GitHub - DiligentGraphics/DiligentEngine: A modern cross-platform low-level graphics library and rendering framework
Diligent Engine
A Modern Cross-Platform Low-Level 3D Graphics Library and Rendering Framework
Diligent Engine is a lightweight, high-performance graphics API abstraction layer and rendering framework for cross-platform development. It leverages the power of modern graphics APIs such as Direct3D12, Vulkan, Metal, and WebGPU, while also maintaining robust support for legacy platforms through Direct3D11, OpenGL, OpenGLES, and WebGL. Providing a consistent front-end API, Diligent Engine uses HLSL as its universal shading language and also supports platform-specific shader formats (GLSL, MSL, DirectX bytecode, SPIR-V) for optimized performance. Ideal for game engines, interactive simulations, and 3D visualization applications, Diligent Engine is open-source and distributed under the permissive
.
Supported Platforms and Low-Level Graphics APIs
PlatformD3D11D3D12OpenGL/GLESVulkanMetalWebGPUBuild Status
Windows✔️✔️✔️✔️-✔️ 3
Universal Windows✔️✔️----
Linux--✔️✔️-✔️ 3
Android--✔️✔️--
macOS--✔️✔️ 1✔️ 2✔️ 3
iOS--✔️✔️ 1✔️ 2-
tvOS---✔️ 1✔️ 2-
visionOS----✔️ 2-
Web--✔️--✔️
1 Vulkan API is not natively supported on macOS, iOS and tvOS platforms and requires a Vulkan portability implementation such as
or
.
2 Available under commercial license - please contact us for details.
3 Requires a native implementation of WebGPU,
is recommended.
Features
Cross-platform Exact same client code for all supported platforms and rendering backends No #if defined(_WIN32) ... #elif defined(LINUX) ... #elif defined(ANDROID) ...
No #if defined(D3D11) ... #elif defined(D3D12) ... #elif defined(OPENGL) ...
Exact same HLSL shaders (VS, PS, GS, HS, DS, CS) run on all platforms and all back-ends
High performance
Modular design Components are clearly separated logically and physically and can be used as needed
Only take what you need for your project
Clear and concise API C/C++/C#
Object-based
Stateless
Key graphics features:
Automatic shader resource binding
designed to leverage next-generation graphics APIs
Multithreaded command buffer generation
Multithreaded resource creation
Automatic or explicit control over resource state transitions
Descriptor and memory management
Shader resource reflection
Async compute and multiple command queues
Ray-tracing, mesh shaders, tile shaders, bindless resources, variable rate shading, sparse resources, wave operations, and other state-of-the-art capabilities
JSON-based render state description language and state packaging tool
Extensive validation and error reporting
Modern c++ features to make the code fast and reliable
Consistent high quality is ensured by continuous integration Automated builds and unit testing
Source code formatting validation
Static analysis
Minimum supported low-level API versions:
OpenGL 4.1
OpenGLES 3.0
WebGL 2.0
Direct3D11.1
Direct3D12 with SDK version 10.0.19041.0
Vulkan 1.0
Metal 1.0
High-level Rendering components
Screen-Space Ambient Occlusion
Atmospheric light scattering post-effect
, an implementation of the Hydra rendering API in Diligent Engine.
Table of Contents
Integrating Diligent Engine with Existing Build System
High-Level Rendering Components
Products Using Diligent Engine
Cloning the Repository
This is the master repository that contains four
. To get the repository and all submodules, use the following command:
git clone --recursive https://github.com/DiligentGraphics/DiligentEngine.git When updating existing repository, don't forget to update all submodules:
git pull git submodule update --recursive It is also a good idea to re-run CMake and perform clean rebuild after getting the latest version.
Repository Structure
Master repository includes the following submodules:
submodule implements
,
,
, and
back-ends. The module is self-contained and can be built by its own.
submodule contains
,
,
,
native application implementation
,
Diligent render state notation parser
and
offline render state packaging tool
.
is a high-level rendering framework that implements various rendering components. The module depends on Core and Tools modules.
submodule contains tutorials and sample applications intended to demonstrate the usage of the Diligent Engine API. The module depends on Core, Tools and DiligentFX modules.
Build and Run Instructions
Diligent Engine uses
as a cross-platform build tool. To start using cmake, download the
(3.20 or later is required). Another build prerequisite is
(3.0 or later is required). If after following the instructions below you have build/run issues, please take a look at
.
Win32
Build prerequisites:
Windows SDK 10.0.19041.0 or later
C++ build tools
Visual C++ ATL Support
.NET support requires .NET SDK 6.0 or later.
