11. Resource Creation

Vulkan supports two primary resource types: buffers and images. Resources are views of memory with associated formatting and dimensionality. Buffers are essentially unformatted arrays of bytes whereas images contain format information, can be multidimensional and may have associated metadata.

11.1. Buffers

Buffers represent linear arrays of data which are used for various purposes by binding them to a graphics or compute pipeline via descriptor sets or via certain commands, or by directly specifying them as parameters to certain commands.

Buffers are represented by VkBuffer handles:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VK_DEFINE_NON_DISPATCHABLE_HANDLE(VkBuffer)

To create buffers, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkCreateBuffer(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkBufferCreateInfo*                   pCreateInfo,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkBuffer*                                   pBuffer);

  • device is the logical device that creates the buffer object.

  • pCreateInfo is a pointer to a VkBufferCreateInfo structure containing parameters affecting creation of the buffer.

  • pAllocator controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

  • pBuffer is a pointer to a VkBuffer handle in which the resulting buffer object is returned.

Valid Usage

  • If the flags member of pCreateInfo includes VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT, creating this VkBuffer must not cause the total required sparse memory for all currently valid sparse resources on the device to exceed VkPhysicalDeviceLimits::sparseAddressSpaceSize

Valid Usage (Implicit)
Return Codes
Success

  • VK_SUCCESS

Failure

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkBufferCreateInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkBufferCreateInfo {
    VkStructureType        sType;
    const void*            pNext;
    VkBufferCreateFlags    flags;
    VkDeviceSize           size;
    VkBufferUsageFlags     usage;
    VkSharingMode          sharingMode;
    uint32_t               queueFamilyIndexCount;
    const uint32_t*        pQueueFamilyIndices;
} VkBufferCreateInfo;

  • sType is the type of this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • flags is a bitmask of VkBufferCreateFlagBits specifying additional parameters of the buffer.

  • size is the size in bytes of the buffer to be created.

  • usage is a bitmask of VkBufferUsageFlagBits specifying allowed usages of the buffer.

  • sharingMode is a VkSharingMode value specifying the sharing mode of the buffer when it will be accessed by multiple queue families.

  • queueFamilyIndexCount is the number of entries in the pQueueFamilyIndices array.

  • pQueueFamilyIndices is a list of queue families that will access this buffer (ignored if sharingMode is not VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT).

Valid Usage

  • size must be greater than 0

  • If sharingMode is VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT, pQueueFamilyIndices must be a valid pointer to an array of queueFamilyIndexCount uint32_t values

  • If sharingMode is VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT, queueFamilyIndexCount must be greater than 1

  • If sharingMode is VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT, each element of pQueueFamilyIndices must be unique and must be less than pQueueFamilyPropertyCount returned by either vkGetPhysicalDeviceQueueFamilyProperties or vkGetPhysicalDeviceQueueFamilyProperties2 for the physicalDevice that was used to create device

  • If the sparse bindings feature is not enabled, flags must not contain VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT

  • If the sparse buffer residency feature is not enabled, flags must not contain VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT

  • If the sparse aliased residency feature is not enabled, flags must not contain VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_ALIASED_BIT

  • If flags contains VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT or VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_ALIASED_BIT, it must also contain VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT

  • If the pNext chain includes a VkExternalMemoryBufferCreateInfo structure, its handleTypes member must only contain bits that are also in VkExternalBufferProperties::externalMemoryProperties.compatibleHandleTypes, as returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceExternalBufferProperties with pExternalBufferInfo->handleType equal to any one of the handle types specified in VkExternalMemoryBufferCreateInfo::handleTypes

  • If the protected memory feature is not enabled, flags must not contain VK_BUFFER_CREATE_PROTECTED_BIT

  • If any of the bits VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT, VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT, or VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_ALIASED_BIT are set, VK_BUFFER_CREATE_PROTECTED_BIT must not also be set

Valid Usage (Implicit)

Bits which can be set in VkBufferCreateInfo::usage, specifying usage behavior of a buffer, are:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef enum VkBufferUsageFlagBits {
    VK_BUFFER_USAGE_TRANSFER_SRC_BIT = 0x00000001,
    VK_BUFFER_USAGE_TRANSFER_DST_BIT = 0x00000002,
    VK_BUFFER_USAGE_UNIFORM_TEXEL_BUFFER_BIT = 0x00000004,
    VK_BUFFER_USAGE_STORAGE_TEXEL_BUFFER_BIT = 0x00000008,
    VK_BUFFER_USAGE_UNIFORM_BUFFER_BIT = 0x00000010,
    VK_BUFFER_USAGE_STORAGE_BUFFER_BIT = 0x00000020,
    VK_BUFFER_USAGE_INDEX_BUFFER_BIT = 0x00000040,
    VK_BUFFER_USAGE_VERTEX_BUFFER_BIT = 0x00000080,
    VK_BUFFER_USAGE_INDIRECT_BUFFER_BIT = 0x00000100,
} VkBufferUsageFlagBits;

  • VK_BUFFER_USAGE_TRANSFER_SRC_BIT specifies that the buffer can be used as the source of a transfer command (see the definition of VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TRANSFER_BIT).

  • VK_BUFFER_USAGE_TRANSFER_DST_BIT specifies that the buffer can be used as the destination of a transfer command.

  • VK_BUFFER_USAGE_UNIFORM_TEXEL_BUFFER_BIT specifies that the buffer can be used to create a VkBufferView suitable for occupying a VkDescriptorSet slot of type VK_DESCRIPTOR_TYPE_UNIFORM_TEXEL_BUFFER.

  • VK_BUFFER_USAGE_STORAGE_TEXEL_BUFFER_BIT specifies that the buffer can be used to create a VkBufferView suitable for occupying a VkDescriptorSet slot of type VK_DESCRIPTOR_TYPE_STORAGE_TEXEL_BUFFER.

  • VK_BUFFER_USAGE_UNIFORM_BUFFER_BIT specifies that the buffer can be used in a VkDescriptorBufferInfo suitable for occupying a VkDescriptorSet slot either of type VK_DESCRIPTOR_TYPE_UNIFORM_BUFFER or VK_DESCRIPTOR_TYPE_UNIFORM_BUFFER_DYNAMIC.

  • VK_BUFFER_USAGE_STORAGE_BUFFER_BIT specifies that the buffer can be used in a VkDescriptorBufferInfo suitable for occupying a VkDescriptorSet slot either of type VK_DESCRIPTOR_TYPE_STORAGE_BUFFER or VK_DESCRIPTOR_TYPE_STORAGE_BUFFER_DYNAMIC.

  • VK_BUFFER_USAGE_INDEX_BUFFER_BIT specifies that the buffer is suitable for passing as the buffer parameter to vkCmdBindIndexBuffer.

  • VK_BUFFER_USAGE_VERTEX_BUFFER_BIT specifies that the buffer is suitable for passing as an element of the pBuffers array to vkCmdBindVertexBuffers.

  • VK_BUFFER_USAGE_INDIRECT_BUFFER_BIT specifies that the buffer is suitable for passing as the buffer parameter to vkCmdDrawIndirect, vkCmdDrawIndexedIndirect, or vkCmdDispatchIndirect.

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef VkFlags VkBufferUsageFlags;

VkBufferUsageFlags is a bitmask type for setting a mask of zero or more VkBufferUsageFlagBits.

Bits which can be set in VkBufferCreateInfo::flags, specifying additional parameters of a buffer, are:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef enum VkBufferCreateFlagBits {
    VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT = 0x00000001,
    VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT = 0x00000002,
    VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_ALIASED_BIT = 0x00000004,
  // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
    VK_BUFFER_CREATE_PROTECTED_BIT = 0x00000008,
} VkBufferCreateFlagBits;

  • VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT specifies that the buffer will be backed using sparse memory binding.

  • VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT specifies that the buffer can be partially backed using sparse memory binding. Buffers created with this flag must also be created with the VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT flag.

  • VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_ALIASED_BIT specifies that the buffer will be backed using sparse memory binding with memory ranges that might also simultaneously be backing another buffer (or another portion of the same buffer). Buffers created with this flag must also be created with the VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT flag.

  • VK_BUFFER_CREATE_PROTECTED_BIT specifies that the buffer is a protected buffer.

See Sparse Resource Features and Physical Device Features for details of the sparse memory features supported on a device.

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef VkFlags VkBufferCreateFlags;

VkBufferCreateFlags is a bitmask type for setting a mask of zero or more VkBufferCreateFlagBits.

To define a set of external memory handle types that may be used as backing store for a buffer, add a VkExternalMemoryBufferCreateInfo structure to the pNext chain of the VkBufferCreateInfo structure. The VkExternalMemoryBufferCreateInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef struct VkExternalMemoryBufferCreateInfo {
    VkStructureType                    sType;
    const void*                        pNext;
    VkExternalMemoryHandleTypeFlags    handleTypes;
} VkExternalMemoryBufferCreateInfo;
Note

A VkExternalMemoryBufferCreateInfo structure must be included in the creation parameters for a buffer that will be bound to memory that is either exported or imported.

  • sType is the type of this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • handleTypes is a bitmask of VkExternalMemoryHandleTypeFlagBits specifying one or more external memory handle types.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

To destroy a buffer, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
void vkDestroyBuffer(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkBuffer                                    buffer,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator);

  • device is the logical device that destroys the buffer.

  • buffer is the buffer to destroy.

  • pAllocator controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

Valid Usage

  • All submitted commands that refer to buffer, either directly or via a VkBufferView, must have completed execution

  • If VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when buffer was created, a compatible set of callbacks must be provided here

  • If no VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when buffer was created, pAllocator must be NULL

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • device must be a valid VkDevice handle

  • If buffer is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, buffer must be a valid VkBuffer handle

  • If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure

  • If buffer is a valid handle, it must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

Host Synchronization

  • Host access to buffer must be externally synchronized

11.2. Buffer Views

A buffer view represents a contiguous range of a buffer and a specific format to be used to interpret the data. Buffer views are used to enable shaders to access buffer contents interpreted as formatted data. In order to create a valid buffer view, the buffer must have been created with at least one of the following usage flags:

  • VK_BUFFER_USAGE_UNIFORM_TEXEL_BUFFER_BIT

  • VK_BUFFER_USAGE_STORAGE_TEXEL_BUFFER_BIT

Buffer views are represented by VkBufferView handles:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VK_DEFINE_NON_DISPATCHABLE_HANDLE(VkBufferView)

To create a buffer view, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkCreateBufferView(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkBufferViewCreateInfo*               pCreateInfo,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkBufferView*                               pView);

  • device is the logical device that creates the buffer view.

  • pCreateInfo is a pointer to a VkBufferViewCreateInfo structure containing parameters to be used to create the buffer.

  • pAllocator controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

  • pView is a pointer to a VkBufferView handle in which the resulting buffer view object is returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)
Return Codes
Success

  • VK_SUCCESS

Failure

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkBufferViewCreateInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkBufferViewCreateInfo {
    VkStructureType            sType;
    const void*                pNext;
    VkBufferViewCreateFlags    flags;
    VkBuffer                   buffer;
    VkFormat                   format;
    VkDeviceSize               offset;
    VkDeviceSize               range;
} VkBufferViewCreateInfo;

  • sType is the type of this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • flags is reserved for future use.

  • buffer is a VkBuffer on which the view will be created.

  • format is a VkFormat describing the format of the data elements in the buffer.

  • offset is an offset in bytes from the base address of the buffer. Accesses to the buffer view from shaders use addressing that is relative to this starting offset.

  • range is a size in bytes of the buffer view. If range is equal to VK_WHOLE_SIZE, the range from offset to the end of the buffer is used. If VK_WHOLE_SIZE is used and the remaining size of the buffer is not a multiple of the texel block size of format, the nearest smaller multiple is used.

Valid Usage

  • offset must be less than the size of buffer

  • offset must be a multiple of VkPhysicalDeviceLimits::minTexelBufferOffsetAlignment

  • If range is not equal to VK_WHOLE_SIZE, range must be greater than 0

  • If range is not equal to VK_WHOLE_SIZE, range must be an integer multiple of the texel block size of format

  • If range is not equal to VK_WHOLE_SIZE, the number of texel buffer elements given by (⌊range / (texel block size)⌋ × (texels per block)) where texel block size and texels per block are as defined in the Compatible Formats table for format, must be less than or equal to VkPhysicalDeviceLimits::maxTexelBufferElements

  • If range is not equal to VK_WHOLE_SIZE, the sum of offset and range must be less than or equal to the size of buffer

  • If range is equal to VK_WHOLE_SIZE, the number of texel buffer elements given by (⌊(size - offset) / (texel block size)⌋ × (texels per block)) where size is the size of buffer, and texel block size and texels per block are as defined in the Compatible Formats table for format, must be less than or equal to VkPhysicalDeviceLimits::maxTexelBufferElements

  • buffer must have been created with a usage value containing at least one of VK_BUFFER_USAGE_UNIFORM_TEXEL_BUFFER_BIT or VK_BUFFER_USAGE_STORAGE_TEXEL_BUFFER_BIT

  • If buffer was created with usage containing VK_BUFFER_USAGE_UNIFORM_TEXEL_BUFFER_BIT, format must be supported for uniform texel buffers, as specified by the VK_FORMAT_FEATURE_UNIFORM_TEXEL_BUFFER_BIT flag in VkFormatProperties::bufferFeatures returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceFormatProperties

  • If buffer was created with usage containing VK_BUFFER_USAGE_STORAGE_TEXEL_BUFFER_BIT, format must be supported for storage texel buffers, as specified by the VK_FORMAT_FEATURE_STORAGE_TEXEL_BUFFER_BIT flag in VkFormatProperties::bufferFeatures returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceFormatProperties

  • If buffer is non-sparse then it must be bound completely and contiguously to a single VkDeviceMemory object

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_BUFFER_VIEW_CREATE_INFO

  • pNext must be NULL

  • flags must be 0

  • buffer must be a valid VkBuffer handle

  • format must be a valid VkFormat value

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef VkFlags VkBufferViewCreateFlags;

VkBufferViewCreateFlags is a bitmask type for setting a mask, but is currently reserved for future use.

To destroy a buffer view, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
void vkDestroyBufferView(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkBufferView                                bufferView,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator);

  • device is the logical device that destroys the buffer view.

  • bufferView is the buffer view to destroy.

