book helpful. Familiarity with graphics APIs (such as OpenGL, OpenGL ES, Metal, or DirectX), proficiency in C++ programming, and a basic understanding of computer graphics algorithms are assumed.
Table of ContentsVulkan Core ConceptsWorking with Modern VulkanImplementing GPU-Driven RenderingExploring Techniques for Lighting, Shading, and ShadowsDeciphering Order-Independent TransparencyAnti-Aliasing TechniquesRay Tracing and Hybrid RenderingExtended Reality with OpenXRDebugging and Performance Measurement Techniques
526 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 12, 2024
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 24, 2024
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book for reviewing purposes.
The Modern Vulkan Cookbook is a really helpful book on such a daunting topic. Vulkan is, for sure, a very interesting technology that has been taking the heads of graphics engineers for the last decades or so, and it is still seen (rightfully so) as a complex subject - and yes, it is. However, this Cookbook is a good introduction with plenty of source code, code samples, and nice examples to help you get started on the subject. Bear in mind that, as the authors mention multiple times in the first chapters, Vulkan is still a complicated topic. To give an example, we only got to see code that renders a triangle on the screen by page 74 (about 20% into the book).
From a graphics programmer's point of view, I recommend this book to other experienced graphics programmers who have already dabbled enough with other graphics libraries to know their ways and do not need to be taught how render passes, or shaders work. The book always presents a brief introduction and explanation for its topics, including the more advanced techniques in the Raytracing chapter, for example, but they are not enough to master these concepts if you are not familiar with them already. To be fair, that is somewhat to be expected, as the idea for these topics is to be presented in the context of Vulkan programming rather than as a Computer Graphics manual.
With that, from a university teacher's perspective, I would not recommend this book directly to my students or use it as the main source for a computer graphics course - unless the course is completely focused on Vulkan. It would work great, along with other more theoretical manuals that hold the reader by the hand and allow them to take their time to explain topics and concepts. Since most of the more theoretical books lack more practical or even code sample perspectives (for the sake of generality), this book might fill the gap and give students "hands-on" examples and code. Contradicting myself a bit, since I started to read this book, I already recommended it to one of my more enthusiastic students who was exploring Vulkan on their own, as it seemed like a good opportunity to not only test the student but assess the book's quality in a classroom environment. So far, it has worked well for this case, but I've got to keep on experimenting and assessing it.
Overall, the book is a good read and, for programmers like me who like code more than words when browsing manuals and tutorials, it does what its purpose is to do. Some areas could have a bit more text and context, and some images could have been better laid out on the pages to improve their readability, but those are minor issues that are certainly going to be improved on a revised version. Also, on this later point, as many of these "modern" technologies tend to stride and change at a considerable pace, I do think most of the essential chapters of this book (at least Chapters 1 to 4 and 9) are likely to remain relevant for many years to come.
The Modern Vulkan Cookbook is a really helpful book on such a daunting topic. Vulkan is, for sure, a very interesting technology that has been taking the heads of graphics engineers for the last decades or so, and it is still seen (rightfully so) as a complex subject - and yes, it is. However, this Cookbook is a good introduction with plenty of source code, code samples, and nice examples to help you get started on the subject. Bear in mind that, as the authors mention multiple times in the first chapters, Vulkan is still a complicated topic. To give an example, we only got to see code that renders a triangle on the screen by page 74 (about 20% into the book).
From a graphics programmer's point of view, I recommend this book to other experienced graphics programmers who have already dabbled enough with other graphics libraries to know their ways and do not need to be taught how render passes, or shaders work. The book always presents a brief introduction and explanation for its topics, including the more advanced techniques in the Raytracing chapter, for example, but they are not enough to master these concepts if you are not familiar with them already. To be fair, that is somewhat to be expected, as the idea for these topics is to be presented in the context of Vulkan programming rather than as a Computer Graphics manual.
With that, from a university teacher's perspective, I would not recommend this book directly to my students or use it as the main source for a computer graphics course - unless the course is completely focused on Vulkan. It would work great, along with other more theoretical manuals that hold the reader by the hand and allow them to take their time to explain topics and concepts. Since most of the more theoretical books lack more practical or even code sample perspectives (for the sake of generality), this book might fill the gap and give students "hands-on" examples and code. Contradicting myself a bit, since I started to read this book, I already recommended it to one of my more enthusiastic students who was exploring Vulkan on their own, as it seemed like a good opportunity to not only test the student but assess the book's quality in a classroom environment. So far, it has worked well for this case, but I've got to keep on experimenting and assessing it.
Overall, the book is a good read and, for programmers like me who like code more than words when browsing manuals and tutorials, it does what its purpose is to do. Some areas could have a bit more text and context, and some images could have been better laid out on the pages to improve their readability, but those are minor issues that are certainly going to be improved on a revised version. Also, on this later point, as many of these "modern" technologies tend to stride and change at a considerable pace, I do think most of the essential chapters of this book (at least Chapters 1 to 4 and 9) are likely to remain relevant for many years to come.
Displaying 1 of 1 review