Use either CMake GUI or command line tool to generate build files. For example, to generate
64-bit solution and project files in build/Win64 folder, navigate to the engine's root folder and run the following command:
cmake -S . -B ./build/Win64 -G "Visual Studio 18 2026" -A x64 You can generate Win32 solution that targets Win8.1 SDK using the following command:
cmake -D CMAKE_SYSTEM_VERSION=8.1 -S . -B ./build/Win64_8.1 -G "Visual Studio 18 2026" -A x64 If you use MinGW, you can generate the make files using the command below (note however that the functionality will be limited and that MinGW is not a recommended way to build the engine):
cmake -S . -B ./build/MinGW -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -G "MinGW Makefiles" ⚠️ In current implementation, full path to cmake build folder must not contain white spaces.
To enable Vulkan validation layers, you will need to download the
and add environment variable VK_LAYER_PATH that contains the path to the Bin directory in VulkanSDK installation folder.
Open DiligentEngine.sln file in build/Win64 folder, select configuration and build the engine. Set the desired project as startup project (by default, GLTF Viewer will be selected) and run it.
By default, sample and tutorial applications will show rendering backend selection dialog box. Use the following command line options to force D3D11, D3D12, OpenGL, or Vulkan mode: --mode d3d11, --mode d3d12, --mode gl, or --mode vk. If you want to run an application outside of Visual Studio environment, the application's assets folder must be set as working directory. (For Visual Studio, this is automatically configured by CMake). Alternatively, you can navigate to the build target or install folder and run the executable from there.
Universal Windows Platform
To generate build files for Universal Windows platform, you need to define the following two cmake variables:
CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=WindowsStore
CMAKE_SYSTEM_VERSION=< Windows Version >
For example, to generate Visual Studio 2026 64-bit solution and project files in build/UWP64 folder, run the following command from the engine's root folder:
cmake -D CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=WindowsStore -D CMAKE_SYSTEM_VERSION=10.0 -S . -B ./build/UWP64 -G "Visual Studio 18 2026" -A x64 Set the desired project as startup project (by default, GLTF Viewer will be selected) and run it.
By default, applications will run in D3D12 mode. You can select D3D11 or D3D12 using the following command line options: --mode d3d11, --mode d3d12.
Note: it is possible to generate solution that targets Windows 8.1 by defining CMAKE_SYSTEM_VERSION=8.1 cmake variable, but it will fail to build as it will use Visual Studio 2013 (v120) toolset that lacks proper c++14 support.
Linux
Your Linux environment needs to be set up for c++ development. If it already is, make sure your c++ tools are up to date as Diligent Engine uses modern c++ features (clang 10 or later is recommended).
⚠️ gcc 9 and above seemingly produces invalid binary code with O2 and O3 optimization levels. To avoid crashes, optimization level is downgraded to O1 in release configurations. It is recommended to use clang or gcc 7 or 8.
You may need to install the following packages:
gcc, clang, make and other essential c/c++ tools:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade sudo apt-get install build-essential cmake
sudo apt-get install cmake Other required packages:
sudo apt-get install libx11-dev sudo apt-get install mesa-common-dev sudo apt-get install mesa-utils sudo apt-get install libgl-dev sudo apt-get install python3-distutils sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dev sudo apt-get install libxrandr-dev sudo apt-get install libxinerama-dev sudo apt-get install libxcursor-dev sudo apt-get install libxi-dev To configure Vulkan you will also need to:
Install latest Vulkan drivers and libraries for your GPU
Install
To make sure that you system is properly configured you can try to build and run samples from the SDK
To generate make files for debug configuration, run the following CMake command from the engine's root folder:
cmake -S . -B ./build -G "Unix Makefiles" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE="Debug" To build the engine, run the following command:
cmake --build ./build On Ubuntu 23 and newer, it may crash if you don't have libtinfo5 installed, you'll need to
.
The engine's root folder contains
settings files that configure the IDE to build the engine. You can run applications directly from the IDE. To run an application from the command line, the app's assets folder must be current directory.
Android
Please make sure that your machine is set up for Android development. Download
,
install and configure the NDK and CMake
and other required tools. NDK r24 or later is required. If you are not using CMake version bundled with Android Studio, make sure your build files are
. To verify that your environment is properly set up, try building the
as well as
.
Open DiligentSamples/Android folder with Android Studio to build and run tutorials and samples on Android.
By default, applications will run in Vulkan mode. To run them in Vulkan mode, add the following launch flags: --es mode gles (in Android Studio, go to Run->Edit Configurations menu)
macOS
Prerequisites:
Xcode 16 or later
Vulkan SDK 1.4.335.1 or later to enable Vulkan
After you clone the repo, run the following command from the engine's root folder to generate Xcode project:
cmake -S . -B ./build/MacOS -G "Xcode" The project will be located in build/MacOS folder.