  • pAllocator controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

Valid Usage

  • All submitted commands that refer to bufferView must have completed execution

  • If VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when bufferView was created, a compatible set of callbacks must be provided here

  • If no VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when bufferView was created, pAllocator must be NULL

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • device must be a valid VkDevice handle

  • If bufferView is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, bufferView must be a valid VkBufferView handle

  • If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure

  • If bufferView is a valid handle, it must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

Host Synchronization

  • Host access to bufferView must be externally synchronized

11.3. Images

Images represent multidimensional - up to 3 - arrays of data which can be used for various purposes (e.g. attachments, textures), by binding them to a graphics or compute pipeline via descriptor sets, or by directly specifying them as parameters to certain commands.

Images are represented by VkImage handles:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VK_DEFINE_NON_DISPATCHABLE_HANDLE(VkImage)

To create images, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkCreateImage(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkImageCreateInfo*                    pCreateInfo,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkImage*                                    pImage);

  • device is the logical device that creates the image.

  • pCreateInfo is a pointer to a VkImageCreateInfo structure containing parameters to be used to create the image.

  • pAllocator controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

  • pImage is a pointer to a VkImage handle in which the resulting image object is returned.

Valid Usage

  • If the flags member of pCreateInfo includes VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT, creating this VkImage must not cause the total required sparse memory for all currently valid sparse resources on the device to exceed VkPhysicalDeviceLimits::sparseAddressSpaceSize

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • device must be a valid VkDevice handle

  • pCreateInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkImageCreateInfo structure

  • If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure

  • pImage must be a valid pointer to a VkImage handle

Return Codes
Success

  • VK_SUCCESS

Failure

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkImageCreateInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkImageCreateInfo {
    VkStructureType          sType;
    const void*              pNext;
    VkImageCreateFlags       flags;
    VkImageType              imageType;
    VkFormat                 format;
    VkExtent3D               extent;
    uint32_t                 mipLevels;
    uint32_t                 arrayLayers;
    VkSampleCountFlagBits    samples;
    VkImageTiling            tiling;
    VkImageUsageFlags        usage;
    VkSharingMode            sharingMode;
    uint32_t                 queueFamilyIndexCount;
    const uint32_t*          pQueueFamilyIndices;
    VkImageLayout            initialLayout;
} VkImageCreateInfo;

  • sType is the type of this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • flags is a bitmask of VkImageCreateFlagBits describing additional parameters of the image.

  • imageType is a VkImageType value specifying the basic dimensionality of the image. Layers in array textures do not count as a dimension for the purposes of the image type.

  • format is a VkFormat describing the format and type of the texel blocks that will be contained in the image.

  • extent is a VkExtent3D describing the number of data elements in each dimension of the base level.

  • mipLevels describes the number of levels of detail available for minified sampling of the image.

  • arrayLayers is the number of layers in the image.

  • samples is a VkSampleCountFlagBits specifying the number of samples per texel.

  • tiling is a VkImageTiling value specifying the tiling arrangement of the texel blocks in memory.

  • usage is a bitmask of VkImageUsageFlagBits describing the intended usage of the image.

  • sharingMode is a VkSharingMode value specifying the sharing mode of the image when it will be accessed by multiple queue families.

  • queueFamilyIndexCount is the number of entries in the pQueueFamilyIndices array.

  • pQueueFamilyIndices is a list of queue families that will access this image (ignored if sharingMode is not VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT).

  • initialLayout is a VkImageLayout value specifying the initial VkImageLayout of all image subresources of the image. See Image Layouts.

Images created with tiling equal to VK_IMAGE_TILING_LINEAR have further restrictions on their limits and capabilities compared to images created with tiling equal to VK_IMAGE_TILING_OPTIMAL. Creation of images with tiling VK_IMAGE_TILING_LINEAR may not be supported unless other parameters meet all of the constraints:

  • imageType is VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D

  • format is not a depth/stencil format

  • mipLevels is 1

  • arrayLayers is 1

  • samples is VK_SAMPLE_COUNT_1_BIT

  • usage only includes VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSFER_SRC_BIT and/or VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSFER_DST_BIT

Images created with a format from one of those listed in Formats requiring sampler Y′CBCR conversion for VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_COLOR_BIT image views have further restrictions on their limits and capabilities compared to images created with other formats. Creation of images with a format requiring Y′CBCR conversion may not be supported unless other parameters meet all of the constraints:

  • imageType is VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D

  • mipLevels is 1

  • arrayLayers is 1

  • samples is VK_SAMPLE_COUNT_1_BIT

Implementations may support additional limits and capabilities beyond those listed above.

To determine the set of valid usage bits for a given format, call vkGetPhysicalDeviceFormatProperties.

If the size of the resultant image would exceed maxResourceSize, then vkCreateImage must fail and return VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY. This failure may occur even when all image creation parameters satisfy their valid usage requirements.

Note

For images created without VK_IMAGE_CREATE_EXTENDED_USAGE_BIT a usage bit is valid if it is supported for the format the image is created with.

For images created with VK_IMAGE_CREATE_EXTENDED_USAGE_BIT a usage bit is valid if it is supported for at least one of the formats a VkImageView created from the image can have (see Image Views for more detail).
Image Creation Limits

Valid values for some image creation parameters are limited by a numerical upper bound or by inclusion in a bitset. For example, VkImageCreateInfo::arrayLayers is limited by imageCreateMaxArrayLayers, defined below; and VkImageCreateInfo::samples is limited by imageCreateSampleCounts, also defined below.

Several limiting values are defined below, as well as assisting values from which the limiting values are derived. The limiting values are referenced by the relevant valid usage statements of VkImageCreateInfo.

Valid Usage

  • Each of the following values (as described in Image Creation Limits) must not be undefined imageCreateMaxMipLevels, imageCreateMaxArrayLayers, imageCreateMaxExtent, and imageCreateSampleCounts

  • If sharingMode is VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT, pQueueFamilyIndices must be a valid pointer to an array of queueFamilyIndexCount uint32_t values

  • If sharingMode is VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT, queueFamilyIndexCount must be greater than 1

  • If sharingMode is VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT, each element of pQueueFamilyIndices must be unique and must be less than pQueueFamilyPropertyCount returned by either vkGetPhysicalDeviceQueueFamilyProperties or vkGetPhysicalDeviceQueueFamilyProperties2 for the physicalDevice that was used to create device

  • format must not be VK_FORMAT_UNDEFINED

  • extent.width must be greater than 0

  • extent.height must be greater than 0

  • extent.depth must be greater than 0

  • mipLevels must be greater than 0

  • arrayLayers must be greater than 0

  • If flags contains VK_IMAGE_CREATE_CUBE_COMPATIBLE_BIT, imageType must be VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D

  • If flags contains VK_IMAGE_CREATE_2D_ARRAY_COMPATIBLE_BIT, imageType must be VK_IMAGE_TYPE_3D

  • extent.width must be less than or equal to imageCreateMaxExtent.width (as defined in Image Creation Limits)

  • extent.height must be less than or equal to imageCreateMaxExtent.height (as defined in Image Creation Limits)

  • extent.depth must be less than or equal to imageCreateMaxExtent.depth (as defined in Image Creation Limits)

  • If imageType is VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D and flags contains VK_IMAGE_CREATE_CUBE_COMPATIBLE_BIT, extent.width and extent.height must be equal and arrayLayers must be greater than or equal to 6

  • If imageType is VK_IMAGE_TYPE_1D, both extent.height and extent.depth must be 1

  • If imageType is VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D, extent.depth must be 1

  • mipLevels must be less than or equal to the number of levels in the complete mipmap chain based on extent.width, extent.height, and extent.depth

  • mipLevels must be less than or equal to imageCreateMaxMipLevels (as defined in Image Creation Limits)

  • arrayLayers must be less than or equal to imageCreateMaxArrayLayers (as defined in Image Creation Limits)

  • If imageType is VK_IMAGE_TYPE_3D, arrayLayers must be 1

  • If samples is not VK_SAMPLE_COUNT_1_BIT, then imageType must be VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D, flags must not contain VK_IMAGE_CREATE_CUBE_COMPATIBLE_BIT, mipLevels must be equal to 1, and imageCreateMaybeLinear (as defined in Image Creation Limits) must be false,

  • If usage includes VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSIENT_ATTACHMENT_BIT, then bits other than VK_IMAGE_USAGE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_BIT, VK_IMAGE_USAGE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT, and VK_IMAGE_USAGE_INPUT_ATTACHMENT_BIT must not be set

  • If usage includes VK_IMAGE_USAGE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_BIT, VK_IMAGE_USAGE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT, VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSIENT_ATTACHMENT_BIT, or VK_IMAGE_USAGE_INPUT_ATTACHMENT_BIT, extent.width must be less than or equal to VkPhysicalDeviceLimits::maxFramebufferWidth

  • If usage includes VK_IMAGE_USAGE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_BIT, VK_IMAGE_USAGE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT, VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSIENT_ATTACHMENT_BIT, or VK_IMAGE_USAGE_INPUT_ATTACHMENT_BIT, extent.height must be less than or equal to VkPhysicalDeviceLimits::maxFramebufferHeight

  • If usage includes VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSIENT_ATTACHMENT_BIT, usage must also contain at least one of VK_IMAGE_USAGE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_BIT, VK_IMAGE_USAGE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT, or VK_IMAGE_USAGE_INPUT_ATTACHMENT_BIT

  • samples must be a bit value that is set in imageCreateSampleCounts (as defined in Image Creation Limits)

  • If the multisampled storage images feature is not enabled, and usage contains VK_IMAGE_USAGE_STORAGE_BIT, samples must be VK_SAMPLE_COUNT_1_BIT

  • If the sparse bindings feature is not enabled, flags must not contain VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT

  • If the sparse aliased residency feature is not enabled, flags must not contain VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_ALIASED_BIT

  • If tiling is VK_IMAGE_TILING_LINEAR, flags must not contain VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT

  • If imageType is VK_IMAGE_TYPE_1D, flags must not contain VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT

  • If the sparse residency for 2D images feature is not enabled, and imageType is VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D, flags must not contain VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT

  • If the sparse residency for 3D images feature is not enabled, and imageType is VK_IMAGE_TYPE_3D, flags must not contain VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT

  • If the sparse residency for images with 2 samples feature is not enabled, imageType is VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D, and samples is VK_SAMPLE_COUNT_2_BIT, flags must not contain VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT

  • If the sparse residency for images with 4 samples feature is not enabled, imageType is VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D, and samples is VK_SAMPLE_COUNT_4_BIT, flags must not contain VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT

  • If the sparse residency for images with 8 samples feature is not enabled, imageType is VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D, and samples is VK_SAMPLE_COUNT_8_BIT, flags must not contain VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT

  • If the sparse residency for images with 16 samples feature is not enabled, imageType is VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D, and samples is VK_SAMPLE_COUNT_16_BIT, flags must not contain VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT

  • If flags contains VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT or VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_ALIASED_BIT, it must also contain VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT

  • If any of the bits VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT, VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT, or VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_ALIASED_BIT are set, VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSIENT_ATTACHMENT_BIT must not also be set

  • If the protected memory feature is not enabled, flags must not contain VK_IMAGE_CREATE_PROTECTED_BIT

  • If any of the bits VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT, VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT, or VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_ALIASED_BIT are set, VK_IMAGE_CREATE_PROTECTED_BIT must not also be set

  • If the pNext chain includes a VkExternalMemoryImageCreateInfo structure, its handleTypes member must only contain bits that are also in VkExternalImageFormatProperties::externalMemoryProperties.compatibleHandleTypes, as returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceImageFormatProperties2 with format, imageType, tiling, usage, and flags equal to those in this structure, and with a VkPhysicalDeviceExternalImageFormatInfo structure included in the pNext chain, with a handleType equal to any one of the handle types specified in VkExternalMemoryImageCreateInfo::handleTypes

  • If the logical device was created with VkDeviceGroupDeviceCreateInfo::physicalDeviceCount equal to 1, flags must not contain VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPLIT_INSTANCE_BIND_REGIONS_BIT

  • If flags contains VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPLIT_INSTANCE_BIND_REGIONS_BIT, then mipLevels must be one, arrayLayers must be one, imageType must be VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D. and imageCreateMaybeLinear (as defined in Image Creation Limits) must be false

  • If flags contains VK_IMAGE_CREATE_BLOCK_TEXEL_VIEW_COMPATIBLE_BIT, then format must be a block-compressed image format, an ETC compressed image format, or an ASTC compressed image format

  • If flags contains VK_IMAGE_CREATE_BLOCK_TEXEL_VIEW_COMPATIBLE_BIT, then flags must also contain VK_IMAGE_CREATE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT

  • initialLayout must be VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED or VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PREINITIALIZED

  • If the pNext chain includes a VkExternalMemoryImageCreateInfo structure whose handleTypes member is not 0, initialLayout must be VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED

  • If the image format is one of those listed in Formats requiring sampler Y′CBCR conversion for VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_COLOR_BIT image views, then mipLevels must be 1

  • If the image format is one of those listed in Formats requiring sampler Y′CBCR conversion for VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_COLOR_BIT image views, samples must be VK_SAMPLE_COUNT_1_BIT

  • If the image format is one of those listed in Formats requiring sampler Y′CBCR conversion for VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_COLOR_BIT image views, imageType must be VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D

  • If the image format is one of those listed in Formats requiring sampler Y′CBCR conversion for VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_COLOR_BIT image views, arrayLayers must be 1

  • If format is a multi-planar format, and if imageCreateFormatFeatures (as defined in Image Creation Limits) does not contain VK_FORMAT_FEATURE_DISJOINT_BIT, then flags must not contain VK_IMAGE_CREATE_DISJOINT_BIT

  • If format is not a multi-planar format, and flags does not include VK_IMAGE_CREATE_ALIAS_BIT, flags must not contain VK_IMAGE_CREATE_DISJOINT_BIT

Valid Usage (Implicit)

To define a set of external memory handle types that may be used as backing store for an image, add a VkExternalMemoryImageCreateInfo structure to the pNext chain of the VkImageCreateInfo structure. The VkExternalMemoryImageCreateInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef struct VkExternalMemoryImageCreateInfo {
    VkStructureType                    sType;
    const void*                        pNext;
    VkExternalMemoryHandleTypeFlags    handleTypes;
} VkExternalMemoryImageCreateInfo;
Note

A VkExternalMemoryImageCreateInfo structure must be included in the creation parameters for an image that will be bound to memory that is either exported or imported.

