tinyrenderers
Single-header implementations of Vulkan and Direct3D 12 renderers for experimentation and learning.
What is tinyrenderers?
tinyrenderers is a collection of single-header implementations of Vulkan and Direct3D 12 renderers, providing a minimal and simplified interface for graphics programming. It allows developers to experiment with low-level graphics APIs without the complexity of full-scale engines, focusing on ease of use and cross-API consistency. The project includes features like texture handling, configurable swapchains, and compute shader samples to facilitate learning and prototyping.
Graphics programmers, students, and hobbyists interested in learning Vulkan or Direct3D 12 through lightweight, hands-on implementations. It's also suitable for developers needing a simple renderer for prototyping or educational projects.
Developers choose tinyrenderers for its single-header simplicity, unified API across Vulkan and D3D12, and focus on experimentation over performance. It reduces the initial overhead of graphics API learning by providing a minimal, well-documented codebase that is easy to integrate and modify.
Overview
tinyrenderers provides minimal, single-header implementations of Vulkan and Direct3D 12 renderers, designed for simplicity and ease of integration. It offers a shared, simplified API across both graphics APIs, making it a practical tool for developers exploring modern low-level graphics programming without the overhead of larger frameworks.
Key Features
- Single-Header Design — Each renderer (Vulkan and D3D12) is contained in a single header file for straightforward inclusion.
- Unified API — A simplified, shared API between Vulkan and D3D12 reduces the learning curve when switching between them.
- Texture and Mipmap Support — Includes texture upload and mipmap generation capabilities.
- Configurable Swapchain — Allows customization of multisampling, image count, and depth/stencil attachments.
- Cross-Platform Window Handling — Samples use GLFW for window management, working on both Linux and Windows.
- Compute Shader Samples — Provides basic compute shader examples to demonstrate GPU compute functionality.
- Vulkan Layers Support — Enables debugging and validation through Vulkan layers.
Philosophy
tinyrenderers is built for experimentation and fun, prioritizing simplicity and educational value over high-performance optimization, making it ideal for learning graphics API internals.
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