Intro

The following samples and layers are hosted on the LunarG VulkanSamples GitHub repository. Many of these samples will be included as binaries in the Vulkan SDK. In order to obtain the Vulkan SDK, please visit the SDK Download website.

For more information on Khronos, Vulkan, or SPIR-V, visit: https://www.khronos.org.

Sections

(click to jump to appropriate section)

Hello Vulkan Samples
Additional Vulkan Samples
Other Demos and Layers
Special Thanks

Hello Vulkan Samples

For those who have only heard of Vulkan, and not yet written a Vulkan graphics application, the following Vulkan samples represent a basic progression towards your first rendered 3D image using the Vulkan API. When possible, functionality from previous steps is abstracted using utility calls to allow you to view just the code necessary for the current step.

Step	Sample Name	Description	Primary Functions
1	01-init_instance	Create and destroy a Vulkan instance	vkCreateInstance, vkDestroyInstance
2	02-enumerate_devices	Enumerate physical devices	vkEnumeratePhysicalDevices
3	03-init_device	Create and destroy a Vulkan device	vkCreateDevice, vkDestroyDevice
4	04-init_command_buffer	Create a Vulkan Command buffer	vkCreateCommandPool, vkDestroyCommandPool, vkAllocateCommandBuffers, vkFreeCommandBuffers
5	05-init_swapchain	Init a Vulkan Swapchain	PFN_vkCreateSwapchainKHR, PFN_vkDestroySwapchainKHR, PFN_vkGetSwapchainImagesKHR, PFN_vkAcquireNextImageKHR, vkGetDeviceQueue, vkCreateImageView, vkDestroyImageView
6	06-init_depth_buffer	Create a Vulkan Depth buffer	vkAllocateMemory, vkBindImageMemory, vkFreeMemory, vkDestroyImageView
7	07-init_uniform_buffer	Create a Vulkan Uniform buffer	vkCreateBuffer, vkGetBufferMemoryRequirements, vkAllocateMemory, vkMapMemory, vkUnmapMemory, vkBindBufferMemory, vkDestroyBuffer
8	08-init_pipeline_layout	Create Descriptor Layout and Pipeline Layout	vkCreateDescriptorSetLayout, vkDestroyDescriptorSetLayout, vkCreatePipelineLayout, vkDestroyPipelineLayout
9	09-init_descriptor_set	Allocate, setup, and destroy a Vulkan Descriptor Set	vkCreateDescriptorPool, vkAllocateDescriptorSets, vkUpdateDescriptorSets, vkDestroyDescriptorPool
10	10-init_render_pass	Initialize a Vulkan Render pass	vkCreateRenderPass, vkDestroyRenderPass
11	11-init_shaders	Initialize Vertex and Fragment Shaders. NOTE: This example converts shaders from GLSL into SPIR-V using GLSLang	vkCreateShaderModule, vkDestroyShaderModule
12	12-init_frame_buffers	Initialize the Vulkan Framebuffer	vkCreateFramebuffer, vkDestroyFramebuffer
13	13-init_vertex_buffer	Create a Vulkan Vertex buffer	vkCmdBindVertexBuffers
14	14-init_pipeline	Create a Vulkan Graphics Pipeline	vkCreatePipelineCache, vkDestroyPipelineCache, vkCreateGraphicsPipelines, vkDestroyPipeline
15	15-draw_cube	Draw a 3D cube using Vulkan	PFN_vkQueuePresentKHR, vkCmdBeginRenderPass, vkCmdEndRenderPass, vkCmdDraw, vkQueueSubmit, vkCmdPipelineBarrier, vkCreateSemaphore, vkDestroySemaphore, vkCreateFence, vkDestroyFence vkWaitForFences
16	16-vulkan_1_1	Start using Vulkan 1.1	vkEnumerateInstanceVersion, vkCreateInstance, vkGetPhysicalDeviceProperties

Additional Vulkan Samples

These are additional samples which build upon the above ones to provide more coverage beyond basic rendering.

NOTE:Items are sortable by column.

