RHI

Methane Graphics RHI

RHI is a commonly used acronym for Rendering Hardware Interface, an abstraction API of the low-level graphic APIs. Code of these modules is located in Methane::Graphics::RHI namespace:

• Interface module contains a set of common RHI data structures and public virtual interfaces, which can be used in application code.
• Impl modules contains PIMPL classes used as convenience wrappers above final graphics API implementation, which can be optionally inlined for performance. These PIMPL classes can be also used in application code with more convenience and performance than virtual interfaces. Tutorial applications are implemented with PIMPL clases.
• Base implementation module with common logic reused by all native API implementations.
• Final RHI implementations with native graphics API:
  • DirectX 12 API implementation module for Windows.
  • Vulkan API implementation module for Linux and Windows.
  • Metal API implementation module for MacOS, iOS and tvOS.
  • Null API implementation is used internally for unit-tests development.

Native Graphics API implementation is selected automatically in CMake depending on operating system and is controlled using variable METHANE_GFX_API. DirectX API is selected on Windows by default, but can be changed to Vulkan using CMake option METHANE_GFX_VULKAN_ENABLED.

Intra-Domain Module Dependencies

graph TD;
    Interface-->Base;
    Base-->DirectX;
    Base-->Vulkan;
    Base-->Metal;
    Base-->Null;
    DirectX-->Impl;
    Vulkan-->Impl;
    Metal-->Impl;
    Null-->Impl;

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Public Interfaces

Interface module implements a set of RHI object-oriented interfaces, which make modern graphics programming easy and convenient in a platform and API independent way. RHI PIMPL classes are providing the same functionality with more convenience and performance.