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It is mostly a solved problem. OpenGL is the old high-level standard, Vulkan is the new standard, though it's closer to the hardware. WebGPU is the main conten

It is mostly a solved problem. OpenGL is the old high-level standard, Vulkan is the new standard, though it's closer to the hardware. WebGPU is the main contender for a new high-level standard, which will probably mostly run on Vulkan. Only Apple doesn't support Vulkan, but nobody can force them to.

jfkebwjsbx 6y ago
WebGPU is not high-level, no? It is closer to Vulkan than to OpenGL. And I am not sure Vulkan runs everywhere... what about consoles?
- q3k 6y ago
  > And I am not sure Vulkan runs everywhere... what about consoles? The Nintendo Switch supports it. Playstations had their own custom proprietary API since forever, and Microsoft peddles their own API on Xbox.
  - pjmlp 6y ago
    Switch supports it alongside NVN and OpenGL 4.5, and most engines end up using NVN. Unity alone accounts for 50% of the games.
- akvadrako 6y ago
  > WebGPU is not high-level, no? Right - what I read is performant WebGPU is more consistent than Vulkan between GPU vendors and I understood that to mean higher-level. But perhaps it's just a promise of a better design.
- skocznymroczny 6y ago
  WebGPU is very similar to Metal. While it is closer to Vulkan than to OpenGL, it's still higher level than Vulkan and easier to use.
- pjmlp 6y ago
  Only on the Switch, and even then they have their own API, NVN, which is what most AAA and middleware like Unity actually use.
coldtea 6y ago
>Only Apple doesn't support Vulkan, but nobody can force them to. Why, does Microsoft support Vulcan? Does Google on Android?
- Nullabillity 6y ago
  > Why, does Microsoft support Vulcan? Microsoft just uses whatever the vendors throw over the wall. So yes. > Does Google on Android? Yes.[0] [0]: https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/graphics https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/graphics
  - pjmlp 6y ago
    Marketing sales pitch. Windows only supports Vulkan via the ICD driver model used by OpenGL, Win32 and UWP sandbox only support DirectX. Microsoft is now pushing for vendors just to implement them on top of DirectX. Vulkan is only guaranteed to be available on Android devices since version 10. The market share of Android 10 is left as exercise for the reader.
Netcob 6y ago
That means that any project that wants to be multi-platform and support OSX will need some sort of graphics API abstraction anyway. Of course it's still nice to only have to implement Metal and Vulkan. But you're not getting away with depending on a single open standard.
- zanny 6y ago
  You don't have to implement Metal, Valve had MoltenVK open sourced specifically to fix the Apple hole in Vulkan coverage.

jfkebwjsbx 6y ago

WebGPU is not high-level, no? It is closer to Vulkan than to OpenGL. And I am not sure Vulkan runs everywhere... what about consoles?

q3k 6y ago
> And I am not sure Vulkan runs everywhere... what about consoles? The Nintendo Switch supports it. Playstations had their own custom proprietary API since forever, and Microsoft peddles their own API on Xbox.
- pjmlp 6y ago
  Switch supports it alongside NVN and OpenGL 4.5, and most engines end up using NVN. Unity alone accounts for 50% of the games.
akvadrako 6y ago
> WebGPU is not high-level, no? Right - what I read is performant WebGPU is more consistent than Vulkan between GPU vendors and I understood that to mean higher-level. But perhaps it's just a promise of a better design.
skocznymroczny 6y ago
WebGPU is very similar to Metal. While it is closer to Vulkan than to OpenGL, it's still higher level than Vulkan and easier to use.
pjmlp 6y ago
Only on the Switch, and even then they have their own API, NVN, which is what most AAA and middleware like Unity actually use.

coldtea 6y ago

>Only Apple doesn't support Vulkan, but nobody can force them to. Why, does Microsoft support Vulcan? Does Google on Android?

Nullabillity 6y ago
> Why, does Microsoft support Vulcan? Microsoft just uses whatever the vendors throw over the wall. So yes. > Does Google on Android? Yes.[0] [0]: https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/graphics https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/graphics
- pjmlp 6y ago
  Marketing sales pitch. Windows only supports Vulkan via the ICD driver model used by OpenGL, Win32 and UWP sandbox only support DirectX. Microsoft is now pushing for vendors just to implement them on top of DirectX. Vulkan is only guaranteed to be available on Android devices since version 10. The market share of Android 10 is left as exercise for the reader.

Netcob 6y ago

That means that any project that wants to be multi-platform and support OSX will need some sort of graphics API abstraction anyway. Of course it's still nice to only have to implement Metal and Vulkan. But you're not getting away with depending on a single open standard.

zanny 6y ago
You don't have to implement Metal, Valve had MoltenVK open sourced specifically to fix the Apple hole in Vulkan coverage.