A Deep Dive Into Vulkan's Validation Layers

The plugable validation layers concept is one of many great improvements with Vulkan over OpenGL. If you are new to Vulkan development or just haven't explored the validation layers yet, The Khronos Group and LunarG hosted a webinar this week concerning this area of the new high-performance graphics API.

The Vulkan validation layer is optionally loaded during the development stage of a Vulkan game/app rather than always being present as is the case with OpenGL's validation/safeguards. With not having this layer for released software, there's less overhead with no need for it being there for software being run by gamers/clients. The Vulkan validation layers have checks for correctness, portability, and optimal efficiency.

The take-away from this week's webinar is that Vulkan validation layers are to Vulkan applications as the Vulkan Conformance Test Suite is to the Vulkan drivers.

For those that missed the webinar yesterday, the media has been uploaded. There is the 67-page slide deck in PDF form while the video cast is embedded below. Enjoy!