Vulkan Ray Tracing with Minimal Abstraction

ray_pipeline uses the ray tracing pipeline to render the final image.

ray_query uses the graphics pipeline along with ray querying to render the final image.

headless generates a ray traced image without creating a window or requiring a surface.

Important Note

Make sure the VK_KHR_ray_query and VK_KHR_ray_tracing_pipeline extensions are available on your device!

Even if you have a compatible RTX / RX graphics card, your drivers may not have the extension available.

To see if the extension is available, you can use the vulkaninfo binary.

Dependencies

• Graphics drivers with Vulkan support (AMD, NVIDIA, MESA, etc...)
• Vulkan SDK or build each component individually:
  • Vulkan Headers
  • Vulkan Loader
  • glslang
  • Vulkan Validation Layers (if you want to enable validation layers)
• CMake

Windows

• Visual Studio 2022

Linux

• X11 (not required for headless example)
• GCC

Building

Navigate to a subproject:

cd vulkan_ray_tracing_minimal_abstraction/ray_pipeline
# or
#   cd vulkan_ray_tracing_minimal_abstraction/ray_query
# or
#   cd vulkan_ray_tracing_minimal_abstraction/headless

Build on Linux or Windows through CMake:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
# with validation layers enabled:
#   cmake .. -D VALIDATION_ENABLED=1

# on Linux
make

# on Windows:
#   cmake --build .

Image generated from headless example: