Learning VULKAN by Rendering a GALAXY

In this video, I showcase my process learning Vulkan by walking through an implementation to render a galaxy.
Codebase:
github.com/frozein/VkGalaxy
Resources:
vulkan-tutorial.com/
vkguide.dev/
beltoforion.de/en/spiral_gala...
Check out my Game:
store.steampowered.com/app/24...
Music (in order):
Madison James Smith - And The Press of a Key (Terra Toy OST): • Terra Toy OST - And Th...
C418 - Preliminary Art Form: • Preliminary Art Form

[@TheScreamingFedora]

I made a pretty similar tutorial in Three.js, but I did not know about the concentric ellipse bit, or that the red spots were called H2 regions. Yours is a lot more scientifically accurate!

[@BalintCsala]

Since you want to continue using Vulkan, I have a couple of recommendations: - Assuming you use C++: Use the official c++ headers, they make most parts of the API at least bearable (e.g. No more double query memes, the enumerate functions return a vector, no sType, etc.) - Look into the extensions that make Vulkan easier to use (e.g. Dynamic rendering). They are usually free to use on PCs (only tiled mobile gpus might suffer from them a bit), have great support and make the experience a lot better.

[@frozein]

Thanks for the advice! Though I plan to do most of my work in C so I wont use vulkan.hpp

[@ShocooYT]

Hello master Balint !

[@MrEnsiferum77]

That's the problem with today developers, instead of doing it, they trying to look smart, hey why don't u do it in React?

[@BalintCsala]

@@MrEnsiferum77 Not sure what you mean, none of those extensions make vulkan easier, they just reduce the amount of bullshit you have to deal with. If you want to write a ton of boilerplate code to get to the exact same point as someone who did it in the smart way (even in terms of performance) then that's a you problem.

[@MrEnsiferum77]

@@BalintCsala tha'ts called npm, and u will call it smart way, until u find similar one and than u will say now this is what i was looking for...

[@fanzaii]

That's really neat! I really like how refined everything looks.

[@Finding_Fortune]

Loved it, what a way to start learning Vulkan!

[@fah1007]

This is amazing bro . Good job . I wish u a amazing journey this year (:

[@ChipboardDev]

This is really cool! The info on the ellipse will help me in my own project!!

[@rmt3589]

This is amazing! I needed a tutorial like this so bad. Thank you! Now to implement it in OpenGL! Eventually...

[@jacksaenz2591]

Super cool video! I love the style you've got going on!

[@trashman7072]

welcome back, its better to focus on your projects then pumping out content. take your time - we appreciate it

[@sehzadeselim863]

Im going to implement my own galaxy system right after finishing the current project, so im lucky to find your video 😊 (actually, i didn't find your yt channel, it found me itself)

[@nite_owl_was_here]

i followed the vulkan-tutorial the past week. apart from the single file structure and some modern c++ not working, it was a great thing to see that triangle on screen. tough experience, but one that I'll take with me for the rest of my life.

[@dottormaelstrom]

The ellipses are a genius hack! A nice exercise for the future could be to implement an actual gravity simulation in vulkan

[@JoeTheis]

Hats off to you, sir. I hear vulkan is quite the beast, so congratulations on conquering it! Sometimes I wish I had the patience for this kind of low-level technical wizardry. But I think at my heart I'm a higher-level gameplay guy. Still, seeing this kind of thing gives me inspiration and motivation to keep ploughing ahead on my own projects. Can't wait to see what you do with this!

[@benrex777productions9]

I'm a mid level type of guy. I don't have the grit to learn stuff like vulkan but I also don't just go into the higher level where you actually see progress and can make games.

[@minetomek]

"With just some magic we have some particles. Now some movement, bigger particles aaannd... we have a galaxy!"

[@frozein]

I didn't want to dive too much into the implementation details as they aren't too interesting. You can read the referenced article for more info: beltoforion.de/en/spiral_galaxy_renderer/?a=spiral_galaxy_renderer

[@publicalias8172]

So.. I see you've decided to become a legend.

[@slava_in3757]

Beautiful

[@PatrickFrom]

The new spore lookin' fresh.