Note that if CMake fails to find the compiler, you may need to run the following command:
sudo xcode-select --reset Configuring Vulkan Build Environment
By default there is no Vulkan implementation on macOS. Diligent Engine loads Vulkan dynamically and can use a Vulkan Portability implementation such as
or
. Install
and make sure that your system is properly configured as described
. In particular, you may need to define the following environment variables (assuming that Vulkan SDK is installed at /Users/MyName/VulkanSDK/1.4.335.1 and you want to use MoltenVK):
export VULKAN_SDK=/Users/MyName/VulkanSDK/1.4.335.1/macOS export PATH=$VULKAN_SDK/bin:$PATH export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=$VULKAN_SDK/lib:$DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH export VK_ADD_LAYER_PATH=$VULKAN_SDK/share/vulkan/explicit_layer.d export VK_ICD_FILENAMES=$VULKAN_SDK/share/vulkan/icd.d/MoltenVK_icd.json export VK_DRIVER_FILES=$VULKAN_SDK/share/vulkan/icd.d/MoltenVK_icd.json Note that environment variables set in the shell are not seen by the applications launched from Launchpad or other desktop GUI. Thus to make sure that an application finds Vulkan libraries, it needs to be started from the command line. Due to the same reason, the xcode project file should also be opened from the shell using open command. With Xcode versions 7 and later, this behavior may need to be enabled first using the following command:
defaults write com.apple.dt.Xcode UseSanitizedBuildSystemEnvironment -bool NO Please refer to
for more details.
⚠️DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variables are ignored on macOS unless System Integrity Protection is disabled (which generally is not recommended). In order for executables to find the Vulkan library, it must be in rpath. If VULKAN_SDK environment variable is set and points to correct location, Diligent Engine will configure the rpath for all applications automatically.
Latest tested Vulkan SDK version: 1.4.335.1.
⚠️ There are known issues with later versions of the SDK, so it is recommended to use the latest tested version.
iOS
Prerequisites:
Xcode 16 or later
Vulkan SDK 1.4.335.1 or later to enable Vulkan
Run the command below from the engine's root folder to generate Xcode project configured for
:
cmake-S.-B./build/iOS-DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=iOS-G"Xcode"If needed, you can provide iOS deployment target (13.0 or later is required) as well as other parameters, e.g.:
cmake-S.-B./build/iOS-DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=iOS-DCMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=13.0-G"Xcode"⚠️ To build for iPhone simulator, use the iphonesimulator system root. You may also use the CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES variable to specify target architecture, for example:
cmake-S.-B./build/iOSSim-DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=iOS-DCMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT=iphonesimulator-DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES=arm64-G"Xcode"Open Xcode project file in build/IOS folder and build the engine. To run the applications on an iOS device, you will need to set appropriate development team in the project settings.
Configuring Vulkan Build Environment
To enable Vulkan on iOS, download and install the
. There is no Vulkan loader on iOS, and Diligent Engine links directly with MoltenVK XCFramework (see
) that implements Vulkan on Metal. To enable Vulkan in Diligent Engine on iOS, specify the path to Vulkan SDK when running CMake, for example (assuming that Vulkan SDK is installed at /Users/MyName/VulkanSDK/1.4.335.1):
cmake-DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=iOS-DVULKAN_SDK=/Users/MyName/VulkanSDK/1.4.335.1-S.-B./build/iOS-G"Xcode"By default, the engine links with MoltenVK XCFramework located in Vulkan SDK. If this is not desired or an application wants to use a specific library, it can provide the full path to the library via MOLTENVK_LIBRARY CMake variable.
Refer to
for more information about MoltenVK installation and usage.
Latest tested Vulkan SDK version: 1.4.335.1.
⚠️ There are known issues with later versions of the SDK, so it is recommended to use the latest tested version.
Web
Build prerequisites:
Emscripten SDK 3.1.65
Ninja 1.10.2
To activate PATH and other environment variables in the current terminal
source${PATH_TO_EMSDK}/emsdk/emsdk_env.sh⚠️ On Windows, run ${PATH_TO_EMSDK}/emsdk/emsdk_env.bat instead of source ${PATH_TO_EMSDK}/emsdk/emsdk_env.sh
To generate project, run the following CMake command from the engine's root folder:
emcmakecmake-S.-B./build/Emscripten-G"Ninja"To build the engine, run the following command:
cmake--build./build/EmscriptenTo test Web applications, run a basic web server
cd ./build/Emscripten python https_server.pyOpen a browser and navigate to http://localhost
For example, the Hello Triangle tutorial will be available at
http://localhost/DiligentSamples/Tutorials/Tutorial01_HelloTriangle/Tutorial01_HelloTriangle.html To access the server from another computer on the local network, use the HTTPS server. To enable this, first install the cryptography module. You can do so by running the following command:
pip install cryptographyTo start the HTTPS server, use the following command:
python https_server.py --mode=httpsUse the HTTPS protocol to open the pages. For example:
https://localhost/DiligentSamples/Tutorials/Tutorial01_HelloTriangle/Tutorial01_HelloTriangle.html When using the HTTPS server, unlike with the HTTP server, you may encounter the following error when loading the page: net::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID.
