| master | dev | | :---: | :---: | | | |

VQEngine

VQEngine is a multi-threaded DirectX12 renderer for prototyping of rendering techniques and experimenting with cutting edge technology.

See Releases to download the source & pre-built executables.

Screenshots

<p align="center"> _{<i>Data-driven (XML) Scenes & glTF Model Loading, HDRI Environment Maps, UE4's PBR model w/ IBL, ImGui UI & debug drawing, AMD FidelityFX CACAO, CAS, FSR1, SSSR, DNSR, SPD </i>} </p> <br/>

<p align="center"> _{<i>Debug draw modes</i>} </p> <br/>

<p align="center"> _{<i>Object selection, light bounds, magnifier</i>} </p> <br/>

<p align="center"> _{<i>Tessellation pipeline drawing a single large quad domain mesh w/ heightmap</i>} </p> <br/>

<p align="center"> _{<i>How a frame is rendered by VQEngine</i>} </p>

<p align="center"> _{<i>Command list & queue management: rendering, background (lower prio) gpu tasks and dedicated presentation queue</i>} <br/> _{<i>The dedicated presentation queue, can be toggled on/off from settings</i>} </p> <br/>

<p align="center"> _{<i>Radeon Graphics Profiler capture from the stress test scene showcasing async compute</i>} </p> <br/>

<p align="center"> _{<i>Instanced rendering w/ LODs</i>} </p>

Features

Graphics

• Physically-based Rendering (PBR)
  • BRDF
    • NDF : Trowbridge-Reitz GGX
    • G : Smith
    • F : Fresnel_Schlick / Fresnel_Gaussian
  • Image-based Lighting (IBL) w/ prefiltered environment cubemaps from HDRI Haven
    • Load-time diffuse & specular irradiance cubemap convolution
• Lighting & Shadow maps
  • Point / Spot / Directional Lights
  • PCF Shadows
• Reflections
  • FidelityFX - Stochastic Screen Space Reflections (SSSR)
  • FidelityFX - Denoiser (DNSR)
• Ambient Occlusion
  • FidelityFX - Combined Adaptive Compute Ambient Occlusion (CACAO)
• Anti Aliasing
  • MSAA x4
• PostProcess
  • FidelityFX - Single Pass Downsampler (SPD)
  • Tonemapping & Gamma correction
  • FidelityFX - Contrast Adaptive Sharpening (CAS)
  • FidelityFX - Super Resolution 1.0
• Async Compute & Copy queue support
• Tessellation Pipeline
  • Triangle & Quad domains

Display

• HDR display support with scRGB HDR pipeline
• Multiple window & monitor support
• Refresh Rate
  • Custom
  • Auto (1.33 x monitor refresh rate)
  • Unlocked
• VSync
• Alt+Enter Borderless Fullscreen

Engine

• Multi-threading
  • Worker threads
    • Parallel command list recording
    • Frustum Culling
    • Asset loading
    • PSO & Shader compilation
  • Main + Simulation threads to decouple OS events from the update loop
• glTF 2.0 model loading
• Shader system
  • Shader cache
  • Multi-threaded shader compilation
  • Shader Model 5.0 (DXBC) & 6.0 (DXIL)
• Editor for Materials, Lights & Transforms
• Automated build & testing scripts

<p align="center"> _{<i>Multi-threaded loading: Textures, Shaders & PSOs. Not shown: Models</i>} </p> <br/>

<p align="center"> _{<i>Multi-threaded simulation: Frustum culling & parallel command list recording</i>} </p>

Build

Make sure to have pre-requisites installed

• CMake 3.24
• Visual Studio 2022
• Windows 10 SDK 10.0.20348 OR Windows 11 SDK 10.26100.0

To download the PBR & HDRI textures, run

• Scripts/DownloadAssets.bat

Then, run one of the build scripts in Build/ folder,

• GenerateSolutions.bat to build from source with Visual Studio
  • VQE.sln can be found in Build/SolutionFiles directory
• PackageEngine.bat to build and package the engine in release mode and open _artifacts folder
  • VQE.exe can be found in Build/_artifacts directory

Run

Make sure to have installed

• MSVC v143 - VS 2022 C++ x64/x86 build tools
• A DX12-capable GPU

Double click VQE.exe.

Or, if you're using a terminal

• VQE.exe -LogConsole for logging displayed on a console
• VQE.exe -LogFile="FileName.txt" to write out to a file.