  • sType is the type of this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • handleTypes is a bitmask of VkExternalMemoryHandleTypeFlagBits specifying one or more external memory handle types.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_EXTERNAL_MEMORY_IMAGE_CREATE_INFO

  • handleTypes must be a valid combination of VkExternalMemoryHandleTypeFlagBits values

  • handleTypes must not be 0

Bits which can be set in VkImageCreateInfo::usage, specifying intended usage of an image, are:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef enum VkImageUsageFlagBits {
    VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSFER_SRC_BIT = 0x00000001,
    VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSFER_DST_BIT = 0x00000002,
    VK_IMAGE_USAGE_SAMPLED_BIT = 0x00000004,
    VK_IMAGE_USAGE_STORAGE_BIT = 0x00000008,
    VK_IMAGE_USAGE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_BIT = 0x00000010,
    VK_IMAGE_USAGE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT = 0x00000020,
    VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSIENT_ATTACHMENT_BIT = 0x00000040,
    VK_IMAGE_USAGE_INPUT_ATTACHMENT_BIT = 0x00000080,
} VkImageUsageFlagBits;

  • VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSFER_SRC_BIT specifies that the image can be used as the source of a transfer command.

  • VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSFER_DST_BIT specifies that the image can be used as the destination of a transfer command.

  • VK_IMAGE_USAGE_SAMPLED_BIT specifies that the image can be used to create a VkImageView suitable for occupying a VkDescriptorSet slot either of type VK_DESCRIPTOR_TYPE_SAMPLED_IMAGE or VK_DESCRIPTOR_TYPE_COMBINED_IMAGE_SAMPLER, and be sampled by a shader.

  • VK_IMAGE_USAGE_STORAGE_BIT specifies that the image can be used to create a VkImageView suitable for occupying a VkDescriptorSet slot of type VK_DESCRIPTOR_TYPE_STORAGE_IMAGE.

  • VK_IMAGE_USAGE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_BIT specifies that the image can be used to create a VkImageView suitable for use as a color or resolve attachment in a VkFramebuffer.

  • VK_IMAGE_USAGE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT specifies that the image can be used to create a VkImageView suitable for use as a depth/stencil attachment in a VkFramebuffer.

  • VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSIENT_ATTACHMENT_BIT specifies that the memory bound to this image will have been allocated with the VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_LAZILY_ALLOCATED_BIT (see Memory Allocation for more detail). This bit can be set for any image that can be used to create a VkImageView suitable for use as a color, resolve, depth/stencil, or input attachment.

  • VK_IMAGE_USAGE_INPUT_ATTACHMENT_BIT specifies that the image can be used to create a VkImageView suitable for occupying VkDescriptorSet slot of type VK_DESCRIPTOR_TYPE_INPUT_ATTACHMENT; be read from a shader as an input attachment; and be used as an input attachment in a framebuffer.

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef VkFlags VkImageUsageFlags;

VkImageUsageFlags is a bitmask type for setting a mask of zero or more VkImageUsageFlagBits.

Bits which can be set in VkImageCreateInfo::flags, specifying additional parameters of an image, are:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef enum VkImageCreateFlagBits {
    VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT = 0x00000001,
    VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT = 0x00000002,
    VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_ALIASED_BIT = 0x00000004,
    VK_IMAGE_CREATE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT = 0x00000008,
    VK_IMAGE_CREATE_CUBE_COMPATIBLE_BIT = 0x00000010,
  // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
    VK_IMAGE_CREATE_ALIAS_BIT = 0x00000400,
  // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
    VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPLIT_INSTANCE_BIND_REGIONS_BIT = 0x00000040,
  // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
    VK_IMAGE_CREATE_2D_ARRAY_COMPATIBLE_BIT = 0x00000020,
  // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
    VK_IMAGE_CREATE_BLOCK_TEXEL_VIEW_COMPATIBLE_BIT = 0x00000080,
  // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
    VK_IMAGE_CREATE_EXTENDED_USAGE_BIT = 0x00000100,
  // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
    VK_IMAGE_CREATE_PROTECTED_BIT = 0x00000800,
  // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
    VK_IMAGE_CREATE_DISJOINT_BIT = 0x00000200,
} VkImageCreateFlagBits;

  • VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT specifies that the image will be backed using sparse memory binding.

  • VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT specifies that the image can be partially backed using sparse memory binding. Images created with this flag must also be created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT flag.

  • VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_ALIASED_BIT specifies that the image will be backed using sparse memory binding with memory ranges that might also simultaneously be backing another image (or another portion of the same image). Images created with this flag must also be created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT flag

  • VK_IMAGE_CREATE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT specifies that the image can be used to create a VkImageView with a different format from the image. For multi-planar formats, VK_IMAGE_CREATE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT specifies that a VkImageView can be created of a plane of the image.

  • VK_IMAGE_CREATE_CUBE_COMPATIBLE_BIT specifies that the image can be used to create a VkImageView of type VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_CUBE or VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_CUBE_ARRAY.

  • VK_IMAGE_CREATE_2D_ARRAY_COMPATIBLE_BIT specifies that the image can be used to create a VkImageView of type VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D or VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D_ARRAY.

  • VK_IMAGE_CREATE_PROTECTED_BIT specifies that the image is a protected image.

  • VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPLIT_INSTANCE_BIND_REGIONS_BIT specifies that the image can be used with a non-zero value of the splitInstanceBindRegionCount member of a VkBindImageMemoryDeviceGroupInfo structure passed into vkBindImageMemory2. This flag also has the effect of making the image use the standard sparse image block dimensions.

  • VK_IMAGE_CREATE_BLOCK_TEXEL_VIEW_COMPATIBLE_BIT specifies that the image having a compressed format can be used to create a VkImageView with an uncompressed format where each texel in the image view corresponds to a compressed texel block of the image.

  • VK_IMAGE_CREATE_EXTENDED_USAGE_BIT specifies that the image can be created with usage flags that are not supported for the format the image is created with but are supported for at least one format a VkImageView created from the image can have.

  • VK_IMAGE_CREATE_DISJOINT_BIT specifies that an image with a multi-planar format must have each plane separately bound to memory, rather than having a single memory binding for the whole image; the presence of this bit distinguishes a disjoint image from an image without this bit set.

  • VK_IMAGE_CREATE_ALIAS_BIT specifies that two images created with the same creation parameters and aliased to the same memory can interpret the contents of the memory consistently with each other, subject to the rules described in the Memory Aliasing section. This flag further specifies that each plane of a disjoint image can share an in-memory non-linear representation with single-plane images, and that a single-plane image can share an in-memory non-linear representation with a plane of a multi-planar disjoint image, according to the rules in Compatible formats of planes of multi-planar formats. If the pNext chain includes a VkExternalMemoryImageCreateInfo structure whose handleTypes member is not 0, it is as if VK_IMAGE_CREATE_ALIAS_BIT is set.

See Sparse Resource Features and Sparse Physical Device Features for more details.

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef VkFlags VkImageCreateFlags;

VkImageCreateFlags is a bitmask type for setting a mask of zero or more VkImageCreateFlagBits.

Possible values of VkImageCreateInfo::imageType, specifying the basic dimensionality of an image, are:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef enum VkImageType {
    VK_IMAGE_TYPE_1D = 0,
    VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D = 1,
    VK_IMAGE_TYPE_3D = 2,
} VkImageType;

  • VK_IMAGE_TYPE_1D specifies a one-dimensional image.

  • VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D specifies a two-dimensional image.

  • VK_IMAGE_TYPE_3D specifies a three-dimensional image.

Possible values of VkImageCreateInfo::tiling, specifying the tiling arrangement of texel blocks in an image, are:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef enum VkImageTiling {
    VK_IMAGE_TILING_OPTIMAL = 0,
    VK_IMAGE_TILING_LINEAR = 1,
} VkImageTiling;

  • VK_IMAGE_TILING_OPTIMAL specifies optimal tiling (texels are laid out in an implementation-dependent arrangement, for more optimal memory access).

  • VK_IMAGE_TILING_LINEAR specifies linear tiling (texels are laid out in memory in row-major order, possibly with some padding on each row).

To query the memory layout of an image subresource, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
void vkGetImageSubresourceLayout(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkImage                                     image,
    const VkImageSubresource*                   pSubresource,
    VkSubresourceLayout*                        pLayout);

  • device is the logical device that owns the image.

  • image is the image whose layout is being queried.

  • pSubresource is a pointer to a VkImageSubresource structure selecting a specific image for the image subresource.

  • pLayout is a pointer to a VkSubresourceLayout structure in which the layout is returned.

The image must be linear. The returned layout is valid for host access.

If the image’s format is a multi-planar format, then vkGetImageSubresourceLayout describes one plane of the image.

vkGetImageSubresourceLayout is invariant for the lifetime of a single image.

Valid Usage

  • image must have been created with tiling equal to VK_IMAGE_TILING_LINEAR

  • The aspectMask member of pSubresource must only have a single bit set

  • The mipLevel member of pSubresource must be less than the mipLevels specified in VkImageCreateInfo when image was created

  • The arrayLayer member of pSubresource must be less than the arrayLayers specified in VkImageCreateInfo when image was created

  • If the tiling of the image is VK_IMAGE_TILING_LINEAR and its format is a multi-planar format with two planes, the aspectMask member of pSubresource must be VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_0_BIT or VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_1_BIT

  • If the tiling of the image is VK_IMAGE_TILING_LINEAR and its format is a multi-planar format with three planes, the aspectMask member of pSubresource must be VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_0_BIT, VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_1_BIT or VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_2_BIT

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • device must be a valid VkDevice handle

  • image must be a valid VkImage handle

  • pSubresource must be a valid pointer to a valid VkImageSubresource structure

  • pLayout must be a valid pointer to a VkSubresourceLayout structure

  • image must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

The VkImageSubresource structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkImageSubresource {
    VkImageAspectFlags    aspectMask;
    uint32_t              mipLevel;
    uint32_t              arrayLayer;
} VkImageSubresource;

  • aspectMask is a VkImageAspectFlags selecting the image aspect.

  • mipLevel selects the mipmap level.

  • arrayLayer selects the array layer.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

Information about the layout of the image subresource is returned in a VkSubresourceLayout structure:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkSubresourceLayout {
    VkDeviceSize    offset;
    VkDeviceSize    size;
    VkDeviceSize    rowPitch;
    VkDeviceSize    arrayPitch;
    VkDeviceSize    depthPitch;
} VkSubresourceLayout;

  • offset is the byte offset from the start of the image or the plane where the image subresource begins.

  • size is the size in bytes of the image subresource. size includes any extra memory that is required based on rowPitch.

  • rowPitch describes the number of bytes between each row of texels in an image.

  • arrayPitch describes the number of bytes between each array layer of an image.

  • depthPitch describes the number of bytes between each slice of 3D image.

If the image is linear, then rowPitch, arrayPitch and depthPitch describe the layout of the image subresource in linear memory. For uncompressed formats, rowPitch is the number of bytes between texels with the same x coordinate in adjacent rows (y coordinates differ by one). arrayPitch is the number of bytes between texels with the same x and y coordinate in adjacent array layers of the image (array layer values differ by one). depthPitch is the number of bytes between texels with the same x and y coordinate in adjacent slices of a 3D image (z coordinates differ by one). Expressed as an addressing formula, the starting byte of a texel in the image subresource has address:

// (x,y,z,layer) are in texel coordinates
address(x,y,z,layer) = layer*arrayPitch + z*depthPitch + y*rowPitch + x*elementSize + offset

For compressed formats, the rowPitch is the number of bytes between compressed texel blocks in adjacent rows. arrayPitch is the number of bytes between compressed texel blocks in adjacent array layers. depthPitch is the number of bytes between compressed texel blocks in adjacent slices of a 3D image.

// (x,y,z,layer) are in compressed texel block coordinates
address(x,y,z,layer) = layer*arrayPitch + z*depthPitch + y*rowPitch + x*compressedTexelBlockByteSize + offset;

The value of arrayPitch is undefined for images that were not created as arrays. depthPitch is defined only for 3D images.

If the image has a single-plane color format , then the aspectMask member of VkImageSubresource must be VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_COLOR_BIT.

If the image has a depth/stencil format , then aspectMask must be either VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_DEPTH_BIT or VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_STENCIL_BIT. On implementations that store depth and stencil aspects separately, querying each of these image subresource layouts will return a different offset and size representing the region of memory used for that aspect. On implementations that store depth and stencil aspects interleaved, the same offset and size are returned and represent the interleaved memory allocation.

If the image has a multi-planar format , then the aspectMask member of VkImageSubresource must be VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_0_BIT, VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_1_BIT, or (for 3-plane formats only) VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_2_BIT. Querying each of these image subresource layouts will return a different offset and size representing the region of memory used for that plane. If the image is disjoint, then the offset is relative to the base address of the plane. If the image is non-disjoint, then the offset is relative to the base address of the image.

To destroy an image, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
void vkDestroyImage(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkImage                                     image,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator);

  • device is the logical device that destroys the image.

  • image is the image to destroy.

  • pAllocator controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

Valid Usage

  • All submitted commands that refer to image, either directly or via a VkImageView, must have completed execution

  • If VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when image was created, a compatible set of callbacks must be provided here

  • If no VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when image was created, pAllocator must be NULL

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • device must be a valid VkDevice handle

  • If image is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, image must be a valid VkImage handle

  • If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure

  • If image is a valid handle, it must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

Host Synchronization

  • Host access to image must be externally synchronized

11.3.1. Image Format Features

Valid uses of a VkImage may depend on the image’s format features, defined below. Such constraints are documented in the affected valid usage statement.

11.3.2. Image Miplevel Sizing

A complete mipmap chain is the full set of miplevels, from the largest miplevel provided, down to the minimum miplevel size.

Conventional Images

For conventional images, the dimensions of each successive miplevel, n+1, are:

widthn+1 = max(⌊widthn/2⌋, 1)

heightn+1 = max(⌊heightn/2⌋, 1)

depthn+1 = max(⌊depthn/2⌋, 1)

where widthn, heightn, and depthn are the dimensions of the next larger miplevel, n.

The minimum miplevel size is:

  • 1 for one-dimensional images,

  • 1x1 for two-dimensional images, and

  • 1x1x1 for three-dimensional images.

The number of levels in a complete mipmap chain is:

⌊log2(max(width0, height0, depth0))⌋ + 1

where width0, height0, and depth0 are the dimensions of the largest (most detailed) miplevel, 0.

11.4. Image Layouts

Images are stored in implementation-dependent opaque layouts in memory. Each layout has limitations on what kinds of operations are supported for image subresources using the layout. At any given time, the data representing an image subresource in memory exists in a particular layout which is determined by the most recent layout transition that was performed on that image subresource. Applications have control over which layout each image subresource uses, and can transition an image subresource from one layout to another. Transitions can happen with an image memory barrier, included as part of a vkCmdPipelineBarrier or a vkCmdWaitEvents command buffer command (see Image Memory Barriers), or as part of a subpass dependency within a render pass (see VkSubpassDependency). The image layout is per-image subresource, and separate image subresources of the same image can be in different layouts at the same time with one exception - depth and stencil aspects of a given image subresource must always be in the same layout.

