Vertex input dynamic state

The source for this sample can be found in the Khronos Vulkan samples github repository.

Overview

This sample demonstrates how to use the VK_EXT_vertex_input_dynamic_state extension, which eliminates the need to create multiple pipelines in case of different binding and/or attribute descriptions.

This extension changes how attributes and bindings are managed. Instead of static description during pipeline creation, this extension allows developers to change attributes and bindings using a function before every draw.

Below is a comparison of common Vulkan vertex input description and dynamic one.

Vertex input static state	Vertex input dynamic state
dynamic_state = {}	dynamic_state = {VK_DYNAMIC_STATE_VERTEX_INPUT_EXT}
pVertexInputState = &vertex_input_state	pVertexInputState = VK_NULL_HANDLE
vkCreateGraphicsPipelines(model1) + vkCreateGraphicsPipelines(model2)	vkCreateGraphicsPipelines(model)
draw(model1, pipeline1) + draw(model2, pipeline2)	vertex_bindings_description.stride = sizeof(Vertex1); + vertex_attribute_description.offset = offsetof(Vertex1, param); + vkCmdSetVertexInputEXT(&vertex1_params) + draw(model1, pipeline) + vertex_bindings_description.stride = sizeof(Vertex2); + vertex_attribute_description.offset = offsetof(Vertex2, param); + vkCmdSetVertexInputEXT(&vertex2_params) + draw(model2, pipeline)

Vertex input static state

Vertex input dynamic state

dynamic_state = {}

dynamic_state = {VK_DYNAMIC_STATE_VERTEX_INPUT_EXT}

pVertexInputState = &vertex_input_state

pVertexInputState = VK_NULL_HANDLE

vkCreateGraphicsPipelines(model1) + vkCreateGraphicsPipelines(model2)

vkCreateGraphicsPipelines(model)

draw(model1, pipeline1) + draw(model2, pipeline2)

vertex_bindings_description.stride = sizeof(Vertex1); + vertex_attribute_description.offset = offsetof(Vertex1, param); + vkCmdSetVertexInputEXT(&vertex1_params) + draw(model1, pipeline) + vertex_bindings_description.stride = sizeof(Vertex2); + vertex_attribute_description.offset = offsetof(Vertex2, param); + vkCmdSetVertexInputEXT(&vertex2_params) + draw(model2, pipeline)

More details are provided in the sections that follow.

Pipelines

Previously, developers had to create multiple pipeline’s for models with different vertex input data, which would be referenced in VkGraphicsPipelineCreateInfo. This is illustrated in the non-dynamic version of vertex input.

  // First pipeline vertex data
  // Binding description
  std::vector<VkVertexInputBindingDescription> vertex_input_bindings_1 = {
      vkb::initializers::vertex_input_binding_description(
          0, sizeof(Vertex1), VK_VERTEX_INPUT_RATE_VERTEX),
  };

  // Attribute descriptions
  std::vector<VkVertexInputAttributeDescription> vertex_input_attributes_1 = {
    vkb::initializers::vertex_input_attribute_description(
        0, 0, VK_FORMAT_R32G32B32_SFLOAT, 0),                  // Position
    vkb::initializers::vertex_input_attribute_description(
        0, 1, VK_FORMAT_R32G32B32_SFLOAT, offsetof(Vertex1, normal)),  // Normal

    VkPipelineVertexInputStateCreateInfo vertex_input_state_1 =
      vkb::initializers::pipeline_vertex_input_state_create_info();
    vertex_input_state_1.vertexBindingDescriptionCount = static_cast<uint32_t>(vertex_input_bindings_1.size());
    vertex_input_state_1.pVertexBindingDescriptions = vertex_input_bindings_1.data();

    vertex_input_state_1.vertexAttributeDescriptionCount = static_cast<uint32_t>(vertex_input_attributes_1.size());
    vertex_input_state_1.pVertexAttributeDescriptions = vertex_input_attributes_1.data();

    graphics_create_info_1.pVertexInputState = &vertex_input_state_1;

  vkCreateGraphicsPipelines(get_device().get_handle(), VK_NULL_HANDLE, 1,
                            &graphics_create_info, VK_NULL_HANDLE, &pipeline1);

  // Second pipeline vertex data
  // Binding description
  std::vector<VkVertexInputBindingDescription> vertex_input_bindings_2 = {
      vkb::initializers::vertex_input_binding_description(
          0, sizeof(Vertex2), VK_VERTEX_INPUT_RATE_VERTEX),
  };

  // Attribute descriptions
  std::vector<VkVertexInputAttributeDescription> vertex_input_attributes_2 = {
    vkb::initializers::vertex_input_attribute_description(
        0, 0, VK_FORMAT_R32G32B32_SFLOAT, 0),                  // Position
    vkb::initializers::vertex_input_attribute_description(
        0, 1, VK_FORMAT_R32G32B32_SFLOAT, offsetof(Vertex2, normal)),  // Normal (different offset than in vertex_input_attributes_1)