[@kr1sso]

Best thing about this is reading the comments while your eyes adjust and everything is rotating like those galaxies :D

[@vilian9185]

god tutorial in creating the universe

[@streetware-games]

Very nice. Will steal this technique

[@frozein]

Check the article in the description, it goes a little more into the details!

[@dottedboxguy]

new vid, pog

[@LineOfThy]

Very cool :D

[@kerch00]

Didn’t think I’d hear this c418 song here

[@George-bc7ej]

Coool!

[@bug7593]

live long and prosper 🖖

[@diamondore9643]

I want to make a simulation of the universe with ascii graphics, and the way you implemented scaling is very similar to what I want to do. I hope your project will help me

[@lelordiii8702]

Nice

[@art_cg]

That's awesome bro! Loved how smooth the dust cloud looked. I am starting to study computer graphics rn, where did you start learning all this general graphics stuff? Do you have any material recommendations? thanks!

[@frozein]

If you want to learn Vulkan, there are some tutorials in the description. However I would recommend starting with OpenGL as it is easier, here's a great tutorial: learnopengl.com/ Once you've learned one of these APIs just pick a project to attempt and learn as you go!

[@art_cg]

@@frozein nice, thanks man!

[@MisterCallox]

Hey nice video I'm really looking forward on reading how you implemented it! But I wanted to talk about the build of your code on windows 11; I almost never used visual studio and mostly build things on the cli with .bat files or makefiles, so I'm probably doing something wrong. I did use Cmake and I managed to get the .sln file to open on visual studio -> Problem is that the shader won't compile properly and prevents the .exe to launch and sometimes even using your .bat or .sh files would'nt work. So I found the solution by compiling these shaders myself using glsl provided by the vulkan SDK and then I had to manually move the whole "assets" folder to put it next to the .exe (which is buried in build\bin\debug, thx VS) because the only way to compile it on windows is through this mess of a software with this config !!! Cmake is supposed to be "easy" and just makes things worse. Ok I stop it with the rant and I'll add that checking the return value of "fopen_s" with perror in vkh.c:350 would have made this easier somehow.. (I ended up adding it to be sure if that was one of the problems, and it was because it would dereference a NULL pointer later!) Sorry for this big text lol I really enjoy your videos and am grateful that you provide the source code !!! Hope to see more from you in the future

[@frozein]

Sorry you ran into so many issues :( I dual boot windows 11 and ubuntu, so I tested the build scripts for both throughout development, and never experienced any issues myself. Not sure what could be different about your setup. CMake does tend to make a mess of things lol.

[@taishi-sama-tfc]

Awesome video! Have you looked on alternative modern graphical APIs such as WGPU(not to be confused with WebGPU)?

[@frozein]

No, so far I only know Vulkan and OpenGL, but I'd like to try the others in the future.

[@vilian9185]

1:55 the operational system don't have any APi to tell you what graphic card to use?

[@frozein]

No, you have to pick it yourself in Vulkan!

[@cxx.enjoyer]

No way 😲

[@carlosmanuel7160]

Almost as much code as a Java "Hello world!"

[@frozein]

Haha

[@blacklistnr1]

I have just one question: How hard was debugging non-errors? e.g. too slow/too much cpu when zooming into the galaxy or a random graphical glitch when looking at a specific angle

[@frozein]

I didn't really run into any issues aside from Vulkan-specific ones, but I assume fixing this issues wouldn't be much harder in Vulkan than in other APIs.

[@cyanuranus6456]

I Wonder What Game Engine is "Space Engine" Game is Created in

[@DaminGamerMC]

can you do a tutorial on the 3d infinite grid? not the vulkan part more the shaders and transforms magic

[@frozein]

I likely won't do a tutorial, but the codebase is open source if you want to take a look: github.com/frozein/VkGalaxy

[@sjoerdev]

which linux distro are you using and how do you make sure it runs on windows too?

[@frozein]

I'm dual-booting Ubuntu 22 and Windows 11. I do most of my development on Ubuntu but I occasionally switch to Windows to make sure it works there too.