Note

Each layout may offer optimal performance for a specific usage of image memory. For example, an image with a layout of VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL may provide optimal performance for use as a color attachment, but be unsupported for use in transfer commands. Applications can transition an image subresource from one layout to another in order to achieve optimal performance when the image subresource is used for multiple kinds of operations. After initialization, applications need not use any layout other than the general layout, though this may produce suboptimal performance on some implementations.

Upon creation, all image subresources of an image are initially in the same layout, where that layout is selected by the VkImageCreateInfo::initialLayout member. The initialLayout must be either VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED or VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PREINITIALIZED. If it is VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PREINITIALIZED, then the image data can be preinitialized by the host while using this layout, and the transition away from this layout will preserve that data. If it is VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED, then the contents of the data are considered to be undefined, and the transition away from this layout is not guaranteed to preserve that data. For either of these initial layouts, any image subresources must be transitioned to another layout before they are accessed by the device.

Host access to image memory is only well-defined for linear images and for image subresources of those images which are currently in either the VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PREINITIALIZED or VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_GENERAL layout. Calling vkGetImageSubresourceLayout for a linear image returns a subresource layout mapping that is valid for either of those image layouts.

The set of image layouts consists of:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef enum VkImageLayout {
    VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED = 0,
    VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_GENERAL = 1,
    VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL = 2,
    VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL = 3,
    VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_STENCIL_READ_ONLY_OPTIMAL = 4,
    VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_SHADER_READ_ONLY_OPTIMAL = 5,
    VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_TRANSFER_SRC_OPTIMAL = 6,
    VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_TRANSFER_DST_OPTIMAL = 7,
    VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PREINITIALIZED = 8,
  // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
    VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_READ_ONLY_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL = 1000117000,
  // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
    VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_ATTACHMENT_STENCIL_READ_ONLY_OPTIMAL = 1000117001,
} VkImageLayout;

The type(s) of device access supported by each layout are:

  • VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED does not support device access. This layout must only be used as the initialLayout member of VkImageCreateInfo or VkAttachmentDescription, or as the oldLayout in an image transition. When transitioning out of this layout, the contents of the memory are not guaranteed to be preserved.

  • VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PREINITIALIZED does not support device access. This layout must only be used as the initialLayout member of VkImageCreateInfo or VkAttachmentDescription, or as the oldLayout in an image transition. When transitioning out of this layout, the contents of the memory are preserved. This layout is intended to be used as the initial layout for an image whose contents are written by the host, and hence the data can be written to memory immediately, without first executing a layout transition. Currently, VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PREINITIALIZED is only useful with linear images because there is not a standard layout defined for VK_IMAGE_TILING_OPTIMAL images.

  • VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_GENERAL supports all types of device access.

  • VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL must only be used as a color or resolve attachment in a VkFramebuffer. This layout is valid only for image subresources of images created with the VK_IMAGE_USAGE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_BIT usage bit enabled.

  • VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL specifies a layout for both the depth and stencil aspects of a depth/stencil format image allowing read and write access as a depth/stencil attachment.

  • VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_STENCIL_READ_ONLY_OPTIMAL specifies a layout for both the depth and stencil aspects of a depth/stencil format image allowing read only access as a depth/stencil attachment or in shaders.

  • VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_READ_ONLY_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL specifies a layout for depth/stencil format images allowing read and write access to the stencil aspect as a stencil attachment, and read only access to the depth aspect as a depth attachment or in shaders.

  • VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_ATTACHMENT_STENCIL_READ_ONLY_OPTIMAL specifies a layout for depth/stencil format images allowing read and write access to the depth aspect as a depth attachment, and read only access to the stencil aspect as a stencil attachment or in shaders.

  • VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_SHADER_READ_ONLY_OPTIMAL must only be used as a read-only image in a shader (which can be read as a sampled image, combined image/sampler and/or input attachment). This layout is valid only for image subresources of images created with the VK_IMAGE_USAGE_SAMPLED_BIT or VK_IMAGE_USAGE_INPUT_ATTACHMENT_BIT usage bit enabled.

  • VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_TRANSFER_SRC_OPTIMAL must only be used as a source image of a transfer command (see the definition of VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_TRANSFER_BIT). This layout is valid only for image subresources of images created with the VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSFER_SRC_BIT usage bit enabled.

  • VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_TRANSFER_DST_OPTIMAL must only be used as a destination image of a transfer command. This layout is valid only for image subresources of images created with the VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSFER_DST_BIT usage bit enabled.

The layout of each image subresource is not a state of the image subresource itself, but is rather a property of how the data in memory is organized, and thus for each mechanism of accessing an image in the API the application must specify a parameter or structure member that indicates which image layout the image subresource(s) are considered to be in when the image will be accessed. For transfer commands, this is a parameter to the command (see Clear Commands and Copy Commands). For use as a framebuffer attachment, this is a member in the substructures of the VkRenderPassCreateInfo (see Render Pass). For use in a descriptor set, this is a member in the VkDescriptorImageInfo structure (see Descriptor Set Updates).

11.4.1. Image Layout Matching Rules

At the time that any command buffer command accessing an image executes on any queue, the layouts of the image subresources that are accessed must all match exactly the layout specified via the API controlling those accesses , except in case of accesses to an image with a depth/stencil format performed through descriptors referring to only a single aspect of the image, where the following relaxed matching rules apply:

  • Descriptors referring just to the depth aspect of a depth/stencil image only need to match in the image layout of the depth aspect, thus VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_STENCIL_READ_ONLY_OPTIMAL and VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_READ_ONLY_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL are considered to match.

  • Descriptors referring just to the stencil aspect of a depth/stencil image only need to match in the image layout of the stencil aspect, thus VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_STENCIL_READ_ONLY_OPTIMAL and VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_ATTACHMENT_STENCIL_READ_ONLY_OPTIMAL are considered to match .

When performing a layout transition on an image subresource, the old layout value must either equal the current layout of the image subresource (at the time the transition executes), or else be VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED (implying that the contents of the image subresource need not be preserved). The new layout used in a transition must not be VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED or VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PREINITIALIZED.

11.5. Image Views

Image objects are not directly accessed by pipeline shaders for reading or writing image data. Instead, image views representing contiguous ranges of the image subresources and containing additional metadata are used for that purpose. Views must be created on images of compatible types, and must represent a valid subset of image subresources.

Image views are represented by VkImageView handles:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VK_DEFINE_NON_DISPATCHABLE_HANDLE(VkImageView)

The types of image views that can be created are:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef enum VkImageViewType {
    VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_1D = 0,
    VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D = 1,
    VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_3D = 2,
    VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_CUBE = 3,
    VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_1D_ARRAY = 4,
    VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D_ARRAY = 5,
    VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_CUBE_ARRAY = 6,
} VkImageViewType;

The exact image view type is partially implicit, based on the image’s type and sample count, as well as the view creation parameters as described in the image view compatibility table for vkCreateImageView. This table also shows which SPIR-V OpTypeImage Dim and Arrayed parameters correspond to each image view type.

To create an image view, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkCreateImageView(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkImageViewCreateInfo*                pCreateInfo,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkImageView*                                pView);

  • device is the logical device that creates the image view.

  • pCreateInfo is a pointer to a VkImageViewCreateInfo structure containing parameters to be used to create the image view.

  • pAllocator controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

  • pView is a pointer to a VkImageView handle in which the resulting image view object is returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)
Return Codes
Success

  • VK_SUCCESS

Failure

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkImageViewCreateInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkImageViewCreateInfo {
    VkStructureType            sType;
    const void*                pNext;
    VkImageViewCreateFlags     flags;
    VkImage                    image;
    VkImageViewType            viewType;
    VkFormat                   format;
    VkComponentMapping         components;
    VkImageSubresourceRange    subresourceRange;
} VkImageViewCreateInfo;

  • sType is the type of this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • flags is a bitmask of VkImageViewCreateFlagBits describing additional parameters of the image view.

  • image is a VkImage on which the view will be created.

  • viewType is a VkImageViewType value specifying the type of the image view.

  • format is a VkFormat describing the format and type used to interpret texel blocks in the image.

  • components is a VkComponentMapping specifies a remapping of color components (or of depth or stencil components after they have been converted into color components).

  • subresourceRange is a VkImageSubresourceRange selecting the set of mipmap levels and array layers to be accessible to the view.

Some of the image creation parameters are inherited by the view. In particular, image view creation inherits the implicit parameter usage specifying the allowed usages of the image view that, by default, takes the value of the corresponding usage parameter specified in VkImageCreateInfo at image creation time.

The implicit usage can be overriden by adding a VkImageViewUsageCreateInfo structure to the pNext chain.

If image was created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT flag, and if the format of the image is not multi-planar, format can be different from the image’s format, but if image was created without the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_BLOCK_TEXEL_VIEW_COMPATIBLE_BIT flag and they are not equal they must be compatible. Image format compatibility is defined in the Format Compatibility Classes section. Views of compatible formats will have the same mapping between texel coordinates and memory locations irrespective of the format, with only the interpretation of the bit pattern changing.

Note

Values intended to be used with one view format may not be exactly preserved when written or read through a different format. For example, an integer value that happens to have the bit pattern of a floating point denorm or NaN may be flushed or canonicalized when written or read through a view with a floating point format. Similarly, a value written through a signed normalized format that has a bit pattern exactly equal to -2b may be changed to -2b + 1 as described in Conversion from Normalized Fixed-Point to Floating-Point.

If image was created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_BLOCK_TEXEL_VIEW_COMPATIBLE_BIT flag, format must be compatible with the image’s format as described above, or must be an uncompressed format in which case it must be size-compatible with the image’s format, as defined for copying data between images In this case the resulting image view’s texel dimensions equal the dimensions of the selected mip level divided by the compressed texel block size and rounded up.

The VkComponentMapping components member describes a remapping from components of the image to components of the vector returned by shader image instructions. This remapping must be the identity swizzle for storage image descriptors, input attachment descriptors, framebuffer attachments, and any VkImageView used with a combined image sampler that enables sampler Y’CBCR conversion.

If the image view is to be used with a sampler which supports sampler Y′CBCR conversion, an identically defined object of type VkSamplerYcbcrConversion to that used to create the sampler must be passed to vkCreateImageView in a VkSamplerYcbcrConversionInfo included in the pNext chain of VkImageViewCreateInfo. Conversely, if a VkSamplerYcbcrConversion object is passed to vkCreateImageView, an identically defined VkSamplerYcbcrConversion object must be used when sampling the image.

If the image has a multi-planar format and subresourceRange.aspectMask is VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_COLOR_BIT, format must be identical to the image format, and the sampler to be used with the image view must enable sampler Y′CBCR conversion.

If image was created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT and the image has a multi-planar format, and if subresourceRange.aspectMask is VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_0_BIT, VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_1_BIT, or VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_2_BIT, format must be compatible with the corresponding plane of the image, and the sampler to be used with the image view must not enable sampler Y′CBCR conversion. The width and height of the single-plane image view must be derived from the multi-planar image’s dimensions in the manner listed for plane compatibility for the plane.

Any view of an image plane will have the same mapping between texel coordinates and memory locations as used by the channels of the color aspect, subject to the formulae relating texel coordinates to lower-resolution planes as described in Chroma Reconstruction. That is, if an R or B plane has a reduced resolution relative to the G plane of the multi-planar image, the image view operates using the (uplane, vplane) unnormalized coordinates of the reduced-resolution plane, and these coordinates access the same memory locations as the (ucolor, vcolor) unnormalized coordinates of the color aspect for which chroma reconstruction operations operate on the same (uplane, vplane) or (iplane, jplane) coordinates.

Table 8. Image and image view parameter compatibility requirements
Dim, Arrayed, MS Image parameters View parameters

imageType = ci.imageType
width = ci.extent.width
height = ci.extent.height
depth = ci.extent.depth
arrayLayers = ci.arrayLayers
samples = ci.samples
flags = ci.flags
where ci is the VkImageCreateInfo used to create image.

baseArrayLayer, layerCount, and levelCount are members of the subresourceRange member.

1D, 0, 0

imageType = VK_IMAGE_TYPE_1D
width ≥ 1
height = 1
depth = 1
arrayLayers ≥ 1
samples = 1

viewType = VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_1D
baseArrayLayer ≥ 0
layerCount = 1

1D, 1, 0

imageType = VK_IMAGE_TYPE_1D
width ≥ 1
height = 1
depth = 1
arrayLayers ≥ 1
samples = 1

viewType = VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_1D_ARRAY
baseArrayLayer ≥ 0
layerCount ≥ 1

2D, 0, 0

imageType = VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D
width ≥ 1
height ≥ 1
depth = 1
arrayLayers ≥ 1
samples = 1

viewType = VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D
baseArrayLayer ≥ 0
layerCount = 1

2D, 1, 0

imageType = VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D
width ≥ 1
height ≥ 1
depth = 1
arrayLayers ≥ 1
samples = 1

viewType = VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D_ARRAY
baseArrayLayer ≥ 0
layerCount ≥ 1

2D, 0, 1

imageType = VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D
width ≥ 1
height ≥ 1
depth = 1
arrayLayers ≥ 1
samples > 1

viewType = VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D
baseArrayLayer ≥ 0
layerCount = 1

2D, 1, 1

imageType = VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D
width ≥ 1
height ≥ 1
depth = 1
arrayLayers ≥ 1
samples > 1

viewType = VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D_ARRAY
baseArrayLayer ≥ 0
layerCount ≥ 1

CUBE, 0, 0

imageType = VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D
width ≥ 1
height = width
depth = 1
arrayLayers ≥ 6
samples = 1
flags includes VK_IMAGE_CREATE_CUBE_COMPATIBLE_BIT

viewType = VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_CUBE
baseArrayLayer ≥ 0
layerCount = 6

CUBE, 1, 0

imageType = VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D
width ≥ 1
height = width
depth = 1
N ≥ 1
arrayLayers ≥ 6 × N
samples = 1
flags includes VK_IMAGE_CREATE_CUBE_COMPATIBLE_BIT

viewType = VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_CUBE_ARRAY
baseArrayLayer ≥ 0
layerCount = 6 × N, N ≥ 1

3D, 0, 0

imageType = VK_IMAGE_TYPE_3D
width ≥ 1
height ≥ 1
depth ≥ 1
arrayLayers = 1
samples = 1

viewType = VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_3D
baseArrayLayer = 0
layerCount = 1

