# gfx
An efficient, low-level, bindless graphics API for Rust.
# Overview
## Command buffers and encoders
A command buffer is a serialized list of drawing and compute commands.
Unlike with vulkan, command buffers are not what you use to create commands, but only
the result of creating these commands. Gfx, borrowing metal's terminology, uses
encoders to build command buffers. This means that, in general, users of the gfx crate
don't manipulate command buffers directly much and interact mostly with encoders.
Manipulating an `Encoder` in gfx corresponds to interacting with:
- a `VkCommandBuffer` in vulkan,
- a `MTLCommandEncoder` in metal,
- an `ID3D12GraphicsCommandList` in D3D12.
OpenGL and earlier versions of D3D don't have an explicit notion of command buffers
or encoders (with the exception of draw indirect commands in late versions of OpenGL,
which can be seen as a GPU-side command buffer). They are managed implicitly by the driver.
See:
- The [`Encoder` struct documentation](struct.Encoder.html).
- The [`Command buffer` trait documentation](trait.CommandBuffer.html).
## Factory
The factory is what lets you allocate GPU resources such as buffers and textures.
Each gfx backend provides its own factory type which implements both:
- The [`Factory` trait](traits/trait.Factory.html#overview).
- The [`FactoryExt` trait](traits/trait.FactoryExt.html).
`gfx::Factory` is roughly equivalent to:
- `VkDevice` in vulkan,
- `ID3D11Device` in D3D11,
- `MTLDevice` in metal.
OpenGL does not have a notion of factory (resources are created directly off of the global
context). D3D11 has a DXGI factory but it is only used to interface with other processes
and the window manager, resources like textures are usually created using the device.
## Device
See [the `gfx::Device` trait](trait.Device.html).
## Pipeline state (PSO)
See [the documentation of the gfx::pso module](pso/index.html).
## Memory management
Handles internally use atomically reference counted pointers to deal with memory management.
GPU resources are not destroyed right away when all references to them are gone. Instead they
are destroyed the next time [Device::cleanup](trait.Device.html#tymethod.cleanup) is called.
# Examples
See [the examples in the repository](https://github.com/gfx-rs/gfx/tree/master/examples).
# Useful resources
- [Documentation for some of the technical terms](doc/terminology/index.html)
used in the API.
- [Learning gfx](https://wiki.alopex.li/LearningGfx) tutorial.
- See [the blog](http://gfx-rs.github.io/) for more explanations and annotated examples.