Sample Name	Description	Noteable Features	Vulkan Version	Group
copy_blit_image	Copy/Blit an image from one buffer to another.	VkImageCopy VkImageBlit	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
dbg_create_msg_callback	Create and Destroy a Debug message callback for Vulkan.	PFN_vkDbgCreateMsgCallback PFN_vkDbgDestroyMsgCallback	1.0	Vulkan-Debug-01
draw_subpasses	Render two multi-subpass render passes with different framebuffer attachments.	Multiple Sub-passes	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
draw_textured_cube	Draw a textured 3D cube in Vulkan.	Simple texturing	1.0	Textured-Cube-2
dynamic_uniform	Draw 2 cubes using a Dynamic Uniform Buffer.	VK_DESCRIPTOR_TYPE_UNIFORM_BUFFER_DYNAMIC	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
enable_validation_with_callback	Use Common Vulkan Validation Layers to Evaulate Usage.	Layer usage	1.0	Vulkan-Debug-02
enumerate_adv	Explore the Physical Device properties.	Physical Device Info	1.0	Hello-Vulkan-02B (optional)
events	Wait for and set events on the GPU and CPU	vkCmdWaitEvents vkSetEvent vkCmdSetEvent vkGetEventStatus	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
immutable_sampler	Use an Immutable Sampler to texture a cube.	VK_DESCRIPTOR_TYPE_COMBINED_IMAGE_SAMPLER VkDescriptorSetLayoutBinding.pImmutableSamplers	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
init_texture	Setup a texture and sampler.	vkGetImageSubresourceLayout vkCmdCopyImage vkCreateImageView vkDestroyImageView vkCreateSampler vkDestroySampler	1.0	Textured-Cube-1
input_attachment	Use an input attachment to color a triangle	subpassLoad VK_DESCRIPTOR_TYPE_INPUT_ATTACHMENT VK_IMAGE_USAGE_INPUT_ATTACHMENT_BIT	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
instance_extension_properties	Get global extension properties to know what extension are available to enable at CreateInstance time.	vkEnumerateInstanceExtensionProperties	1.0	Hello-Vulkan-01B (optional)
instance_layer_extension_properties	Get list of global layers and their associated extensions, if any.	vkEnumerateInstanceExtensionProperties	1.0	Hello-Vulkan-01D (optional)
instance_layer_properties	Get global layer properties to know what layers are available to enable at CreateInstance time.	vkEnumerateInstanceLayerProperties	1.0	Hello-Vulkan-01C (optional)
memory_barriers	Use memory barriers to clear a texture between draws (read, write, read)	VkCmdPipelineBarrier	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
multiple_sets	Use multiple descriptor sets to draw a textured cube.	VkWriteDescriptorSet vkUpdateDescriptorSets	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
multithreaded_command_buffer	Use per-thread command buffers to draw 3 triangles.	Multi-threading	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
occlusion_query	Use occlusion query to determine if drawing renders any samples. This could be used to quickly determine if more expensive rendering should be done.	vkCmdBeginQuery vkCmdCopyQueryPoolResults vkCmdEndQuery vkCreateQueryPool vkDestroyQueryPool vkGetQueryPoolResults	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
pipeline_cache	Create and use a pipeline cache accross runs.	vkCreatePipelineCache vkGetPipelineCacheData	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
push_constants	Use push constants in a simple shader, validate the correct value was read.	vkCmdPushConstants	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
push_descriptors	Use VK_KHR_push_descriptor extension to draw textured cube	vkCmdPushDescriptorSetKHR	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
secondary_command_buffer	Draw several cubes using primary and secondary command buffers.	VK_COMMAND_BUFFER_LEVEL_SECONDARY VK_SUBPASS_CONTENTS_SECONDARY_COMMAND_BUFFERS	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
separate_image_sampler	Use separate image and sampler in descriptor set and shader to draw a textured cube.	VkSampler	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
spirv_assembly	Demonstrate how to use SPIR-V shaders with inline assembly.	SPIR-V	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
spirv_specialization	This sample creates a mini-ubershader that changes its behavior based on specialization constants provided at pipeline creation.	SPIR-V	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
template	Template sample to start from. Draw textured cube with mostly helpers.	Beginning Framework	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
texel_buffer	Use a texel buffer to draw a magenta triangle.	vkCreateBufferView vkDestroyBufferView	1.0	Vulkan-Extended
vulkan_1_1_flexible	Use Vulkan 1.1 in a flexible way to allow interoperability with Vulkan 1.0	vkGetInstanceProcAddr vkGetDeviceProcAddr vkEnumerateInstanceVersion	1.1/1.0	Vulkan-Extended

Other Demos

The following are additional Vulkan Demos included in the Vulkan SDK.

Demos

Name	Contributor	Description	Vulkan Version
cube	LunarG	Spinning textured cube demo (C version).	1.0
cubepp	LunarG	Spinning textured cube demo (C++11 version).	1.0
Hologram	Google	Particle style demo using multiple threads to render.	1.0

Additional thanks

Stuart Langridge for making the sorttable javascript which is freely available (https://www.kryogenix.org/code/browser/sorttable/). This javascript plug-in allows you to sort the sample tables above by column.