3D, 0, 0

imageType = VK_IMAGE_TYPE_3D
width ≥ 1
height ≥ 1
depth ≥ 1
arrayLayers = 1
samples = 1
flags includes VK_IMAGE_CREATE_2D_ARRAY_COMPATIBLE_BIT
flags does not include VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT, VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT, and VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_ALIASED_BIT

viewType = VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D
levelCount = 1
baseArrayLayer ≥ 0
layerCount = 1

3D, 0, 0

imageType = VK_IMAGE_TYPE_3D
width ≥ 1
height ≥ 1
depth ≥ 1
arrayLayers = 1
samples = 1
flags includes VK_IMAGE_CREATE_2D_ARRAY_COMPATIBLE_BIT
flags does not include VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT, VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT, and VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_ALIASED_BIT

viewType = VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D_ARRAY
levelCount = 1
baseArrayLayer ≥ 0
layerCount ≥ 1
Valid Usage

  • If image was not created with VK_IMAGE_CREATE_CUBE_COMPATIBLE_BIT then viewType must not be VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_CUBE or VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_CUBE_ARRAY

  • If the image cubemap arrays feature is not enabled, viewType must not be VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_CUBE_ARRAY

  • If image was created with VK_IMAGE_TYPE_3D but without VK_IMAGE_CREATE_2D_ARRAY_COMPATIBLE_BIT set then viewType must not be VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D or VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D_ARRAY

  • image must have been created with a usage value containing at least one of VK_IMAGE_USAGE_SAMPLED_BIT, VK_IMAGE_USAGE_STORAGE_BIT, VK_IMAGE_USAGE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_BIT, VK_IMAGE_USAGE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT, or VK_IMAGE_USAGE_INPUT_ATTACHMENT_BIT

  • The format features of the resultant image view must contain at least one bit

  • If usage contains VK_IMAGE_USAGE_SAMPLED_BIT, then the format features of the resultant image view must contain VK_FORMAT_FEATURE_SAMPLED_IMAGE_BIT

  • If usage contains VK_IMAGE_USAGE_STORAGE_BIT, then the image view’s format features must contain VK_FORMAT_FEATURE_STORAGE_IMAGE_BIT

  • If usage contains VK_IMAGE_USAGE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_BIT, then the image view’s format features must contain VK_FORMAT_FEATURE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_BIT

  • If usage contains VK_IMAGE_USAGE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT, then the image view’s format features must contain VK_FORMAT_FEATURE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT

  • If usage contains VK_IMAGE_USAGE_INPUT_ATTACHMENT_BIT, then the image view’s format features must contain at least one of VK_FORMAT_FEATURE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_BIT or VK_FORMAT_FEATURE_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_BIT

  • subresourceRange.baseMipLevel must be less than the mipLevels specified in VkImageCreateInfo when image was created

  • If subresourceRange.levelCount is not VK_REMAINING_MIP_LEVELS, subresourceRange.baseMipLevel + subresourceRange.levelCount must be less than or equal to the mipLevels specified in VkImageCreateInfo when image was created

  • If image is not a 3D image created with VK_IMAGE_CREATE_2D_ARRAY_COMPATIBLE_BIT set, or viewType is not VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D or VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D_ARRAY, subresourceRange.baseArrayLayer must be less than the arrayLayers specified in VkImageCreateInfo when image was created

  • If subresourceRange.layerCount is not VK_REMAINING_ARRAY_LAYERS, image is not a 3D image created with VK_IMAGE_CREATE_2D_ARRAY_COMPATIBLE_BIT set, or viewType is not VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D or VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D_ARRAY, subresourceRange.layerCount must be non-zero and subresourceRange.baseArrayLayer + subresourceRange.layerCount must be less than or equal to the arrayLayers specified in VkImageCreateInfo when image was created

  • If image is a 3D image created with VK_IMAGE_CREATE_2D_ARRAY_COMPATIBLE_BIT set, and viewType is VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D or VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D_ARRAY, subresourceRange.baseArrayLayer must be less than the depth computed from baseMipLevel and extent.depth specified in VkImageCreateInfo when image was created, according to the formula defined in Image Miplevel Sizing

  • If subresourceRange.layerCount is not VK_REMAINING_ARRAY_LAYERS, image is a 3D image created with VK_IMAGE_CREATE_2D_ARRAY_COMPATIBLE_BIT set, and viewType is VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D or VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D_ARRAY, subresourceRange.layerCount must be non-zero and subresourceRange.baseArrayLayer + subresourceRange.layerCount must be less than or equal to the depth computed from baseMipLevel and extent.depth specified in VkImageCreateInfo when image was created, according to the formula defined in Image Miplevel Sizing

  • If image was created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT flag, but without the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_BLOCK_TEXEL_VIEW_COMPATIBLE_BIT flag, and if the format of the image is not a multi-planar format, format must be compatible with the format used to create image, as defined in Format Compatibility Classes

  • If image was created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_BLOCK_TEXEL_VIEW_COMPATIBLE_BIT flag, format must be compatible with, or must be an uncompressed format that is size-compatible with, the format used to create image

  • If image was created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_BLOCK_TEXEL_VIEW_COMPATIBLE_BIT flag, the levelCount and layerCount members of subresourceRange must both be 1

  • If image was created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT flag, if the format of the image is a multi-planar format, and if subresourceRange.aspectMask is one of VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_0_BIT, VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_1_BIT, or VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_2_BIT, then format must be compatible with the VkFormat for the plane of the image format indicated by subresourceRange.aspectMask, as defined in Compatible formats of planes of multi-planar formats

  • If image was not created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT flag, or if the format of the image is a multi-planar format and if subresourceRange.aspectMask is VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_COLOR_BIT, format must be identical to the format used to create image

  • If the pNext chain includes a VkSamplerYcbcrConversionInfo structure with a conversion value other than VK_NULL_HANDLE, all members of components must have the identity swizzle

  • If image is non-sparse then it must be bound completely and contiguously to a single VkDeviceMemory object

  • subresourceRange and viewType must be compatible with the image, as described in the compatibility table

  • If the pNext chain includes a VkImageViewUsageCreateInfo structure, its usage member must not include any bits that were not set in the usage member of the VkImageCreateInfo structure used to create image

  • If viewType is VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_CUBE and subresourceRange.layerCount is not VK_REMAINING_ARRAY_LAYERS, subresourceRange.layerCount must be 6

  • If viewType is VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_CUBE_ARRAY and subresourceRange.layerCount is not VK_REMAINING_ARRAY_LAYERS, subresourceRange.layerCount must be a multiple of 6

  • If viewType is VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_CUBE and subresourceRange.layerCount is VK_REMAINING_ARRAY_LAYERS, the remaining number of layers must be 6

  • If viewType is VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_CUBE_ARRAY and subresourceRange.layerCount is VK_REMAINING_ARRAY_LAYERS, the remaining number of layers must be a multiple of 6

Valid Usage (Implicit)

Bits which can be set in VkImageViewCreateInfo::flags, specifying additional parameters of an image, are:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef enum VkImageViewCreateFlagBits {
} VkImageViewCreateFlagBits;
// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef VkFlags VkImageViewCreateFlags;

VkImageViewCreateFlags is a bitmask type for setting a mask of zero or more VkImageViewCreateFlagBits.

The set of usages for the created image view can be restricted compared to the parent image’s usage flags by adding a VkImageViewUsageCreateInfo structure to the pNext chain of VkImageViewCreateInfo.

The VkImageViewUsageCreateInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef struct VkImageViewUsageCreateInfo {
    VkStructureType      sType;
    const void*          pNext;
    VkImageUsageFlags    usage;
} VkImageViewUsageCreateInfo;

  • sType is the type of this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • usage is a bitmask describing the allowed usages of the image view. See VkImageUsageFlagBits for a description of the supported bits.

When this structure is chained to VkImageViewCreateInfo the usage field overrides the implicit usage parameter inherited from image creation time and its value is used instead for the purposes of determining the valid usage conditions of VkImageViewCreateInfo.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_IMAGE_VIEW_USAGE_CREATE_INFO

  • usage must be a valid combination of VkImageUsageFlagBits values

  • usage must not be 0

The VkImageSubresourceRange structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkImageSubresourceRange {
    VkImageAspectFlags    aspectMask;
    uint32_t              baseMipLevel;
    uint32_t              levelCount;
    uint32_t              baseArrayLayer;
    uint32_t              layerCount;
} VkImageSubresourceRange;

  • aspectMask is a bitmask of VkImageAspectFlagBits specifying which aspect(s) of the image are included in the view.

  • baseMipLevel is the first mipmap level accessible to the view.

  • levelCount is the number of mipmap levels (starting from baseMipLevel) accessible to the view.

  • baseArrayLayer is the first array layer accessible to the view.

  • layerCount is the number of array layers (starting from baseArrayLayer) accessible to the view.

The number of mipmap levels and array layers must be a subset of the image subresources in the image. If an application wants to use all mip levels or layers in an image after the baseMipLevel or baseArrayLayer, it can set levelCount and layerCount to the special values VK_REMAINING_MIP_LEVELS and VK_REMAINING_ARRAY_LAYERS without knowing the exact number of mip levels or layers.

For cube and cube array image views, the layers of the image view starting at baseArrayLayer correspond to faces in the order +X, -X, +Y, -Y, +Z, -Z. For cube arrays, each set of six sequential layers is a single cube, so the number of cube maps in a cube map array view is layerCount / 6, and image array layer (baseArrayLayer + i) is face index (i mod 6) of cube i / 6. If the number of layers in the view, whether set explicitly in layerCount or implied by VK_REMAINING_ARRAY_LAYERS, is not a multiple of 6, the last cube map in the array must not be accessed.

aspectMask must be only VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_COLOR_BIT, VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_DEPTH_BIT or VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_STENCIL_BIT if format is a color, depth-only or stencil-only format, respectively, except if format is a multi-planar format. If using a depth/stencil format with both depth and stencil components, aspectMask must include at least one of VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_DEPTH_BIT and VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_STENCIL_BIT, and can include both.

When the VkImageSubresourceRange structure is used to select a subset of the slices of a 3D image’s mip level in order to create a 2D or 2D array image view of a 3D image created with VK_IMAGE_CREATE_2D_ARRAY_COMPATIBLE_BIT, baseArrayLayer and layerCount specify the first slice index and the number of slices to include in the created image view. Such an image view can be used as a framebuffer attachment that refers only to the specified range of slices of the selected mip level. However, any layout transitions performed on such an attachment view during a render pass instance still apply to the entire subresource referenced which includes all the slices of the selected mip level.

When using an image view of a depth/stencil image to populate a descriptor set (e.g. for sampling in the shader, or for use as an input attachment), the aspectMask must only include one bit and selects whether the image view is used for depth reads (i.e. using a floating-point sampler or input attachment in the shader) or stencil reads (i.e. using an unsigned integer sampler or input attachment in the shader). When an image view of a depth/stencil image is used as a depth/stencil framebuffer attachment, the aspectMask is ignored and both depth and stencil image subresources are used.

When creating a VkImageView, if sampler Y′CBCR conversion is enabled in the sampler, the aspectMask of a subresourceRange used by the VkImageView must be VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_COLOR_BIT.

When creating a VkImageView, if sampler Y′CBCR conversion is not enabled in the sampler and the image format is multi-planar, the image must have been created with VK_IMAGE_CREATE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT, and the aspectMask of the VkImageView’s subresourceRange must be VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_0_BIT, VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_1_BIT or VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_2_BIT.

Valid Usage

  • If levelCount is not VK_REMAINING_MIP_LEVELS, it must be greater than 0

  • If layerCount is not VK_REMAINING_ARRAY_LAYERS, it must be greater than 0

  • If aspectMask includes VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_COLOR_BIT, then it must not include any of VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_0_BIT, VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_1_BIT, or VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_2_BIT

Valid Usage (Implicit)

Bits which can be set in an aspect mask to specify aspects of an image for purposes such as identifying a subresource, are:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef enum VkImageAspectFlagBits {
    VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_COLOR_BIT = 0x00000001,
    VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_DEPTH_BIT = 0x00000002,
    VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_STENCIL_BIT = 0x00000004,
    VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_METADATA_BIT = 0x00000008,
  // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
    VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_0_BIT = 0x00000010,
  // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
    VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_1_BIT = 0x00000020,
  // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
    VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_2_BIT = 0x00000040,
} VkImageAspectFlagBits;

  • VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_COLOR_BIT specifies the color aspect.

  • VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_DEPTH_BIT specifies the depth aspect.

  • VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_STENCIL_BIT specifies the stencil aspect.

  • VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_METADATA_BIT specifies the metadata aspect, used for sparse sparse resource operations.

  • VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_0_BIT specifies plane 0 of a multi-planar image format.

  • VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_1_BIT specifies plane 1 of a multi-planar image format.

  • VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_2_BIT specifies plane 2 of a multi-planar image format.

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef VkFlags VkImageAspectFlags;

VkImageAspectFlags is a bitmask type for setting a mask of zero or more VkImageAspectFlagBits.

The VkComponentMapping structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkComponentMapping {
    VkComponentSwizzle    r;
    VkComponentSwizzle    g;
    VkComponentSwizzle    b;
    VkComponentSwizzle    a;
} VkComponentMapping;

  • r is a VkComponentSwizzle specifying the component value placed in the R component of the output vector.

  • g is a VkComponentSwizzle specifying the component value placed in the G component of the output vector.

  • b is a VkComponentSwizzle specifying the component value placed in the B component of the output vector.

  • a is a VkComponentSwizzle specifying the component value placed in the A component of the output vector.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

Possible values of the members of VkComponentMapping, specifying the component values placed in each component of the output vector, are:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef enum VkComponentSwizzle {
    VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_IDENTITY = 0,
    VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_ZERO = 1,
    VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_ONE = 2,
    VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_R = 3,
    VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_G = 4,
    VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_B = 5,
    VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_A = 6,
} VkComponentSwizzle;

  • VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_IDENTITY specifies that the component is set to the identity swizzle.

  • VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_ZERO specifies that the component is set to zero.

  • VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_ONE specifies that the component is set to either 1 or 1.0, depending on whether the type of the image view format is integer or floating-point respectively, as determined by the Format Definition section for each VkFormat.

  • VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_R specifies that the component is set to the value of the R component of the image.

  • VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_G specifies that the component is set to the value of the G component of the image.

  • VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_B specifies that the component is set to the value of the B component of the image.

  • VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_A specifies that the component is set to the value of the A component of the image.

