Vulkan 1.3.233: Free graphics interface gets extensions for Nvidia GPUs

With the latest update to version 1.3.233, the Vulkan open graphics interface has received a total of three additional extensions for graphics cards from Nvidia. In addition to optimizations for ray tracing on the low-level API, there is an extension for more efficient memory-to-memory decompression.

Vulkan API is being developed further promoted

The open source graphics that have been promoted since 2016 by the Kronos Group, an industrial consortium that also includes AMD, Intel and Nvidia as well as Microsoft, Google and Apple -API gets a specification update with three more Nvidia extensions with the latest update.

The low-level API gets an extension that provides better control over the Vulkan raytracing pipeline, improved memory-to-memory decompression, and additional copy parameters.

• VK_NV_ray_tracing_invocation_reorder allows better control over the Vulkan ray tracing pipeline for reordering for localization.
• VK_NV_copy_memory_indirect is used for performing copy between memory and image regions using indirect parameters.
• The extension can be useful for performing copies where the copy parameters are not known at the time the command buffer is created.
• VK_NV_memory_decompression is a new extension used for memory-to-memory decompression (“memory to-memory decompression”).

The release of the associated development tool Vulkan 1.3.233.x SDK is still pending. For more information, see the updated Vulkan 1.3.233 official specifications (PDF). The upcoming beta driver from Nvidia is said to already support the new extensions.

More information on Vulkan 1.3 is provided in the announcement on the release of the current version of the graphics API.

Vulkan support is to be further expanded

With Collabora NVK, a new open source driver is also to be released for using the Vulkan API on Nvidia graphics cards in the 3D graphics stack Mesa 3D.