Add SIGGRAPH2026 Vulkan tutorial by iagoCL · Pull Request #419 · KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Tutorial

iagoCL · 2026-07-09T17:46:01Z

Code for the SIGGRAPH 2026 Vulkan Tutorial.

CLAassistant · 2026-07-09T17:46:08Z

All committers have signed the CLA.

SaschaWillems · 2026-07-10T13:27:24Z

+The repo includes a Visual Studio 2022 x64 preset:
+
+```bash
+cmake --preset vs2022-debug -DSLANGC_EXECUTABLE="C:/VulkanSDK/1.4.341.1/Bin/slangc.exe"


Any reason there is a preset that's pinned to a specific VS version? I'm already on VS2026.

I wanted to give an easy to configure/build/run version so I just added a preset to make it easy to compile

I changed to make it clear we also support 2026

SaschaWillems

Shader compilation fails for me with the following error:

Custom build for 'V:\Vulkan-Docs-Site\Vulkan-Tutorial-review\attachments\siggraph2026_vk_tutorial\build\vs2022\CMakeFiles\d79c7eb460355f97f6a43dc990eed41f\albedo.frag.spv.rule;V:\Vulkan-Docs-Site\Vulkan-Tutorial-review\attachments\siggraph2026_vk_tutorial\build\vs2022\CMakeFiles\f53c6c7b794bd22104e72c02a70f4a94\albedo_fragment_shader.rule;V:\Vulkan-Docs-Site\Vulkan-Tutorial-review\attachments\siggraph2026_vk_tutorial\CMakeLists.txt' exited with code 3.

I have the SDK installed, slangc is in the path, and CMake slang compiler variable properly points at it.

SaschaWillems · 2026-07-10T13:35:10Z

+See the [course page](https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Tutorial/blob/main/en/courses/siggraph2026_vk_tutorial) for more information.
+
+> [!NOTE]
+> ChatGPT and Codex were used to generate code for this tutorial.


Pretty sure this will upset at least some people. It might feel odd that the people creating the api (we as Khronos) use AI to generate code :/

No problem removing it, but if I understand correctly Khronos want to disclose the use of AI.

I think I didn't use AI to write most of the code, the majority of the use was:

Review spelling and grammar

Small refactors ("Use span instead of vector for this function")

Generate some basic utility functions, mostly to parse glTF and JSON and for CMakefiles

I believe this was relatively reasonable and expected, so I think we can remove this if people prefer so.

SaschaWillems · 2026-07-10T13:40:09Z

+After cloning the repository, initialize the pinned dependencies with:
+
+```bash
+python .\init_submodules.py


Why is this required? Shouldn't git submodules work fine here? If not, why not use CMake's FetchContent instead?

It is a bit complicated, there are some edge case with submodules.
I changed it to a CMake git command.

SaschaWillems · 2026-07-10T13:42:20Z

-attachments/template/build/**
+attachments/template/build/**
+
+attachments/siggraph2026_vk_tutorial/.git/


Why is the git folder excluded?

Was an edge case with submodules.
No longer needed now that I am using Cmake

SaschaWillems · 2026-07-10T13:52:52Z

+    // [VK_SHADER_STAGE_FRAGMENT_BIT]. This is not invalid, but the write to the unused Output is discarded, causing a
+    // performance validation message. Proper solution is to have a custom vertex shader, but this is intentionally
+    // avoided to keep the tutorial simple.
+    if (color.a < 0.0f) {


What's this supposed to do? The comment above doesn't refer to the actual code.

I tried to clarify the comment.

We are using all variables, so Vulkan Validation layers does not point this as a performance warning.

SaschaWillems · 2026-07-10T13:53:36Z

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+MIT License


Any reason the license file is duplicated (see src/LICENSE)?

Initially we planned this to be its own repository, MIT is one of the license we use as standard for new projects, so we choose MIT license.

The CI requires to have a MIT license file here.

I would not mind to remove the one in attachments/siggraph2026_vk_tutorial/LICENSE

SaschaWillems · 2026-07-10T13:54:14Z

+# SIGGRAPH 2026: How to write a Vulkan application
+
+This is a simple tutorial with the objective of explaining how to write a Vulkan application in 2026.
+The tutorial employs the latest recommended best practices for beginners:


Tbh. I wouldn't say that descriptor heaps are a topic for beginners.

Not sure, I removed the sentence about beginners.

I personally think they are completely different form classic descriptor sets, and require a new mental model.
I would not call them more beginner friendly but I think they can be a proper alternative for new developers.

I find them easy to use, if you have experience with memory, but I think is going to depend on the person.

Change Cmake to clone the modules instead of using submodules. Remove HLSL annotations from Slang. Readme is AsciiDoc. Clarify comment about unused vertex output Improve Cmake

iagoCL · 2026-07-10T18:25:08Z

Shader compilation fails for me with the following error:

Custom build for 'V:\Vulkan-Docs-Site\Vulkan-Tutorial-review\attachments\siggraph2026_vk_tutorial\build\vs2022\CMakeFiles\d79c7eb460355f97f6a43dc990eed41f\albedo.frag.spv.rule;V:\Vulkan-Docs-Site\Vulkan-Tutorial-review\attachments\siggraph2026_vk_tutorial\build\vs2022\CMakeFiles\f53c6c7b794bd22104e72c02a70f4a94\albedo_fragment_shader.rule;V:\Vulkan-Docs-Site\Vulkan-Tutorial-review\attachments\siggraph2026_vk_tutorial\CMakeLists.txt' exited with code 3.

I have the SDK installed, slangc is in the path, and CMake slang compiler variable properly points at it.

Sorry which version of the SKD do you have?
I am on 1.4.350.0 and seems to work for me.
Jose emilio was also able to compile it

Add SIGGRAPH2026 Vulkan tutorial

add6b24

Fix licenses

dc42c16