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Project layout and Libraries

For the Vulkan engine, we use specific folders and filenames:

├───build
│   └───assets
├───libs
│   ├───imgui
│   ├───vkb
│   └───vma
├───shaders
│   ├───compiled
│   └───source
├───src
└───tutorial
    ├───01_initializing_vulkan
    ├───02_drawing_with_compute
    ├───03_graphics_pipelines
    ├───04_textures_and_engine_architecture
    └───05_gltf_loading
  • build is where the executables will get built
    • assets will contain textures and 3d models that we use over the guide, loaded at runtime
  • libs contains additional libraries required for the project that are not included in vendor
  • shaders will contain all our shader source files and their compiled output. These are not placed in build/assets because they will be loaded at compile time using #load
  • src you can use this folder as the starting point to follow the tutorial and use the tutorial folder as a reference
  • tutorial contain the code for each of the chapters of the guide, all files are in the same package

Libraries​

On the engine, we use a set of libraries, some are in vendor, but other are stored in /libs.

The Libraries we are using:

Vendor​

  • GLFW Windowing and input library. GLFW is a library for creating windows, contexts, and managing input, primarily for OpenGL, Vulkan, and other graphics APIs. It is widely used in the development of graphics applications and games. We use it in the project to easily create a window and handle input across multiple platforms.

    GLFW

    Note that the original tutorial uses SDL2, but we have replaced it with GLFW for ease of use.

  • STB Image Image loading library. Small and easy to use library to load image files. It can load common image formats such as BMP, PNG, JPEG, and others.

  • cgltf glTF model loader library. Fast and small library to load the glTF 3D model format that we will use when loading 3D models.

External​

  • dear IMGUI Easy to use immediate Graphical-User-Interface (GUI) library. This allows us to create editable widgets such as sliders and windows for the user interface. It's widely used in the game industry for debug tools. In the project, we use it to create interactive options for rendering.

  • Vk Bootstrap Abstracts a big amount of boilerplate that Vulkan has when setting up. Most of that code is written once and never touched again, so we will skip most of it using this library. This library simplifies instance creation, swapchain creation, and extension loading. It will be removed from the project eventually in an optional chapter that explains how to initialize that Vulkan boilerplate the "manual" way.

  • VMA (vulkan memory allocator) Implements memory allocators for Vulkan. In Vulkan, the user has to deal with the memory allocation of buffers, images, and other resources on their own. This can be very difficult to get right in a performant and safe way. Vulkan Memory Allocator does it for us and allows us to simplify the creation of images and other resources. Widely used in personal Vulkan engines or smaller scale projects like emulators. Very high end projects like Unreal Engine or AAA engines write their own memory allocators.