Google and the Khronos Group has introduced a new graphics API for Android, created with the aim to minimize the load on the CPU and let the GPU more efficiently process data. A development called Vulkan counts as an answer the Internet giant on Apple technology and Metal.
Vulkan was created using the achievements of AMD Mantle and DirectX 12. Actually, Vulkan is a cross — platform API that will work on all possible hardware and software platforms, which is different interface from competing solutions.
The new API provides applications with direct access to the GPU, thus minimizing the dependence on the driver. Also Vulkan allows to better distribute the load on multiple threads.
At the moment the API is still under development, but Imagination Technologies has already demonstrated the advantage of Vulkan on OpenGL ES 3.0. For these purposes we have developed a special test.
In playable “demo” Gnome Horde was involved prototype Vulkan. As you can see, when the little objects, the performance difference is barely noticeable, but is only a “demo” to start to draw a significant number of objects, as the performance difference Vulkan begins to speak for itself. It is connected including with a more uniform load on all four available cores, while the OpenGL version of “demos” hardly uses two.
Similar technology was unveiled by Apple in June last year. API Metal for iOS bypasses layering standard graphics APIs OpenGL ES for mobile games to more direct interaction with the hardware. The use of Metal allows up to 10-fold increase in speed drawing graphics on iPhone and iPad. At WWDC 2015 Apple introduced the implementation of technology for the Mac.