There are two ways to resolve this issue:
Click the Advanced button and then select Proceed to localhost (unsafe).
Alternatively, start the terminal as administrator and run the following command:
python https_server.py --mode=https --registerWe use the default ports for HTTP/HTTPS protocols, 80 and 443 respectively. If you already have a server running on those ports, you may specify a different port number using the --port argument and include the corresponding port number in the URL after the IP address. For example:
http://localhost:${YOUR_PORT}/DiligentSamples/Tutorials/Tutorial01_HelloTriangle/Tutorial01_HelloTriangle.html Integrating Diligent Engine with Existing Build System
Diligent has modular structure, so for your project you can only use those submodules that implement the required functionality. The diagram below shows the dependencies between modules.
Core | +------>Tools----------. | | | | V | +------->FX---------. | | | | | V V '----------------->Samples Don't forget to recursively initialize submodules if you are adding Diligent repos as submodules to your project.
Your Project Uses Cmake
If your project uses CMake, adding Diligent Engine requires just few lines of code. Suppose that the directory structure looks like this:
| +-DiligentCore +-HelloDiligent.cpp Then the following steps need to be done:
Call add_subdirectory(DiligentCore)
Add dependencies on the targets implementing required rendering backends
Below is an example of a CMake file:
cmake_minimum_required (VERSION3.6) project(HelloDiligent CXX) add_subdirectory(DiligentCore) add_executable(HelloDiligentWIN32HelloDiligent.cpp) target_compile_options(HelloDiligentPRIVATE-DUNICODE) target_link_libraries(HelloDiligentPRIVATEDiligent-GraphicsEngineD3D11-sharedDiligent-GraphicsEngineOpenGL-sharedDiligent-GraphicsEngineD3D12-sharedDiligent-GraphicsEngineVk-shared ) copy_required_dlls(HelloDiligent)copy_required_dlls() is a convenience function that copies shared libraries next to the executable so that the system can find and load them. Please also take a look at getting started tutorials for
and
.
Static vs Dynamic Linking
On most platforms, core engine libraries are built in both static and dynamic versions (for example, Diligent-GraphicsEngineD3D12-static and Diligent-GraphicsEngineD3D12-shared). You can choose which version to link with by changing the target name in target_link_libraries() CMake command. When linking with dynamic libraries, the ENGINE_DLL macro will be defined, and the libraries will need to be loaded at runtime. For example, for Direct3D12 backend:
#if ENGINE_DLL // Load the dll and import GetEngineFactoryD3D12() functionauto GetEngineFactoryD3D12 = LoadGraphicsEngineD3D12(); #endifauto* pFactoryD3D12 = GetEngineFactoryD3D12();When using static linking, the ENGINE_DLL macro will not be defined, and the GetEngineFactoryD3D12 function will be statically linked with the executable.
file provides an example of how to initialize the engine on different platforms using static or dynamic linking.
Using FetchContent
You can use
to download Diligent Engine modules. The only caveat is that you need to specify the source directory for each module to be the same as the module name, so that header files can be found. Below is an example of a CMake file that uses FetchContent:
cmake_minimum_required (VERSION3.6) project(HelloDiligent CXX) include(FetchContent) FetchContent_Declare( DiligentCore GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/DiligentGraphics/DiligentCore.git SOURCE_DIR _deps/DiligentCore ) FetchContent_Declare( DiligentTools GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/DiligentGraphics/DiligentTools.git SOURCE_DIR _deps/DiligentTools ) FetchContent_Declare( DiligentFX GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/DiligentGraphics/DiligentFX.git SOURCE_DIR _deps/DiligentFX ) FetchContent_MakeAvailable(DiligentCore DiligentTools DiligentFX) add_executable(HelloDiligentWIN32HelloDiligent.cpp) target_include_directories(HelloDiligentPRIVATE${diligentcore_SOURCE_DIR}${diligenttools_SOURCE_DIR}${diligentfx_SOURCE_DIR} ) target_compile_definitions(HelloDiligentPRIVATEUNICODE) target_link_libraries(HelloDiligentPRIVATEDiligent-BuildSettingsDiligent-GraphicsEngineD3D11-sharedDiligent-GraphicsEngineD3D12-sharedDiligent-GraphicsEngineOpenGL-sharedDiligent-GraphicsEngineVk-sharedDiligentFX ) copy_required_dlls(HelloDiligent)Your Project Does Not Use Cmake
If your project doesn't use CMake, it is recommended to build libraries with CMake and add them to your build system. You can download the latest build artifacts from
.