Setting the identity swizzle on a component is equivalent to setting the identity mapping on that component. That is:

Table 9. Component Mappings Equivalent To VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_IDENTITY
Component Identity Mapping

components.r

VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_R

components.g

VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_G

components.b

VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_B

components.a

VK_COMPONENT_SWIZZLE_A

To destroy an image view, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
void vkDestroyImageView(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkImageView                                 imageView,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator);

  • device is the logical device that destroys the image view.

  • imageView is the image view to destroy.

  • pAllocator controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

Valid Usage

  • All submitted commands that refer to imageView must have completed execution

  • If VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when imageView was created, a compatible set of callbacks must be provided here

  • If no VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when imageView was created, pAllocator must be NULL

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • device must be a valid VkDevice handle

  • If imageView is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, imageView must be a valid VkImageView handle

  • If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure

  • If imageView is a valid handle, it must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

Host Synchronization

  • Host access to imageView must be externally synchronized

11.5.1. Image View Format Features

Valid uses of a VkImageView may depend on the image view’s format features, defined below. Such constraints are documented in the affected valid usage statement.

11.6. Resource Memory Association

Resources are initially created as virtual allocations with no backing memory. Device memory is allocated separately (see Device Memory) and then associated with the resource. This association is done differently for sparse and non-sparse resources.

Resources created with any of the sparse creation flags are considered sparse resources. Resources created without these flags are non-sparse. The details on resource memory association for sparse resources is described in Sparse Resources.

Non-sparse resources must be bound completely and contiguously to a single VkDeviceMemory object before the resource is passed as a parameter to any of the following operations:

  • creating image or buffer views

  • updating descriptor sets

  • recording commands in a command buffer

Once bound, the memory binding is immutable for the lifetime of the resource.

In a logical device representing more than one physical device, buffer and image resources exist on all physical devices but can be bound to memory differently on each. Each such replicated resource is an instance of the resource. For sparse resources, each instance can be bound to memory arbitrarily differently. For non-sparse resources, each instance can either be bound to the local or a peer instance of the memory, or for images can be bound to rectangular regions from the local and/or peer instances. When a resource is used in a descriptor set, each physical device interprets the descriptor according to its own instance’s binding to memory.

Note

There are no new copy commands to transfer data between physical devices. Instead, an application can create a resource with a peer mapping and use it as the source or destination of a transfer command executed by a single physical device to copy the data from one physical device to another.

To determine the memory requirements for a buffer resource, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
void vkGetBufferMemoryRequirements(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkBuffer                                    buffer,
    VkMemoryRequirements*                       pMemoryRequirements);

  • device is the logical device that owns the buffer.

  • buffer is the buffer to query.

  • pMemoryRequirements is a pointer to a VkMemoryRequirements structure in which the memory requirements of the buffer object are returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • device must be a valid VkDevice handle

  • buffer must be a valid VkBuffer handle

  • pMemoryRequirements must be a valid pointer to a VkMemoryRequirements structure

  • buffer must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

To determine the memory requirements for an image resource which is not created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_DISJOINT_BIT flag set, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
void vkGetImageMemoryRequirements(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkImage                                     image,
    VkMemoryRequirements*                       pMemoryRequirements);

  • device is the logical device that owns the image.

  • image is the image to query.

  • pMemoryRequirements is a pointer to a VkMemoryRequirements structure in which the memory requirements of the image object are returned.

Valid Usage

  • image must not have been created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_DISJOINT_BIT flag set

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • device must be a valid VkDevice handle

  • image must be a valid VkImage handle

  • pMemoryRequirements must be a valid pointer to a VkMemoryRequirements structure

  • image must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

The VkMemoryRequirements structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkMemoryRequirements {
    VkDeviceSize    size;
    VkDeviceSize    alignment;
    uint32_t        memoryTypeBits;
} VkMemoryRequirements;

  • size is the size, in bytes, of the memory allocation required for the resource.

  • alignment is the alignment, in bytes, of the offset within the allocation required for the resource.

  • memoryTypeBits is a bitmask and contains one bit set for every supported memory type for the resource. Bit i is set if and only if the memory type i in the VkPhysicalDeviceMemoryProperties structure for the physical device is supported for the resource.

The implementation guarantees certain properties about the memory requirements returned by vkGetBufferMemoryRequirements and vkGetImageMemoryRequirements:

  • The memoryTypeBits member always contains at least one bit set.

  • If buffer is a VkBuffer not created with the VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT bit set, or if image is linear image, then the memoryTypeBits member always contains at least one bit set corresponding to a VkMemoryType with a propertyFlags that has both the VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BIT bit and the VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT bit set. In other words, mappable coherent memory can always be attached to these objects.

  • If buffer was created with VkExternalMemoryBufferCreateInfo::handleTypes set to 0 or image was created with VkExternalMemoryImageCreateInfo::handleTypes set to 0, the memoryTypeBits member always contains at least one bit set corresponding to a VkMemoryType with a propertyFlags that has the VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT bit set.

  • The memoryTypeBits member is identical for all VkBuffer objects created with the same value for the flags and usage members in the VkBufferCreateInfo structure and the handleTypes member of the VkExternalMemoryBufferCreateInfo structure passed to vkCreateBuffer. Further, if usage1 and usage2 of type VkBufferUsageFlags are such that the bits set in usage2 are a subset of the bits set in usage1, and they have the same flags and VkExternalMemoryBufferCreateInfo::handleTypes, then the bits set in memoryTypeBits returned for usage1 must be a subset of the bits set in memoryTypeBits returned for usage2, for all values of flags.

  • The alignment member is a power of two.

  • The alignment member is identical for all VkBuffer objects created with the same combination of values for the usage and flags members in the VkBufferCreateInfo structure passed to vkCreateBuffer.

  • The alignment member satisfies the buffer descriptor offset alignment requirements associated with the VkBuffer’s usage:

    • If usage included VK_BUFFER_USAGE_UNIFORM_TEXEL_BUFFER_BIT or VK_BUFFER_USAGE_STORAGE_TEXEL_BUFFER_BIT, alignment must be an integer multiple of VkPhysicalDeviceLimits::minTexelBufferOffsetAlignment.

    • If usage included VK_BUFFER_USAGE_UNIFORM_BUFFER_BIT, alignment must be an integer multiple of VkPhysicalDeviceLimits::minUniformBufferOffsetAlignment.

    • If usage included VK_BUFFER_USAGE_STORAGE_BUFFER_BIT, alignment must be an integer multiple of VkPhysicalDeviceLimits::minStorageBufferOffsetAlignment.

  • For images created with a color format, the memoryTypeBits member is identical for all VkImage objects created with the same combination of values for the tiling member, the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT bit of the flags member, the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPLIT_INSTANCE_BIND_REGIONS_BIT bit of the flags member, handleTypes member of VkExternalMemoryImageCreateInfo, and the VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSIENT_ATTACHMENT_BIT of the usage member in the VkImageCreateInfo structure passed to vkCreateImage.

  • For images created with a depth/stencil format, the memoryTypeBits member is identical for all VkImage objects created with the same combination of values for the format member, the tiling member, the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT bit of the flags member, the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPLIT_INSTANCE_BIND_REGIONS_BIT bit of the flags member, handleTypes member of VkExternalMemoryImageCreateInfo, and the VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSIENT_ATTACHMENT_BIT of the usage member in the VkImageCreateInfo structure passed to vkCreateImage.

  • If the memory requirements are for a VkImage, the memoryTypeBits member must not refer to a VkMemoryType with a propertyFlags that has the VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_LAZILY_ALLOCATED_BIT bit set if the image did not have VK_IMAGE_USAGE_TRANSIENT_ATTACHMENT_BIT bit set in the usage member of the VkImageCreateInfo structure passed to vkCreateImage.

  • If the memory requirements are for a VkBuffer, the memoryTypeBits member must not refer to a VkMemoryType with a propertyFlags that has the VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_LAZILY_ALLOCATED_BIT bit set.

    Note

    The implication of this requirement is that lazily allocated memory is disallowed for buffers in all cases.

  • The size member is identical for all VkBuffer objects created with the same combination of creation parameters specified in VkBufferCreateInfo and its pNext chain.

  • The size member is identical for all VkImage objects created with the same combination of creation parameters specified in VkImageCreateInfo and its pNext chain.

    Note

    This, however, does not imply that they interpret the contents of the bound memory identically with each other. That additional guarantee, however, can be explicitly requested using VK_IMAGE_CREATE_ALIAS_BIT.

To determine the memory requirements for a buffer resource, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
void vkGetBufferMemoryRequirements2(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkBufferMemoryRequirementsInfo2*      pInfo,
    VkMemoryRequirements2*                      pMemoryRequirements);

  • device is the logical device that owns the buffer.

  • pInfo is a pointer to a VkBufferMemoryRequirementsInfo2 structure containing parameters required for the memory requirements query.

  • pMemoryRequirements is a pointer to a VkMemoryRequirements2 structure in which the memory requirements of the buffer object are returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

The VkBufferMemoryRequirementsInfo2 structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef struct VkBufferMemoryRequirementsInfo2 {
    VkStructureType    sType;
    const void*        pNext;
    VkBuffer           buffer;
} VkBufferMemoryRequirementsInfo2;

  • sType is the type of this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • buffer is the buffer to query.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_BUFFER_MEMORY_REQUIREMENTS_INFO_2

  • pNext must be NULL

  • buffer must be a valid VkBuffer handle

To determine the memory requirements for an image resource, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
void vkGetImageMemoryRequirements2(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkImageMemoryRequirementsInfo2*       pInfo,
    VkMemoryRequirements2*                      pMemoryRequirements);

  • device is the logical device that owns the image.

  • pInfo is a pointer to a VkImageMemoryRequirementsInfo2 structure containing parameters required for the memory requirements query.

  • pMemoryRequirements is a pointer to a VkMemoryRequirements2 structure in which the memory requirements of the image object are returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

The VkImageMemoryRequirementsInfo2 structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef struct VkImageMemoryRequirementsInfo2 {
    VkStructureType    sType;
    const void*        pNext;
    VkImage            image;
} VkImageMemoryRequirementsInfo2;

  • sType is the type of this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • image is the image to query.

Valid Usage
Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_IMAGE_MEMORY_REQUIREMENTS_INFO_2

  • pNext must be NULL or a pointer to a valid instance of VkImagePlaneMemoryRequirementsInfo

  • The sType value of each struct in the pNext chain must be unique

  • image must be a valid VkImage handle

To determine the memory requirements for a plane of a disjoint image, add a VkImagePlaneMemoryRequirementsInfo structure to the pNext chain of the VkImageMemoryRequirementsInfo2 structure.

The VkImagePlaneMemoryRequirementsInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef struct VkImagePlaneMemoryRequirementsInfo {
    VkStructureType          sType;
    const void*              pNext;
    VkImageAspectFlagBits    planeAspect;
} VkImagePlaneMemoryRequirementsInfo;

  • sType is the type of this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • planeAspect is the aspect corresponding to the image plane to query.

Valid Usage

  • If the image’s tiling is VK_IMAGE_TILING_LINEAR or VK_IMAGE_TILING_OPTIMAL, then planeAspect must be a single valid format plane for the image (that is, for a two-plane image planeAspect must be VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_0_BIT or VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_1_BIT, and for a three-plane image planeAspect must be VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_0_BIT, VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_1_BIT or VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_2_BIT)

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_IMAGE_PLANE_MEMORY_REQUIREMENTS_INFO

  • planeAspect must be a valid VkImageAspectFlagBits value

The VkMemoryRequirements2 structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef struct VkMemoryRequirements2 {
    VkStructureType         sType;
    void*                   pNext;
    VkMemoryRequirements    memoryRequirements;
} VkMemoryRequirements2;

  • sType is the type of this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • memoryRequirements is a VkMemoryRequirements structure describing the memory requirements of the resource.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_MEMORY_REQUIREMENTS_2

  • pNext must be NULL or a pointer to a valid instance of VkMemoryDedicatedRequirements

  • The sType value of each struct in the pNext chain must be unique

To determine the dedicated allocation requirements of a buffer or image resource, add a VkMemoryDedicatedRequirements structure to the pNext chain of the VkMemoryRequirements2 structure passed as the pMemoryRequirements parameter of vkGetBufferMemoryRequirements2 or vkGetImageMemoryRequirements2.

The VkMemoryDedicatedRequirements structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef struct VkMemoryDedicatedRequirements {
    VkStructureType    sType;
    void*              pNext;
    VkBool32           prefersDedicatedAllocation;
    VkBool32           requiresDedicatedAllocation;
} VkMemoryDedicatedRequirements;

  • sType is the type of this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • prefersDedicatedAllocation specifies that the implementation would prefer a dedicated allocation for this resource. The application is still free to suballocate the resource but it may get better performance if a dedicated allocation is used.

  • requiresDedicatedAllocation specifies that a dedicated allocation is required for this resource.

When the implementation sets requiresDedicatedAllocation to VK_TRUE, it must also set prefersDedicatedAllocation to VK_TRUE.

If the VkMemoryDedicatedRequirements structure is included in the pNext chain of the VkMemoryRequirements2 structure passed as the pMemoryRequirements parameter of a vkGetBufferMemoryRequirements2 call, requiresDedicatedAllocation may be VK_TRUE under one of the following conditions:

In all other cases, requiresDedicatedAllocation must be set to VK_FALSE by the implementation whenever a VkMemoryDedicatedRequirements structure is included in the pNext chain of the VkMemoryRequirements2 structure passed to a call to vkGetBufferMemoryRequirements2.

If the VkMemoryDedicatedRequirements structure is included in the pNext chain of the VkMemoryRequirements2 structure passed as the pMemoryRequirements parameter of a vkGetBufferMemoryRequirements2 call and VK_BUFFER_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT was set in VkBufferCreateInfo::flags when buffer was created then the implementation must set both prefersDedicatedAllocation and requiresDedicatedAllocation to VK_FALSE.

If the VkMemoryDedicatedRequirements structure is included in the pNext chain of the VkMemoryRequirements2 structure passed as the pMemoryRequirements parameter of a vkGetImageMemoryRequirements2 call, requiresDedicatedAllocation may be VK_TRUE under one of the following conditions:

In all other cases, requiresDedicatedAllocation must be set to VK_FALSE by the implementation whenever a VkMemoryDedicatedRequirements structure is included in the pNext chain of the VkMemoryRequirements2 structure passed to a call to vkGetImageMemoryRequirements2.