    VkPipelineVertexInputStateCreateInfo vertex_input_state_2 =
      vkb::initializers::pipeline_vertex_input_state_create_info();
    vertex_input_state_1.vertexBindingDescriptionCount = static_cast<uint32_t>(vertex_input_bindings_2.size());
    vertex_input_state_2.pVertexBindingDescriptions = vertex_input_bindings_2.data();

    vertex_input_state_2.vertexAttributeDescriptionCount = static_cast<uint32_t>(vertex_input_attributes_2.size());
    vertex_input_state_2.pVertexAttributeDescriptions = vertex_input_attributes_2.data();

    graphics_create_info_2.pVertexInputState = &vertex_input_state_2;

    vkCreateGraphicsPipelines(get_device().get_handle(), VK_NULL_HANDLE, 1,
                              &graphics_create_info_2, VK_NULL_HANDLE, &pipeline2);

    draw_model(model1, pipeline1);
    draw_model(model2, pipeline2);
  };

However, with dynamic vertex input state the number of pipelines can be reduced because of possibility to change vertex bindings and attribute descriptions on runtime by calling vkCmdSetVertexInputEXT before draw_model. + This extension extends 2 structures: + VkVertexInputBindingDescription to VkVertexInputBindingDescription2EXT + VkVertexInputAttributeDescription to VkVertexInputAttributeDescription2EXT + An example of 2 sets of different vertex input data architectures Vertex and SampleVertex. First model is loaded from assets (load_model function from framework), second model was created directly in code (have different vertex input data architecture).

  VkVertexInputBindingDescription2EXT   vertex_bindings_description_ext = {
  vkb::initializers::vertex_input_binding_description2ext(
	    0,
	    sizeof(Vertex),
	    VK_VERTEX_INPUT_RATE_VERTEX,
	    1);
  }
	VkVertexInputAttributeDescription2EXT vertex_attribute_description_ext[2] = {
  vkb::initializers::vertex_input_attribute_description2ext(
	    0,
	    0,
	    VK_FORMAT_R32G32B32_SFLOAT,
	    offsetof(Vertex, pos)),
  vkb::initializers::vertex_input_attribute_description2ext(
	    0,
	    1,
	    VK_FORMAT_R32G32B32_SFLOAT,
	    offsetof(Vertex, normal);
  }

    graphics_create_info.pVertexInputState = nullptr;

    vkCreateGraphicsPipelines(get_device().get_handle(), VK_NULL_HANDLE, 1,
                              &graphics_create_info, VK_NULL_HANDLE, &pipeline);

/* First set of vertex input dynamic data (Vertex structure) */
		vertex_bindings_description_ext[0].stride  = sizeof(Vertex);
		vertex_attribute_description_ext[1].offset = offsetof(Vertex, normal);
		vkCmdSetVertexInputEXT(draw_cmd_buffer,
		                       static_cast<uint32_t>(vertex_bindings_description_ext.size()),
		                       vertex_bindings_description_ext.data(),
		                       static_cast<uint32_t>(vertex_attribute_description_ext.size()),
		                       vertex_attribute_description_ext.data());
    draw_model(model1, pipeline);

/* Second set of vertex input dynamic data (SampleVertex structure) */
		vertex_bindings_description_ext[0].stride  = sizeof(SampleVertex);
		vertex_attribute_description_ext[1].offset = offsetof(SampleVertex, normal);
		vkCmdSetVertexInputEXT(draw_cmd_buffer,
		                       static_cast<uint32_t>(vertex_bindings_description_ext.size()),
		                       vertex_bindings_description_ext.data(),
		                       static_cast<uint32_t>(vertex_attribute_description_ext.size()),
		                       vertex_attribute_description_ext.data());
    draw_model(model2, pipeline);

Enabling the Extension

The vertex input dynamic state api is provided in Vulkan 1.0 and the appropriate headers / SDK is required.

In addition, since vertex input dynamic state is provided as an extension and may have varying levels of support, the developer must query availability for each device used.

The device extension is provided by VK_EXT_VERTEX_INPUT_DYNAMIC_STATE_EXTENSION_NAME. It also requires VK_KHR_GET_PHYSICAL_DEVICE_PROPERTIES_2_EXTENSION_NAME instance extension to be enabled:

	add_instance_extension(VK_KHR_GET_PHYSICAL_DEVICE_PROPERTIES_2_EXTENSION_NAME);
	add_device_extension(VK_EXT_VERTEX_INPUT_DYNAMIC_STATE_EXTENSION_NAME);

Additional features are provided by the VkPhysicalDeviceVertexInputDynamicStateFeaturesEXT struct:

typedef struct VkPhysicalDeviceVertexInputDynamicStateFeaturesEXT {
    VkStructureType    sType;
    void*              pNext;
    VkBool32           vertexInputDynamicState;
} VkPhysicalDeviceVertexInputDynamicStateFeaturesEXT;