Global CMake installation directory is controlled by
variable. Note that it defaults to /usr/local on UNIX and c:/Program Files/${PROJECT_NAME} on Windows, which may not be what you want. Use -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=install to use local install folder instead:
cmake -S . -B ./build/Win64 -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=install -G "Visual Studio 18 2026" -A x64 To install libraries and header files, run the following CMake command from the build folder:
cmake--build.--targetinstallDiligentCore installation directory will contain everything required to integrate the engine:
include subdirectory will contain all required header files. Add this directory to your include search directories.
lib subdirectory will contain static libraries.
bin subdirectory will contain dynamic libraries.
An easier way is to link with dynamic libraries. When linking statically, you will need to list DiligentCore as well as all third-party libraries used by the engine. Besides that, you will also need to specify platform-specific system libraries. For example, for Windows platform, the list of libraries your project will need to link against may look like this:
DiligentCore.lib glslang.lib HLSL.lib OGLCompiler.lib OSDependent.lib spirv-cross-core.lib SPIRV.lib SPIRV-Tools-opt.lib SPIRV-Tools.lib glew-static.lib GenericCodeGen.lib MachineIndependent.lib dxgi.lib d3d11.lib d3d12.lib d3dcompiler.lib opengl32.lib Diligent Engine headers require one of the following platform macros to be defined as 1: PLATFORM_WIN32, PLATFORM_UNIVERSAL_WINDOWS, PLATFORM_ANDROID, PLATFORM_LINUX, PLATFORM_MACOS, PLATFORM_IOS.
You can control which components of the engine you want to install using the following CMake options: DILIGENT_INSTALL_CORE, DILIGENT_INSTALL_FX, DILIGENT_INSTALL_SAMPLES, and DILIGENT_INSTALL_TOOLS.
Another way to integrate the engine is to generate build files (such as Visual Studio projects) and add them to your build system. Build customization described below can help tweak the settings for your specific needs.
Build Options
Available CMake options are summarized in the table below:
OptionDefault valueDescriptionDILIGENT_NO_DIRECT3D11NoDo not build Direct3D11 backendDILIGENT_NO_DIRECT3D12NoDo not build Direct3D12 backendDILIGENT_NO_OPENGLNoDo not build OpenGL backendDILIGENT_NO_VULKANNoDo not build Vulkan backendDILIGENT_NO_METALNoDo not build Metal backendDILIGENT_NO_WEBGPUNoDo not build WebGPU backendDILIGENT_NO_ARCHIVERNoDo not build ArchiverDILIGENT_NO_RENDER_STATE_PACKAGERNoDo not build Render State Packager toolDILIGENT_ENABLE_DRACONoEnable Draco compression support in GLTF loaderDILIGENT_USE_RAPIDJSONNoUse rapidjson parser in GLTF loaderDILIGENT_BUILD_TOOLSYesBuild Tools moduleDILIGENT_BUILD_FXYesBuild FX moduleDILIGENT_BUILD_SAMPLESYesBuild Samples moduleDILIGENT_BUILD_SAMPLE_BASE_ONLYNoBuild only SampleBase project and no other samples/tutorialsDILIGENT_BUILD_TESTSNoBuild Unit TestsDILIGENT_BUILD_WIN32_GUI_AS_CONSOLENoBuild Windows GUI applications using the console subsystemDILIGENT_BUILD_DOCSNoBuild documentation using DoxygenDILIGENT_NO_GLSLANGNoDo not build GLSLang and SPRIV-ToolsDILIGENT_NO_HLSLNoDisable HLSL support in non-Direct3D backendsDILIGENT_NO_FORMAT_VALIDATIONYesDisable source code formatting validationDILIGENT_LOAD_PIX_EVENT_RUNTIMENoEnable PIX event supportDILIGENT_NVAPI_PATHPath to NVAPI SDKDILIGENT_INSTALL_COREYesInstall core moduleDILIGENT_INSTALL_TOOLSYesInstall tools moduleDILIGENT_INSTALL_FXYesInstall FX moduleDILIGENT_INSTALL_SAMPLESYesInstall Samples moduleDILIGENT_INSTALL_PDBNoInstall program debug databaseDILIGENT_DEAR_IMGUI_PATHOptional path to a user-provided dear imgui projectDILIGENT_ARGS_DIROptional path to a user-provided args projectDILIGENT_NUKLEAR_DIROptional path to a user-provided nuklear projectDILIGENT_MSVC_COMPILE_OPTIONSAdditional MSVC compile options for all configurationsDILIGENT_MSVC_DEBUG_COMPILE_OPTIONSAdditional MSVC compile options for debug configurationDILIGENT_MSVC_RELEASE_COMPILE_OPTIONS/GL /arch:AVX2Additional MSVC compile options for release configurationsDILIGENT_CLANG_COMPILE_OPTIONSAdditional Clang compile options for all configurationsDILIGENT_CLANG_DEBUG_COMPILE_OPTIONSAdditional Clang compile options for debug configurationDILIGENT_CLANG_RELEASE_COMPILE_OPTIONS-mavx2Additional Clang compile options for release configurationsDILIGENT_USD_PATHPath to USD installation folderDILIGENT_USE_OPENXRNoEnable OpenXR supportBy default, all back-ends available on the current platform are built. To disable specific back-ends, use the following options: DILIGENT_NO_DIRECT3D11, DILIGENT_NO_DIRECT3D12, DILIGENT_NO_OPENGL, DILIGENT_NO_VULKAN, DILIGENT_NO_METAL, DILIGENT_NO_WEBGPU. WebGPU backend is enabled by default when building for the Web. To enable it on other platforms, use DILIGENT_NO_WEBGPU=OFF. The options can be set through cmake UI or from the command line as in the example below:
cmake -D DILIGENT_NO_DIRECT3D11=TRUE -S . -B ./build/Win64 -G "Visual Studio 18 2026" -A x64 Additionally, individual engine components can be enabled or disabled using the following options: DILIGENT_BUILD_TOOLS, DILIGENT_BUILD_FX, DILIGENT_BUILD_SAMPLES. If you only want to build SampleBase project, you can use DILIGENT_BUILD_SAMPLE_BASE_ONLY option.
By default Vulkan back-end is linked with glslang that enables compiling HLSL and GLSL shaders to SPIRV at run time. If run-time compilation is not required, glslang can be disabled with DILIGENT_NO_GLSLANG cmake option. Additionally, HLSL support in non-Direct3D backends can be disabled with DILIGENT_NO_HLSL option. Enabling the options significantly reduces the size of Vulkan and OpenGL back-end binaries, which may be especially important for mobile applications.
Diligent Engine uses
to ensure consistent formatting throughout the code base. The validation can be disabled using DILIGENT_NO_FORMAT_VALIDATION CMake option. Note that any pull request will fail if formatting issues are found.
Diligent Engine uses extensive validation that is always enabled in Debug build. Some of the checks may be enabled in release configurations by setting DILIGENT_DEVELOPMENT CMake option.
To enable PIX events support, set DILIGENT_LOAD_PIX_EVENT_RUNTIME CMake flag.
To enable some advanced features on NVidia GPUs (such as native multi draw indirect support in Direct3D11), download
and set the DILIGENT_NVAPI_PATH CMake variable.
Diligent Engine uses multiple third-party libraries. If an application's CMake file defines any of those libraries, Diligent will use existing targets. The application will need to make sure that build settings are compatible with Diligent.
Customizing Build
Diligent Engine allows clients to customize build settings by providing configuration script file that defines the following optional
:
custom_configure_build() - defines global build properties such as build configurations, c/c++ compile flags, link flags etc.
custom_pre_configure_target() - defines custom settings for every target in the build and is called before the engine's build system starts configuring the target.
custom_post_configure_target() - called after the engine's build system has configured the target to let the client override properties set by the engine.
The path to the configuration script should be provided through BUILD_CONFIGURATION_FILE variable when running cmake and must be relative to the cmake root folder, for example:
cmake -D BUILD_CONFIGURATION_FILE=BuildConfig.cmake -S . -B ./build/Win64 -G "Visual Studio 18 2026" -A x64 Customizing global build settings with custom_configure_build() function
If defined, custom_configure_build() function is called before any build target is added. By default, cmake defines the following four configurations: Debug, Release, RelWithDebInfo, MinSizeRel. If you want, you can define your own build configurations by setting CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES variable. For instance, if you want to have only two configuration: Debug and ReleaseMT, add the following line to the custom_configure_build() function:
set(CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES Debug ReleaseMT CACHESTRING"Configuration types: Debug, ReleaseMT"FORCE)The build system needs to know the list of debug and release (optimized) configurations, so the following two variables must also be set when CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES variable is defined:
set(DEBUG_CONFIGURATIONS DEBUG CACHEINTERNAL""FORCE) set(RELEASE_CONFIGURATIONS RELEASEMT CACHEINTERNAL""FORCE)Note that due to cmake specifics, configuration names listed in DEBUG_CONFIGURATIONS and RELEASE_CONFIGURATIONSmust be capitalized.