If the VkMemoryDedicatedRequirements structure is included in the pNext chain of the VkMemoryRequirements2 structure passed as the pMemoryRequirements parameter of a vkGetImageMemoryRequirements2 call and VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT was set in VkImageCreateInfo::flags when image was created then the implementation must set both prefersDedicatedAllocation and requiresDedicatedAllocation to VK_FALSE.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_MEMORY_DEDICATED_REQUIREMENTS

To attach memory to a buffer object, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkBindBufferMemory(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkBuffer                                    buffer,
    VkDeviceMemory                              memory,
    VkDeviceSize                                memoryOffset);

  • device is the logical device that owns the buffer and memory.

  • buffer is the buffer to be attached to memory.

  • memory is a VkDeviceMemory object describing the device memory to attach.

  • memoryOffset is the start offset of the region of memory which is to be bound to the buffer. The number of bytes returned in the VkMemoryRequirements::size member in memory, starting from memoryOffset bytes, will be bound to the specified buffer.

vkBindBufferMemory is equivalent to passing the same parameters through VkBindBufferMemoryInfo to vkBindBufferMemory2.

Valid Usage

  • buffer must not already be backed by a memory object

  • buffer must not have been created with any sparse memory binding flags

  • memoryOffset must be less than the size of memory

  • memory must have been allocated using one of the memory types allowed in the memoryTypeBits member of the VkMemoryRequirements structure returned from a call to vkGetBufferMemoryRequirements with buffer

  • memoryOffset must be an integer multiple of the alignment member of the VkMemoryRequirements structure returned from a call to vkGetBufferMemoryRequirements with buffer

  • The size member of the VkMemoryRequirements structure returned from a call to vkGetBufferMemoryRequirements with buffer must be less than or equal to the size of memory minus memoryOffset

  • If buffer requires a dedicated allocation(as reported by vkGetBufferMemoryRequirements2 in VkMemoryDedicatedRequirements::requiresDedicatedAllocation for buffer), memory must have been created with VkMemoryDedicatedAllocateInfo::buffer equal to buffer

  • If the VkMemoryAllocateInfo provided when memory was allocated included a VkMemoryDedicatedAllocateInfo structure in its pNext chain, and VkMemoryDedicatedAllocateInfo::buffer was not VK_NULL_HANDLE, then buffer must equal VkMemoryDedicatedAllocateInfo::buffer, and memoryOffset must be zero

  • If buffer was created with the VK_BUFFER_CREATE_PROTECTED_BIT bit set, the buffer must be bound to a memory object allocated with a memory type that reports VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_PROTECTED_BIT

  • If buffer was created with the VK_BUFFER_CREATE_PROTECTED_BIT bit not set, the buffer must not be bound to a memory object created with a memory type that reports VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_PROTECTED_BIT

  • If the value of VkExportMemoryAllocateInfo::handleTypes used to allocate memory is not 0, it must include at least one of the handles set in VkExternalMemoryBufferCreateInfo::handleTypes when buffer was created

  • If memory was created by a memory import operation, the external handle type of the imported memory must also have been set in VkExternalMemoryBufferCreateInfo::handleTypes when buffer was created

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • device must be a valid VkDevice handle

  • buffer must be a valid VkBuffer handle

  • memory must be a valid VkDeviceMemory handle

  • buffer must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

  • memory must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

Host Synchronization

  • Host access to buffer must be externally synchronized

Return Codes
Success

  • VK_SUCCESS

Failure

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

To attach memory to buffer objects for one or more buffers at a time, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
VkResult vkBindBufferMemory2(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    uint32_t                                    bindInfoCount,
    const VkBindBufferMemoryInfo*               pBindInfos);

  • device is the logical device that owns the buffers and memory.

  • bindInfoCount is the number of elements in pBindInfos.

  • pBindInfos is a pointer to an array of bindInfoCount VkBindBufferMemoryInfo structures describing buffers and memory to bind.

On some implementations, it may be more efficient to batch memory bindings into a single command.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • device must be a valid VkDevice handle

  • pBindInfos must be a valid pointer to an array of bindInfoCount valid VkBindBufferMemoryInfo structures

  • bindInfoCount must be greater than 0

Return Codes
Success

  • VK_SUCCESS

Failure

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

VkBindBufferMemoryInfo contains members corresponding to the parameters of vkBindBufferMemory.

The VkBindBufferMemoryInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef struct VkBindBufferMemoryInfo {
    VkStructureType    sType;
    const void*        pNext;
    VkBuffer           buffer;
    VkDeviceMemory     memory;
    VkDeviceSize       memoryOffset;
} VkBindBufferMemoryInfo;

  • sType is the type of this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • buffer is the buffer to be attached to memory.

  • memory is a VkDeviceMemory object describing the device memory to attach.

  • memoryOffset is the start offset of the region of memory which is to be bound to the buffer. The number of bytes returned in the VkMemoryRequirements::size member in memory, starting from memoryOffset bytes, will be bound to the specified buffer.

Valid Usage

  • buffer must not already be backed by a memory object

  • buffer must not have been created with any sparse memory binding flags

  • memoryOffset must be less than the size of memory

  • memory must have been allocated using one of the memory types allowed in the memoryTypeBits member of the VkMemoryRequirements structure returned from a call to vkGetBufferMemoryRequirements with buffer

  • memoryOffset must be an integer multiple of the alignment member of the VkMemoryRequirements structure returned from a call to vkGetBufferMemoryRequirements with buffer

  • The size member of the VkMemoryRequirements structure returned from a call to vkGetBufferMemoryRequirements with buffer must be less than or equal to the size of memory minus memoryOffset

  • If buffer requires a dedicated allocation(as reported by vkGetBufferMemoryRequirements2 in VkMemoryDedicatedRequirements::requiresDedicatedAllocation for buffer), memory must have been created with VkMemoryDedicatedAllocateInfo::buffer equal to buffer and memoryOffset must be zero

  • If the VkMemoryAllocateInfo provided when memory was allocated included a VkMemoryDedicatedAllocateInfo structure in its pNext chain, and VkMemoryDedicatedAllocateInfo::buffer was not VK_NULL_HANDLE, then buffer must equal VkMemoryDedicatedAllocateInfo::buffer and memoryOffset must be zero

  • If buffer was created with the VK_BUFFER_CREATE_PROTECTED_BIT bit set, the buffer must be bound to a memory object allocated with a memory type that reports VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_PROTECTED_BIT

  • If buffer was created with the VK_BUFFER_CREATE_PROTECTED_BIT bit not set, the buffer must not be bound to a memory object created with a memory type that reports VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_PROTECTED_BIT

  • If the pNext chain includes a VkBindBufferMemoryDeviceGroupInfo structure, all instances of memory specified by VkBindBufferMemoryDeviceGroupInfo::pDeviceIndices must have been allocated

  • If the value of VkExportMemoryAllocateInfo::handleTypes used to allocate memory is not 0, it must include at least one of the handles set in VkExternalMemoryBufferCreateInfo::handleTypes when buffer was created

  • If memory was created by a memory import operation, the external handle type of the imported memory must also have been set in VkExternalMemoryBufferCreateInfo::handleTypes when buffer was created

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_BIND_BUFFER_MEMORY_INFO

  • pNext must be NULL or a pointer to a valid instance of VkBindBufferMemoryDeviceGroupInfo

  • The sType value of each struct in the pNext chain must be unique

  • buffer must be a valid VkBuffer handle

  • memory must be a valid VkDeviceMemory handle

  • Both of buffer, and memory must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkDevice

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef struct VkBindBufferMemoryDeviceGroupInfo {
    VkStructureType    sType;
    const void*        pNext;
    uint32_t           deviceIndexCount;
    const uint32_t*    pDeviceIndices;
} VkBindBufferMemoryDeviceGroupInfo;

If the pNext list of VkBindBufferMemoryInfo includes a VkBindBufferMemoryDeviceGroupInfo structure, then that structure determines how memory is bound to buffers across multiple devices in a device group.

The VkBindBufferMemoryDeviceGroupInfo structure is defined as:

  • sType is the type of this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • deviceIndexCount is the number of elements in pDeviceIndices.

  • pDeviceIndices is a pointer to an array of device indices.

If deviceIndexCount is greater than zero, then on device index i the buffer is attached to the instance of memory on the physical device with device index pDeviceIndices[i].

If deviceIndexCount is zero and memory comes from a memory heap with the VK_MEMORY_HEAP_MULTI_INSTANCE_BIT bit set, then it is as if pDeviceIndices contains consecutive indices from zero to the number of physical devices in the logical device, minus one. In other words, by default each physical device attaches to its own instance of memory.

If deviceIndexCount is zero and memory comes from a memory heap without the VK_MEMORY_HEAP_MULTI_INSTANCE_BIT bit set, then it is as if pDeviceIndices contains an array of zeros. In other words, by default each physical device attaches to instance zero.

Valid Usage

  • deviceIndexCount must either be zero or equal to the number of physical devices in the logical device

  • All elements of pDeviceIndices must be valid device indices

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_BIND_BUFFER_MEMORY_DEVICE_GROUP_INFO

  • If deviceIndexCount is not 0, pDeviceIndices must be a valid pointer to an array of deviceIndexCount uint32_t values

To attach memory to a VkImage object created without the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_DISJOINT_BIT set, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkBindImageMemory(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkImage                                     image,
    VkDeviceMemory                              memory,
    VkDeviceSize                                memoryOffset);

  • device is the logical device that owns the image and memory.

  • image is the image.

  • memory is the VkDeviceMemory object describing the device memory to attach.

  • memoryOffset is the start offset of the region of memory which is to be bound to the image. The number of bytes returned in the VkMemoryRequirements::size member in memory, starting from memoryOffset bytes, will be bound to the specified image.

vkBindImageMemory is equivalent to passing the same parameters through VkBindImageMemoryInfo to vkBindImageMemory2.

Valid Usage

  • image must not have been created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_DISJOINT_BIT set

  • image must not already be backed by a memory object

  • image must not have been created with any sparse memory binding flags

  • memoryOffset must be less than the size of memory

  • memory must have been allocated using one of the memory types allowed in the memoryTypeBits member of the VkMemoryRequirements structure returned from a call to vkGetImageMemoryRequirements with image

  • memoryOffset must be an integer multiple of the alignment member of the VkMemoryRequirements structure returned from a call to vkGetImageMemoryRequirements with image

  • The difference of the size of memory and memoryOffset must be greater than or equal to the size member of the VkMemoryRequirements structure returned from a call to vkGetImageMemoryRequirements with the same image

  • If image requires a dedicated allocation (as reported by vkGetImageMemoryRequirements2 in VkMemoryDedicatedRequirements::requiresDedicatedAllocation for image), memory must have been created with VkMemoryDedicatedAllocateInfo::image equal to image

  • If the VkMemoryAllocateInfo provided when memory was allocated included a VkMemoryDedicatedAllocateInfo structure in its pNext chain, and VkMemoryDedicatedAllocateInfo::image was not VK_NULL_HANDLE, then image must equal VkMemoryDedicatedAllocateInfo::image and memoryOffset must be zero

  • If image was created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_PROTECTED_BIT bit set, the image must be bound to a memory object allocated with a memory type that reports VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_PROTECTED_BIT

  • If image was created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_PROTECTED_BIT bit not set, the image must not be bound to a memory object created with a memory type that reports VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_PROTECTED_BIT

  • If the value of VkExportMemoryAllocateInfo::handleTypes used to allocate memory is not 0, it must include at least one of the handles set in VkExternalMemoryImageCreateInfo::handleTypes when image was created

  • If memory was created by a memory import operation, the external handle type of the imported memory must also have been set in VkExternalMemoryImageCreateInfo::handleTypes when image was created

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • device must be a valid VkDevice handle

  • image must be a valid VkImage handle

  • memory must be a valid VkDeviceMemory handle

  • image must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

  • memory must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device

Host Synchronization

  • Host access to image must be externally synchronized

Return Codes
Success

  • VK_SUCCESS

Failure

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

To attach memory to image objects for one or more images at a time, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
VkResult vkBindImageMemory2(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    uint32_t                                    bindInfoCount,
    const VkBindImageMemoryInfo*                pBindInfos);

  • device is the logical device that owns the images and memory.

  • bindInfoCount is the number of elements in pBindInfos.

  • pBindInfos is a pointer to an array of VkBindImageMemoryInfo structures, describing images and memory to bind.

On some implementations, it may be more efficient to batch memory bindings into a single command.

Valid Usage

  • If any VkBindImageMemoryInfo::image was created with VK_IMAGE_CREATE_DISJOINT_BIT then all planes of VkBindImageMemoryInfo::image must be bound individually in separate pBindInfos

  • pBindInfos must not refer to the same image subresource more than once

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • device must be a valid VkDevice handle

  • pBindInfos must be a valid pointer to an array of bindInfoCount valid VkBindImageMemoryInfo structures

  • bindInfoCount must be greater than 0

Return Codes
Success

  • VK_SUCCESS

Failure

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

VkBindImageMemoryInfo contains members corresponding to the parameters of vkBindImageMemory.

The VkBindImageMemoryInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef struct VkBindImageMemoryInfo {
    VkStructureType    sType;
    const void*        pNext;
    VkImage            image;
    VkDeviceMemory     memory;
    VkDeviceSize       memoryOffset;
} VkBindImageMemoryInfo;

  • sType is the type of this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • image is the image to be attached to memory.

  • memory is a VkDeviceMemory object describing the device memory to attach.

  • memoryOffset is the start offset of the region of memory which is to be bound to the image. The number of bytes returned in the VkMemoryRequirements::size member in memory, starting from memoryOffset bytes, will be bound to the specified image.

Valid Usage
Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_BIND_IMAGE_MEMORY_INFO

  • Each pNext member of any structure (including this one) in the pNext chain must be either NULL or a pointer to a valid instance of VkBindImageMemoryDeviceGroupInfo or VkBindImagePlaneMemoryInfo

  • The sType value of each struct in the pNext chain must be unique

  • image must be a valid VkImage handle

  • Both of image, and memory that are valid handles of non-ignored parameters must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkDevice

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef struct VkBindImageMemoryDeviceGroupInfo {
    VkStructureType    sType;
    const void*        pNext;
    uint32_t           deviceIndexCount;
    const uint32_t*    pDeviceIndices;
    uint32_t           splitInstanceBindRegionCount;
    const VkRect2D*    pSplitInstanceBindRegions;
} VkBindImageMemoryDeviceGroupInfo;

If the pNext list of VkBindImageMemoryInfo includes a VkBindImageMemoryDeviceGroupInfo structure, then that structure determines how memory is bound to images across multiple devices in a device group.

The VkBindImageMemoryDeviceGroupInfo structure is defined as:

  • sType is the type of this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • deviceIndexCount is the number of elements in pDeviceIndices.

