VkPhysicalDeviceFeatures

VkPhysicalDevice is a fundamental structure in the Vulkan graphics API. It represents a physical graphics device available on the system, such as an integrated GPU or a discrete graphics card. When a Vulkan application starts, it enumerates these physical devices to determine which ones are available for use.

Each VkPhysicalDevice object provides access to a wide range of information about the hardware. This includes details about its capabilities, such as supported features, memory properties, queue family properties (describing different types of work the GPU can perform), and format support. Developers use this information to query and understand the limitations and strengths of the hardware.

Before creating a VkDevice, which is a logical device that the application will interact with, developers must first select a suitable VkPhysicalDevice. This selection process often involves checking if the physical device meets the application's requirements for features, memory, and performance. Once a VkPhysicalDevice is chosen, it is then used as a handle when creating the logical VkDevice. The VkPhysicalDevice itself is not directly used for rendering commands; instead, it serves as the blueprint from which the VkDevice is created.