If you define any configuration other than four standard cmake ones, you also need to set the following variables, for every new configuration:
CMAKE_C_FLAGS_<Config> - c compile flags
CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_<Config> - c++ compile flags
CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS_<Config> - executable link flags
CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS_<Config> - shared library link flags
For instance:
set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASEMT "/MT"CACHEINTERNAL""FORCE) set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASEMT "/MT"CACHEINTERNAL""FORCE) set(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS_RELEASEMT"/OPT:REF"CACHEINTERNAL""FORCE) set(CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS_RELEASEMT "/OPT:REF"CACHEINTERNAL""FORCE)Below is an example of custom_configure_build() function:
function(custom_configure_build) if(CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES) # Debug configurationsset(DEBUG_CONFIGURATIONS DEBUG CACHEINTERNAL""FORCE) # Release (optimized) configurationsset(RELEASE_CONFIGURATIONS RELEASEMT CACHEINTERNAL""FORCE) # CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES variable defines build configurations generated by cmakeset(CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES Debug ReleaseMT CACHESTRING"Configuration types: Debug, ReleaseMT"FORCE) set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASEMT "/MT"CACHEINTERNAL""FORCE) set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASEMT "/MT"CACHEINTERNAL""FORCE) set(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS_RELEASEMT"/OPT:REF"CACHEINTERNAL""FORCE) set(CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS_RELEASEMT "/OPT:REF"CACHEINTERNAL""FORCE) endif() endfunction()Customizing individual target build settings with custom_pre_configure_target() and custom_post_configure_target() functions
If defined, custom_pre_configure_target() is called for every target created by the build system and allows configuring target-specific properties.
By default, the build system sets some target properties. If custom_pre_configure_target() sets all required properties, it can tell the build system that no further processing is required by setting TARGET_CONFIGURATION_COMPLETE
variable to TRUE:
set(TARGET_CONFIGURATION_COMPLETE TRUEPARENT_SCOPE)The following is an example of custom_pre_configure_target() function:
function(custom_pre_configure_targetTARGET) set_target_properties(${TARGET} PROPERTIES STATIC_LIBRARY_FLAGS_RELEASEMT /LTCG ) set(TARGET_CONFIGURATION_COMPLETE TRUEPARENT_SCOPE) endfunction()If the client only needs to override some settings, it may define custom_post_configure_target() function that is called after the engine has completed configuring the target, for example:
function(custom_post_configure_targetTARGET) set_target_properties(${TARGET} PROPERTIES CXX_STANDARD 17 ) endfunction()Getting started with the API
Please refer to
. Also, tutorials and samples listed below is a good place to start.
Render State Notation
Diligent Render State Notation is a JSON-based language that describes shaders, pipeline states, resource signatures and other objects in a convenient form, e.g.:
{ "Shaders": [ { "Desc": { "Name": "My Vertex shader", "ShaderType": "VERTEX" }, "SourceLanguage": "HLSL", "FilePath": "cube.vsh" }, { "Desc": { "Name": "My Pixel shader", "ShaderType": "PIXEL" }, "SourceLanguage": "HLSL", "FilePath": "cube.psh", } ], "Pipeleines": [ { "GraphicsPipeline": { "DepthStencilDesc": { "DepthEnable": true }, "RTVFormats": { "0": "RGBA8_UNORM_SRGB" }, "RasterizerDesc": { "CullMode": "FRONT" }, "BlendDesc": { "RenderTargets": { "0": { "BlendEnable": true } } } }, "PSODesc": { "Name": "My Pipeline State", "PipelineType": "GRAPHICS" }, "pVS": "My Vertex shader", "pPS": "My Pixel shader" } ] }JSON files can be
parsed dynamically at run time
. Alternatively, an application can use the
to preprocess pipeline descriptions (compile shaders for target platforms, define internal resource layouts, etc.) into a binary archive optimized for run-time loading performance.
TutorialScreenshotDescription
This tutorial shows how to render simple triangle using Diligent Engine API.
This tutorial demonstrates how to render an actual 3D object, a cube. It shows how to load shaders from files, create and use vertex, index and uniform buffers.
This tutorial demonstrates how to apply a texture to a 3D object. It shows how to load a texture from file, create shader resource binding object and how to sample a texture in the shader.
This tutorial is identical to Tutorial03, but is implemented using C API.
This tutorial demonstrates how to use the Diligent Engine API in .NET applications.
This tutorial demonstrates how to use instancing to render multiple copies of one object using unique transformation matrix for every copy.
This tutorial demonstrates how to combine instancing with texture arrays to use unique texture for every instance.
This tutorial shows how to generate command lists in parallel from multiple threads.
This tutorial shows how to use geometry shader to render smooth wireframe.
This tutorial shows how to use hardware tessellation to implement simple adaptive terrain rendering algorithm.