  • pDeviceIndices is a pointer to an array of device indices.

  • splitInstanceBindRegionCount is the number of elements in pSplitInstanceBindRegions.

  • pSplitInstanceBindRegions is a pointer to an array of VkRect2D structures describing which regions of the image are attached to each instance of memory.

If deviceIndexCount is greater than zero, then on device index i image is attached to the instance of the memory on the physical device with device index pDeviceIndices[i].

Let N be the number of physical devices in the logical device. If splitInstanceBindRegionCount is greater than zero, then pSplitInstanceBindRegions is an array of N2 rectangles, where the image region specified by the rectangle at element i*N+j in resource instance i is bound to the memory instance j. The blocks of the memory that are bound to each sparse image block region use an offset in memory, relative to memoryOffset, computed as if the whole image were being bound to a contiguous range of memory. In other words, horizontally adjacent image blocks use consecutive blocks of memory, vertically adjacent image blocks are separated by the number of bytes per block multiplied by the width in blocks of image, and the block at (0,0) corresponds to memory starting at memoryOffset.

If splitInstanceBindRegionCount and deviceIndexCount are zero and the memory comes from a memory heap with the VK_MEMORY_HEAP_MULTI_INSTANCE_BIT bit set, then it is as if pDeviceIndices contains consecutive indices from zero to the number of physical devices in the logical device, minus one. In other words, by default each physical device attaches to its own instance of the memory.

If splitInstanceBindRegionCount and deviceIndexCount are zero and the memory comes from a memory heap without the VK_MEMORY_HEAP_MULTI_INSTANCE_BIT bit set, then it is as if pDeviceIndices contains an array of zeros. In other words, by default each physical device attaches to instance zero.

Valid Usage

  • At least one of deviceIndexCount and splitInstanceBindRegionCount must be zero

  • deviceIndexCount must either be zero or equal to the number of physical devices in the logical device

  • All elements of pDeviceIndices must be valid device indices

  • splitInstanceBindRegionCount must either be zero or equal to the number of physical devices in the logical device squared

  • Elements of pSplitInstanceBindRegions that correspond to the same instance of an image must not overlap

  • The offset.x member of any element of pSplitInstanceBindRegions must be a multiple of the sparse image block width (VkSparseImageFormatProperties::imageGranularity.width) of all non-metadata aspects of the image

  • The offset.y member of any element of pSplitInstanceBindRegions must be a multiple of the sparse image block height (VkSparseImageFormatProperties::imageGranularity.height) of all non-metadata aspects of the image

  • The extent.width member of any element of pSplitInstanceBindRegions must either be a multiple of the sparse image block width of all non-metadata aspects of the image, or else extent.width + offset.x must equal the width of the image subresource

  • The extent.height member of any element of pSplitInstanceBindRegions must either be a multiple of the sparse image block height of all non-metadata aspects of the image, or else extent.height + offset.y must equal the width of the image subresource

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_BIND_IMAGE_MEMORY_DEVICE_GROUP_INFO

  • If deviceIndexCount is not 0, pDeviceIndices must be a valid pointer to an array of deviceIndexCount uint32_t values

  • If splitInstanceBindRegionCount is not 0, pSplitInstanceBindRegions must be a valid pointer to an array of splitInstanceBindRegionCount VkRect2D structures

In order to bind planes of a disjoint image, add a VkBindImagePlaneMemoryInfo structure to the pNext chain of VkBindImageMemoryInfo.

The VkBindImagePlaneMemoryInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_1
typedef struct VkBindImagePlaneMemoryInfo {
    VkStructureType          sType;
    const void*              pNext;
    VkImageAspectFlagBits    planeAspect;
} VkBindImagePlaneMemoryInfo;

  • sType is the type of this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • planeAspect is the aspect of the disjoint image plane to bind.

Valid Usage

  • If the image’s tiling is VK_IMAGE_TILING_LINEAR or VK_IMAGE_TILING_OPTIMAL, then planeAspect must be a single valid format plane for the image (that is, for a two-plane image planeAspect must be VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_0_BIT or VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_1_BIT, and for a three-plane image planeAspect must be VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_0_BIT, VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_1_BIT or VK_IMAGE_ASPECT_PLANE_2_BIT)

Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_BIND_IMAGE_PLANE_MEMORY_INFO

  • planeAspect must be a valid VkImageAspectFlagBits value

Buffer-Image Granularity

There is an implementation-dependent limit, bufferImageGranularity, which specifies a page-like granularity at which linear and non-linear resources must be placed in adjacent memory locations to avoid aliasing. Two resources which do not satisfy this granularity requirement are said to alias. bufferImageGranularity is specified in bytes, and must be a power of two. Implementations which do not impose a granularity restriction may report a bufferImageGranularity value of one.

Note

Despite its name, bufferImageGranularity is really a granularity between “linear” and “non-linear” resources.

Given resourceA at the lower memory offset and resourceB at the higher memory offset in the same VkDeviceMemory object, where one resource is linear and the other is non-linear (as defined in the Glossary), and the following:

resourceA.end       = resourceA.memoryOffset + resourceA.size - 1
resourceA.endPage   = resourceA.end & ~(bufferImageGranularity-1)
resourceB.start     = resourceB.memoryOffset
resourceB.startPage = resourceB.start & ~(bufferImageGranularity-1)

The following property must hold:

resourceA.endPage < resourceB.startPage

That is, the end of the first resource (A) and the beginning of the second resource (B) must be on separate “pages” of size bufferImageGranularity. bufferImageGranularity may be different than the physical page size of the memory heap. This restriction is only needed when a linear resource and a non-linear resource are adjacent in memory and will be used simultaneously. The memory ranges of adjacent resources can be closer than bufferImageGranularity, provided they meet the alignment requirement for the objects in question.

Sparse block size in bytes and sparse image and buffer memory alignments must all be multiples of the bufferImageGranularity. Therefore, memory bound to sparse resources naturally satisfies the bufferImageGranularity.

11.7. Resource Sharing Mode

Buffer and image objects are created with a sharing mode controlling how they can be accessed from queues. The supported sharing modes are:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef enum VkSharingMode {
    VK_SHARING_MODE_EXCLUSIVE = 0,
    VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT = 1,
} VkSharingMode;

  • VK_SHARING_MODE_EXCLUSIVE specifies that access to any range or image subresource of the object will be exclusive to a single queue family at a time.

  • VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT specifies that concurrent access to any range or image subresource of the object from multiple queue families is supported.

Note

VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT may result in lower performance access to the buffer or image than VK_SHARING_MODE_EXCLUSIVE.

Ranges of buffers and image subresources of image objects created using VK_SHARING_MODE_EXCLUSIVE must only be accessed by queues in the queue family that has ownership of the resource. Upon creation, such resources are not owned by any queue family; ownership is implicitly acquired upon first use within a queue. Once a resource using VK_SHARING_MODE_EXCLUSIVE is owned by some queue family, the application must perform a queue family ownership transfer to make the memory contents of a range or image subresource accessible to a different queue family.

Note

Images still require a layout transition from VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED or VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PREINITIALIZED before being used on the first queue.

A queue family can take ownership of an image subresource or buffer range of a resource created with VK_SHARING_MODE_EXCLUSIVE, without an ownership transfer, in the same way as for a resource that was just created; however, taking ownership in this way has the effect that the contents of the image subresource or buffer range are undefined.

Ranges of buffers and image subresources of image objects created using VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT must only be accessed by queues from the queue families specified through the queueFamilyIndexCount and pQueueFamilyIndices members of the corresponding create info structures.

11.7.1. External Resource Sharing

Resources should only be accessed in the Vulkan instance that has exclusive ownership of their underlying memory. Only one Vulkan instance has exclusive ownership of a resource’s underlying memory at a given time, regardless of whether the resource was created using VK_SHARING_MODE_EXCLUSIVE or VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT. Applications can transfer ownership of a resource’s underlying memory only if the memory has been imported from or exported to another instance or external API using external memory handles. The semantics for transferring ownership outside of the instance are similar to those used for transferring ownership of VK_SHARING_MODE_EXCLUSIVE resources between queues, and is also accomplished using VkBufferMemoryBarrier or VkImageMemoryBarrier operations. Applications must

  1. Release exclusive ownership from the source instance or API.

  2. Ensure the release operation has completed using semaphores or fences.

  3. Acquire exclusive ownership in the destination instance or API

Unlike queue ownership transfers, the destination instance or API is not specified explicitly when releasing ownership, nor is the source instance or API specified when acquiring ownership. Instead, the image or memory barrier’s dstQueueFamilyIndex or srcQueueFamilyIndex parameters are set to the reserved queue family index VK_QUEUE_FAMILY_EXTERNAL to represent the external destination or source respectively.

Binding a resource to a memory object shared between multiple Vulkan instances or other APIs does not change the ownership of the underlying memory. The first entity to access the resource implicitly acquires ownership. Accessing a resource backed by memory that is owned by a particular instance or API has the same semantics as accessing a VK_SHARING_MODE_EXCLUSIVE resource, with one exception: Implementations must ensure layout transitions performed on one member of a set of identical subresources of identical images that alias the same range of an underlying memory object affect the layout of all the subresources in the set.

As a corollary, writes to any image subresources in such a set must not make the contents of memory used by other subresources in the set undefined. An application can define the content of a subresource of one image by performing device writes to an identical subresource of another image provided both images are bound to the same region of external memory. Applications may also add resources to such a set after the content of the existing set members has been defined without making the content undefined by creating a new image with the initial layout VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED and binding it to the same region of external memory as the existing images.

Note

Because layout transitions apply to all identical images aliasing the same region of external memory, the actual layout of the memory backing a new image as well as an existing image with defined content will not be undefined. Such an image is not usable until it acquires ownership of its memory from the existing owner. Therefore, the layout specified as part of this transition will be the true initial layout of the image. The undefined layout specified when creating it is a placeholder to simplify valid usage requirements.

11.8. Memory Aliasing

A range of a VkDeviceMemory allocation is aliased if it is bound to multiple resources simultaneously, as described below, via vkBindImageMemory, vkBindBufferMemory, via sparse memory bindings, or by binding the memory to resources in multiple Vulkan instances or external APIs using external memory handle export and import mechanisms.

Consider two resources, resourceA and resourceB, bound respectively to memory rangeA and rangeB. Let paddedRangeA and paddedRangeB be, respectively, rangeA and rangeB aligned to bufferImageGranularity. If the resources are both linear or both non-linear (as defined in the Glossary), then the resources alias the memory in the intersection of rangeA and rangeB. If one resource is linear and the other is non-linear, then the resources alias the memory in the intersection of paddedRangeA and paddedRangeB.

Applications can alias memory, but use of multiple aliases is subject to several constraints.

Note

Memory aliasing can be useful to reduce the total device memory footprint of an application, if some large resources are used for disjoint periods of time.

When a non-linear, non-VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT image is bound to an aliased range, all image subresources of the image overlap the range. When a linear image is bound to an aliased range, the image subresources that (according to the image’s advertised layout) include bytes from the aliased range overlap the range. When a VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPARSE_RESIDENCY_BIT image has sparse image blocks bound to an aliased range, only image subresources including those sparse image blocks overlap the range, and when the memory bound to the image’s mip tail overlaps an aliased range all image subresources in the mip tail overlap the range.

Buffers, and linear image subresources in either the VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PREINITIALIZED or VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_GENERAL layouts, are host-accessible subresources. That is, the host has a well-defined addressing scheme to interpret the contents, and thus the layout of the data in memory can be consistently interpreted across aliases if each of those aliases is a host-accessible subresource. Non-linear images, and linear image subresources in other layouts, are not host-accessible.

If two aliases are both host-accessible, then they interpret the contents of the memory in consistent ways, and data written to one alias can be read by the other alias.

If two aliases are both images that were created with identical creation parameters, both were created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_ALIAS_BIT flag set, and both are bound identically to memory except for VkBindImageMemoryDeviceGroupInfo::pDeviceIndices and VkBindImageMemoryDeviceGroupInfo::pSplitInstanceBindRegions, then they interpret the contents of the memory in consistent ways, and data written to one alias can be read by the other alias.

Additionally, if an invididual plane of a multi-planar image and a single-plane image alias the same memory, then they also interpret the contents of the memory in consistent ways under the same conditions, but with the following modifications:

  • Both must have been created with the VK_IMAGE_CREATE_DISJOINT_BIT flag.

  • The single-plane image must have a VkFormat that is equivalent to that of the multi-planar image’s individual plane.

  • The single-plane image and the individual plane of the multi-planar image must be bound identically to memory except for VkBindImageMemoryDeviceGroupInfo::pDeviceIndices and VkBindImageMemoryDeviceGroupInfo::pSplitInstanceBindRegions.

  • The width and height of the single-plane image are derived from the multi-planar image’s dimensions in the manner listed for plane compatibility for the aliased plane.

  • All other creation parameters must be identical

Aliases created by binding the same memory to resources in multiple Vulkan instances or external APIs using external memory handle export and import mechanisms interpret the contents of the memory in consistent ways, and data written to one alias can be read by the other alias.

Otherwise, the aliases interpret the contents of the memory differently, and writes via one alias make the contents of memory partially or completely undefined to the other alias. If the first alias is a host-accessible subresource, then the bytes affected are those written by the memory operations according to its addressing scheme. If the first alias is not host-accessible, then the bytes affected are those overlapped by the image subresources that were written. If the second alias is a host-accessible subresource, the affected bytes become undefined. If the second alias is a not host-accessible, all sparse image blocks (for sparse partially-resident images) or all image subresources (for non-sparse image and fully resident sparse images) that overlap the affected bytes become undefined.

If any image subresources are made undefined due to writes to an alias, then each of those image subresources must have its layout transitioned from VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED to a valid layout before it is used, or from VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PREINITIALIZED if the memory has been written by the host. If any sparse blocks of a sparse image have been made undefined, then only the image subresources containing them must be transitioned.

Use of an overlapping range by two aliases must be separated by a memory dependency using the appropriate access types if at least one of those uses performs writes, whether the aliases interpret memory consistently or not. If buffer or image memory barriers are used, the scope of the barrier must contain the entire range and/or set of image subresources that overlap.

If two aliasing image views are used in the same framebuffer, then the render pass must declare the attachments using the VK_ATTACHMENT_DESCRIPTION_MAY_ALIAS_BIT, and follow the other rules listed in that section.

Note

Memory recycled via an application suballocator (i.e. without freeing and reallocating the memory objects) is not substantially different from memory aliasing. However, a suballocator usually waits on a fence before recycling a region of memory, and signaling a fence involves sufficient implicit dependencies to satisfy all the above requirements.