[@sjoerdev]

@@frozein is there a reason you choose ubuntu over debian?

[@frozein]

@@sjoerdev Not particularly, I used ubuntu a bit before so there was some familiarity I guess.

[@MAKiTHappen]

THIS IS INCREDIBLE I have done quite a lot of things in vulkan myself but never even gotten close to this level. You are not only skilled, but also extremely talented, and it's really refreshing to finally hear someone use vulkan and appreciate the fact that it's low-levelness is an upside not a downside And so even though I am fully aware that I'll sound completely childish, I have to ask, would you like to work on a project together?

[@frozein]

Thank you so much! I've always found it more enjoyable to work at a lower level. And I appreciate the offer, but I already have a few projects I'm working on myself so I don't have time for anything new.

[@MAKiTHappen]

@@frozein Reasonable, thanks for considering and I really would like to reiterate just how talented and skilled you are. Keep doing what you're doing because it's outstanding

[@mldy1]

good video, next time maybe 1440p or 4K for higher bitrate

[@frozein]

Yeah KZbin compression didn't play well with this video haha

[@myrmatta1]

Great video! (what is happening)

[@karanahlawat9106]

Hoooooly shit my guy.

[@TheMiniatureRobot]

yo, what vs code theme are u using? It looks sick

[@frozein]

It's called gruvbox

[@Fuscao_Preto]

I've been trying to learn vulkan for a while, but man does it miss tutorials.

[@frozein]

Yeah, there really aren't any tutorials that go beyond just a triangle.

[@Biggest-Ounce]

Care to share your editor, and configurations? 😮😅

[@frozein]

I'm using vscode with the "gruvbox" theme.

[@Biggest-Ounce]

@@frozein I love Gruvbox too, I guess that means we’re kinda basic-but hey 🤷‍♂️ it’s a nice theme

[@wlockuz4467]

Bro did some building off camera 💀

[@10bokaj]

now you just need some small creatures and then you have spore

[@luigidabro]

Are you using gruvbox for vscode?

[@frozein]

Yes, love this theme

[@luigidabro]

@@frozein it is truly beautiful. My entire arch-suckless config is based on it!

[@first9279]

I would love to work with Vulkan, but sadly my pc doesnt like it.

[@eduardoroth8207]

same. my gpu has absolutely no clue of what """vulkan""" is

[@first9279]

@@eduardoroth8207 mine knows it, but doesnt like it when I want to use it. Idk whats the problem it just doesnt work. It cant compile shaders i think... Cute Cat btw

[@zdspider6778]

I read that Vulkan works on graphics cards as old as 2010 (GTX 500 series, "Fermi" architecture).

[@Voidptr0403]

are you the gigachad?

[@FUTURE_XD]

he is

[@andrewpoison]

I basically learned nothing apart from that I don't want to try it out :D

[@frozein]

Yes it's quite difficult. This video wasn't meant to be a tutorial as that would take far too long, just an update on what I'm working on.

[@andrewpoison]

@@frozein I didn't mean to sound harsh towards you, I basically just brain-farted :D

[@frozein]

@@andrewpoison No worries, glad you enjoyed the video!

[@PK-we6vk]

I thought we'd be learning the language...

[@frozein]

Check the description if you want some tutorials, they're quite lengthy unfortunately.

[@PK-we6vk]

​@@frozeinI meant the vulkan language from Star Trek lol

[@frozein]

@@PK-we6vk Ohhh, makes sense haha

[@zdspider6778]

@@PK-we6vk Vulcan and Vulkan are different things.

[@user-hd8tg4em2n]

OpenGL is easier.

[@frozein]

Agreed, but Vulkan is much more modern so probably a better choice for the future.

[@vilian9185]

@@frozein and faster too

[@NeroDefogger]

I knew before the start that it wouldn't be about the galaxy code and about how to render using vulkan.... yeeet I'm still somehow disappointed, you did in fact not say literally anything about how you are doing that galaxy, it is such a complex topic for physicists right now and you didn't even care to explain how you did your obviously not attempting to be precise version, like you couldn't give me even that, and as I said I knew, but still... I guess I hoped to be wrong...