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

_{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}

_{Debug draw modes}

_{Object selection, light bounds, magnifier}

_{Tessellation pipeline drawing a single large quad domain mesh w/ heightmap}

_{How a frame is rendered by VQEngine}

_{Command list & queue management: rendering, background (lower prio) gpu tasks and dedicated presentation queue
The dedicated presentation queue, can be toggled on/off from settings}

_{Radeon Graphics Profiler capture from the stress test scene showcasing async compute}

_{Instanced rendering w/ LODs}

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

_{Multi-threaded loading: Textures, Shaders & PSOs. Not shown: Models}

_{Multi-threaded simulation: Frustum culling & parallel command list recording}

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 1 - Default Scene 2 - Sponza 3 - Geometry Test Scene 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>	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

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%. Example: VQE.exe -LogFile=Logs/log.txt 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: The app renders a pre-defined amount of frames and then exits.
-TestFrames=<int>	Application runs the sepcified amount of frames and then exits. Used for Automated testing. Example: VQE.exe -TestFrames=1000
-W=<int> -Width=<int>	Sets application main window width to the specified amount
-H=<int> -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 - Initializes the submodule repos - Runs CMake to generate visual studio solution files in Build/SolutionFiles directory - Launches Visual Studio Flags - noVS : Updates/Generates VQE.sln without launching a Visual Studio instance Example : GenerateSolutions.bat -noVS while VS is open to update solution files after modifying CmakeLists.txt without closing/relaunching VS
PackageEngine.bat	What it does - Runs GenerateSolutions.bat if the visual studio solution doesn't exist - Builds the engine in Release configuration - Moves build output into Build/_artifacts folder Flags -Clean : Runs Clean on VQE.sln projects before building -DebugOnly : Builds the Debug binaries only -Debug : Builds Debug binaries in addition to Release -RelWithDebInfo : Builds the Release binaries with Debug info in addition to Release Note: Release build is always on by default, unless -DebugOnly is specified Example: PackageEngine.bat -Clean -Debug -RelWithDebInfo will build all configurations after running Clean and copy the binaries into Build/_artifacts folder
TestVQE.bat	What it does - Runs VQE.exe with testing parameters, making the engine exit after rendering specified number of frames (1000 default). Flags -Debug: Tests the Debug build in addition to the Release build

3rd-Party

• D3DX12
• D3D12MA
• stb
• tinyxml2
• [cgltf][https://github.com/jkuhlmann/cgltf]
• WinPixEventRuntime
• Khronos glTF Sample Models
• cgbookcase PBR Textures
• AMD-FidelityFX
• Dear ImGui