VkComputePipeline

VkComputePipeline is a Vulkan object that represents a complete compute pipeline. It encapsulates all the necessary state required to execute a compute shader on a GPU, including shader stages, pipeline layout, and associated state objects. A VkComputePipeline is created from a VkComputePipelineCreateInfo structure.

The VkComputePipelineCreateInfo structure defines the pipeline's configuration. Key members include the pStages, which specifies the compute shader stages, and the layout, which defines the set of descriptor sets and push constants accessible by the shaders. Other members can configure dynamic states, render pass, and subpass, though these are less common for pure compute pipelines.

Once created, a VkComputePipeline is bound to a VkCommandBuffer using vkCmdBindPipeline. Subsequent calls to vkCmdDispatch or vkCmdDispatchIndirect on that command buffer will utilize the state defined by the bound compute pipeline.

The creation of a VkComputePipeline is a relatively expensive operation. It's typically created once during application initialization or when pipeline parameters need to change significantly and then reused multiple times throughout the application's lifetime. This is in contrast to binding and dispatching, which are done frequently.

Destroying a VkComputePipeline is done using the vkDestroyComputePipeline function, which releases the associated GPU resources.