Over-The-Counter Vulkan

OTCV is a lightweight C++ rendering framework built on Vulkan 1.3. It reduces boilerplate without hiding Vulkan objects or execution details.

Components

Base

The Base module provides wrappers and builders for common Vulkan objects, command recording, synchronization and presentation. The underlying Vulkan handles remain accessible when direct API use is needed.

GraphicsPipeline* pipeline = GraphicsPipelineBuilder()
    .vertex_shader(vertex_shader)
    .fragment_shader(fragment_shader)
    .color_attachment(VK_FORMAT_R16G16B16A16_SFLOAT)
    .depth_test(true)
    .build();

Frame Graph

The frame graph orders

• graphics
• compute
• transfer

passes from their declared resource access. It manages

• transient
• imported
• ping-pong history

resources while handling resource aliasing, state transitions and synchronization.

Its runtime layer also manages presentation, swapchain recreation, and on-the-fly graph rebuilding.

fg::Application app(config);

auto build_graph = [](fg::Application* app) {
    auto graph = app->framegraph();

    auto output = graph->add_resource("Output", image_builder);
    auto& pass = graph->add_pass("ToneMapping", fg::PassType::Graphics);

    pass.access(fg::ResourceAccessType::TextureIn, hdr);
    pass.access(fg::ResourceAccessType::ColorOut, output);
    pass.execute_func(record_tone_mapping);

    graph->set_as_backbuffer(output);
};

app.framegraph_initial_build(build_graph);
app.synchronized_frame_update(update_scene);
app.run();

Client code declares resources, pass access and recording callbacks. The frame graph derives execution order and synchronization from those declarations.

ImGui Backend

A custom Dear ImGui renderer that uploads draw data and records rendering commands through OTCV. It can be used directly or as a frame graph pass.

Shader Tool

CMake discovers GLSL shaders, tracks their dependencies and compiles them to Vulkan 1.3 SPIR-V. It also generates matching C++ types from shader layouts.

At runtime, OTCV loads SPIR-V and reflects shader stages, resources, descriptor bindings and push constants for pipeline creation.

Build

Dependencies

• Vulkan 1.3
• GLFW 4.3
• Dear ImGui 1.90.0 source, if enabled

CMake Options

Option	Description
OTCV_GLFW_PATH	Absolute path to GLFW.
OTCV_GLFW_LIB_VARIANT	Subdirectory containing glfw3.lib.
OTCV_ENABLE_IMGUI	Enables the ImGui backend.
OTCV_IMGUI_PATH	Path to the ImGui source.
OTCV_ENABLE_COMPILE_SHADERS	Enables shader compilation.
OTCV_GLSL_IN_PATH	Directory containing GLSL shaders.
OTCV_SPIRV_OUT_PATH	Output directory for compiled SPIR-V.