This tutorial shows how to render multiple 2D quads, frequently switching textures and blend modes.
This tutorial shows dynamic buffer mapping strategy using MAP_FLAG_DISCARD and MAP_FLAG_DO_NOT_SYNCHRONIZE flags to efficiently stream varying amounts of data to GPU.
This tutorial demonstrates different ways to update buffers and textures in Diligent Engine and explains important internal details and performance implications related to each method.
This tutorial demonstrates how to render a 3d cube into an offscreen render target and do a simple post-processing effect.
This tutorial demonstrates how to render basic shadows using a shadow map.
This tutorial shows how to implement a simple particle simulation system using compute shaders.
This tutorial demonstrates how to use Diligent Engine to render to multiple windows.
This tutorial shows how to implement bindless resources, a technique that leverages dynamic shader resource indexing feature enabled by the next-gen APIs to significantly improve rendering performance.
This tutorial demonstrates how to use multisample anti-aliasing (MSAA) to make geometrical edges look smoother and more temporarily stable.
This tutorial demonstrates how to use queries to retrieve various information about the GPU operation, such as the number of primitives rendered, command processing duration, etc.
This tutorial demonstrates how to use the render passes API to implement simple deferred shading.
This tutorial demonstrates how to use amplification and mesh shaders, the new programmable stages, to implement view frustum culling and object LOD calculation on the GPU.
This tutorial demonstrates the basics of using ray tracing API in Diligent Engine.
This tutorial demonstrates how to implement a simple hybrid renderer that combines rasterization with ray tracing.
This tutorial demonstrates how to use multiple command queues to perform rendering in parallel with copy and compute operations.
This tutorial demonstrates how to use variable rate shading to reduce the pixel shading load.
This tutorial shows how to create and archive pipeline states with the render state packager off-line tool on the example of a simple path tracer.
This tutorial expands the path tracing technique implemented in previous tutorial and demonstrates how to use the render state cache to save pipeline states created at run time and load them when the application starts.
This tutorial demonstrates how to use post-processing effects from the DiligentFX module.
This tutorial demonstrates how to use Diligent Engine with OpenXR API to render a simple scene in a VR headset.
This tutorial demonstrates how to implement order-independent transparency (OIT) methods to render transparent objects without sorting.
This tutorial demonstrates how to run Diligent Engine on Apple visionOS.
SampleScreenshotDescription
This sample demonstrates how to integrate
post-processing effect into an application to render physically-based atmosphere.
This maze mini-game demonstrates how to use GLFW to create window and handle keyboard and mouse input.
This sample demonstrates how to use the
and
to load and render GLTF models.
This sample demonstrates how to render USD files using
, an implementation of the Hydra rendering API in Diligent Engine.
This sample demonstrates how to use the
to render high-quality shadows.
This sample demonstrates the integration of the engine with
UI library.
This sample demonstrates the integration of the engine with
UI library.
This sample demonstrates how to use Diligent Engine in a basic Android AR application.
This sampple is a performance benchmark that renders 50,000 unique textured asteroids and allows comparing performance of different rendering modes.
This project demonstrates integration of Diligent Engine with Unity.High-Level Rendering Components
High-level rendering functionality is implemented by
. The following components are now available:
and
Physically-based renderer with image-based lighting
.
, an implementation of the Hydra rendering API in Diligent Engine.
Post-processing effects
Screen-Space Ambient Occlusion
Products using Diligent Engine
We would appreciate it if you could send us a link in case your product uses Diligent Engine.
Large-scale terrain visualization system for pilot training simulators by
: A Visualization and Reality Modeling Software by
: A cross-platform graphics library for .NET
: A modern engine that shows rendering techniques like hardware raytracing and clustered shading
Disclaimer
Diligent Engine is an open project that may be freely used by everyone. We started it to empower the community and help people achieve their goals. Sadly enough, not everyone's goals are worthy. Please don't associate us with suspicious projects you may find on the Web that appear to be using Diligent Engine. We neither can possibly track all such uses nor can we really do anything about them because our permissive license does not give us a lot of leverage.
License
See
.
Each module has some third-party dependencies, each of which may have independent licensing:
Contributing
To contribute your code, submit a
to this repository. Diligent Engine is licensed under the
that guarantees that content in the DiligentEngine repository is free of Intellectual Property encumbrances. In submitting any content to this repository,
you license that content under the same terms
, and you agree that the content is free of any Intellectual Property claims and you have the right to license it under those terms.
Diligent Engine uses
to ensure consistent source code style throughout the code base. The format is validated by CI for each commit and pull request, and the build will fail if any code formatting issue is found. Please refer to
for instructions on how to set up clang-format and automatic code formatting.
References
Release History
See
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