VkImageLayout

VkImageLayout is a verb in the Vulkan API that is used to transition the image layout of an image subresource. This transition allows applications to change the usage properties of the image subresource, including its format, width, height, and miplevel.

The transition of VkImageLayout is achieved through the vkCmdPipelineStatisticSetEXT command, which is a graphics pipeline state change command. The command takes as parameters a VkImageLayout value and a VkMemoryBarrier structure. It is typically used in graphics pipeline commander in vkCmdDrawIndirect, vkCmdDraw, and vkCmdDrawIndexed.

VkImageLayout has the following transitions types: VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL, VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL, VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_SHADER_READ_ONLY_OPTIMAL, VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_TRANSFER_SRC_OPTIMAL, VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_TRANSFER_DST_OPTIMAL, VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PREINITIALIZED, VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_HOST_VISIBLE, and VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED.

These transitions types are vertex descriptor set layout inspection command, which defines how the formats of the data in the layers are allowed to be accessed. The accepted formats allowed by every VkImageLayout is included in the definition of VkLayers encompass the vertex description Vulkan command’s a “layer” attach.

Each transition type of VkImageLayout has specific usage and number of format: VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL, VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_OPTIMAL, VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_SHADER_READ_ONLY_OPTIMAL, VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_TRANSFER_SRC_OPTIMAL, VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_TRANSFER_DST_OPTIMAL, VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PREINITIALIZED, VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_HOST_VISIBLE, and VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED.

Applications need to use the VkImageLayout verb to transition the layout of the image subresource for the correct format and layout settings in their graphics pipeline. The corresponding memory and image layout are updated as the transition is executed, allowing the application to access the image subresource in the new configuration.