Controls

| Key | | | :--: | :-- | | WASD+EQ | Camera movement | | Left Click | Pick object | | Right Click | Hold to look around | | F1 | Toggle Scene Controls | | F2 | Toggle Profiler | | F3 | Toggle Settings | | F4 | Toggle Editor | | Page Up/Down | Change Environment Map | | 1-4 | Change scenes <br>1 - Default Scene <br>2 - Sponza <br>3 - Geometry Test Scene <br>4 - Stress Test Scene | | Shift+R | Reload level | | C | Change scene camera | | V | Toggle VSync | | M | Toggle MSAA | | G | Toggle tonemapping gamma | | J | Toggle FidelityFX-SuperResolution1 | | B | Toggle FidelityFX-CAS | | N | Toggle object bounding boxes | | Shift+N | Toggle mesh bounding boxes | | Alt+Enter | Toggle Fullscreen |

Settings

VQE can be configured through Data/EngineConfig.ini file

| Graphics Settings | | | :-- | :-- | | ResolutionX=<int> | Sets application render resolution width | | ResolutionY=<int> | Sets application render resolution height | | VSync=<bool> <br/> | Toggles VSync based on the specified <bool> | | AntiAliasing=<bool> | Toggles MSAA based on the specified <bool> | | MaxFrameRate=<int> | Sets maximum frame rate to the specified <int> | | HDR=<bool> | Toggles HDR swapchain & HDR display support |

<br/>

| Engine | | | :-- | :-- | | Width=<int> | Sets application main window width | | Height=<int> | Sets application main window height | | DisplayMode=<Windowed/Fulscreen> | Sets Sets application main window mode: Windowed or Fullscreen |

Command Line

VQE supports the following command line parameters:

| CMD Line Parameter | Description | | :-- | :-- | | -LogConsole | Launches a console window that displays log messages | | -LogFile=<string> | Writes logs into an output file specified by %FILE_NAME%. <br/><br/> Example: VQE.exe -LogFile=Logs/log.txt <br/>will create Logs/ directory if it doesn't exist, and write log messages to the log.txt file | -Test | Launches the application in test mode: <br/> The app renders a pre-defined amount of frames and then exits. | | -TestFrames=<int> | Application runs the sepcified amount of frames and then exits. <br/>Used for Automated testing. <br/><br/> Example: VQE.exe -TestFrames=1000 | | -W=<int> <br/> -Width=<int> | Sets application main window width to the specified amount | | -H=<int> <br/> -Height=<int> | Sets application main window height to the specified amount | | -ResX=<int> | Sets application render resolution width | | -ResY=<int> | Sets application render resolution height | | -FullScreen | Launches in fullscreen mode | | -Windowed | Launches in windowed mode | | -VSync | Enables VSync | | -VSync=<bool> | Sets Specified VSync State | | -AntiAliasing or -AA | Enables MSAA | | -TripleBuffering | Initializes SwapChain with 3 back buffers | | -DoubleBuffering | Initializes SwapChain with 2 back buffers |

Note: Command line parameters will override the EngineSettings.ini values.

Scripts

| File | | | :-- | :-- | | ProjectFiles.bat | What it does <br/>- Initializes the submodule repos<br/> - Runs CMake to generate visual studio solution files in Build/SolutionFiles directory <br/> - Launches Visual Studio <br/> <br/> Flags <br/> - noVS : Updates/Generates VQE.sln without launching a Visual Studio instance <br/><br/> Example : GenerateSolutions.bat -noVS <br/> while VS is open to update solution files after modifying CmakeLists.txt without closing/relaunching VS | PackageEngine.bat | What it does <br/> - Runs GenerateSolutions.bat if the visual studio solution doesn't exist <br/> - Builds the engine in Release configuration <br/> - Moves build output into Build/_artifacts folder <br/> <br/> Flags <br/> -Clean : Runs Clean on VQE.sln projects before building <br/> -DebugOnly : Builds the Debug binaries only <br/> -Debug : Builds Debug binaries in addition to Release <br/> -RelWithDebInfo : Builds the Release binaries with Debug info in addition to Release <br/><br/> Note: Release build is always on by default, unless -DebugOnly is specified <br/><br/> *Example: PackageEngine.bat -Clean -Debug -RelWithDebInfo <br/>will build all configurations after running Cle