C Specification

The VkSamplerCreateInfo structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkSamplerCreateInfo {
    VkStructureType         sType;
    const void*             pNext;
    VkSamplerCreateFlags    flags;
    VkFilter                magFilter;
    VkFilter                minFilter;
    VkSamplerMipmapMode     mipmapMode;
    VkSamplerAddressMode    addressModeU;
    VkSamplerAddressMode    addressModeV;
    VkSamplerAddressMode    addressModeW;
    float                   mipLodBias;
    VkBool32                anisotropyEnable;
    float                   maxAnisotropy;
    VkBool32                compareEnable;
    VkCompareOp             compareOp;
    float                   minLod;
    float                   maxLod;
    VkBorderColor           borderColor;
    VkBool32                unnormalizedCoordinates;
} VkSamplerCreateInfo;

Members

  • sType is a VkStructureType value identifying this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • flags is a bitmask of VkSamplerCreateFlagBits describing additional parameters of the sampler.

  • magFilter is a VkFilter value specifying the magnification filter to apply to lookups.

  • minFilter is a VkFilter value specifying the minification filter to apply to lookups.

  • mipmapMode is a VkSamplerMipmapMode value specifying the mipmap filter to apply to lookups.

  • addressModeU is a VkSamplerAddressMode value specifying the addressing mode for U coordinates outside [0,1).

  • addressModeV is a VkSamplerAddressMode value specifying the addressing mode for V coordinates outside [0,1).

  • addressModeW is a VkSamplerAddressMode value specifying the addressing mode for W coordinates outside [0,1).

  • mipLodBias is the bias to be added to mipmap LOD calculation and bias provided by image sampling functions in SPIR-V, as described in the LOD Operation section.

  • anisotropyEnable is VK_TRUE to enable anisotropic filtering, as described in the Texel Anisotropic Filtering section, or VK_FALSE otherwise.

  • maxAnisotropy is the anisotropy value clamp used by the sampler when anisotropyEnable is VK_TRUE. If anisotropyEnable is VK_FALSE, maxAnisotropy is ignored.

  • compareEnable is VK_TRUE to enable comparison against a reference value during lookups, or VK_FALSE otherwise.

    • Note: Some implementations will default to shader state if this member does not match.

  • compareOp is a VkCompareOp value specifying the comparison operator to apply to fetched data before filtering as described in the Depth Compare Operation section.

  • minLod is used to clamp the minimum of the computed LOD value.

  • maxLod is used to clamp the maximum of the computed LOD value. To avoid clamping the maximum value, set maxLod to the constant VK_LOD_CLAMP_NONE.

  • borderColor is a VkBorderColor value specifying the predefined border color to use.

  • unnormalizedCoordinates controls whether to use unnormalized or normalized texel coordinates to address texels of the image. When set to VK_TRUE, the range of the image coordinates used to lookup the texel is in the range of zero to the image size in each dimension. When set to VK_FALSE the range of image coordinates is zero to one.

    When unnormalizedCoordinates is VK_TRUE, images the sampler is used with in the shader have the following requirements:

    • The viewType must be either VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_1D or VK_IMAGE_VIEW_TYPE_2D.

    • The image view must have a single layer and a single mip level.

    When unnormalizedCoordinates is VK_TRUE, image built-in functions in the shader that use the sampler have the following requirements:

    • The functions must not use projection.

    • The functions must not use offsets.

Description

Mapping of OpenGL to Vulkan filter modes

magFilter values of VK_FILTER_NEAREST and VK_FILTER_LINEAR directly correspond to GL_NEAREST and GL_LINEAR magnification filters. minFilter and mipmapMode combine to correspond to the similarly named OpenGL minification filter of GL_minFilter_MIPMAP_mipmapMode (e.g. minFilter of VK_FILTER_LINEAR and mipmapMode of VK_SAMPLER_MIPMAP_MODE_NEAREST correspond to GL_LINEAR_MIPMAP_NEAREST).

There are no Vulkan filter modes that directly correspond to OpenGL minification filters of GL_LINEAR or GL_NEAREST, but they can be emulated using VK_SAMPLER_MIPMAP_MODE_NEAREST, minLod = 0, and maxLod = 0.25, and using minFilter = VK_FILTER_LINEAR or minFilter = VK_FILTER_NEAREST, respectively.

Note that using a maxLod of zero would cause magnification to always be performed, and the magFilter to always be used. This is valid, just not an exact match for OpenGL behavior. Clamping the maximum LOD to 0.25 allows the λ value to be non-zero and minification to be performed, while still always rounding down to the base level. If the minFilter and magFilter are equal, then using a maxLod of zero also works.

The maximum number of sampler objects which can be simultaneously created on a device is implementation-dependent and specified by the maxSamplerAllocationCount member of the VkPhysicalDeviceLimits structure.

Note

For historical reasons, if maxSamplerAllocationCount is exceeded, some implementations may return VK_ERROR_TOO_MANY_OBJECTS. Exceeding this limit will result in undefined behavior, and an application should not rely on the use of the returned error code in order to identify when the limit is reached.

Since VkSampler is a non-dispatchable handle type, implementations may return the same handle for sampler state vectors that are identical. In such cases, all such objects would only count once against the maxSamplerAllocationCount limit.

Valid Usage
  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-mipLodBias-01069
    The absolute value of mipLodBias must be less than or equal to VkPhysicalDeviceLimits::maxSamplerLodBias

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-maxLod-01973
    maxLod must be greater than or equal to minLod

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-anisotropyEnable-01070
    If the samplerAnisotropy feature is not enabled, anisotropyEnable must be VK_FALSE

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-anisotropyEnable-01071
    If anisotropyEnable is VK_TRUE, maxAnisotropy must be between 1.0 and VkPhysicalDeviceLimits::maxSamplerAnisotropy, inclusive

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-minFilter-01645
    If sampler Y′CBCR conversion is enabled and the potential format features of the sampler Y′CBCR conversion do not support VK_FORMAT_FEATURE_SAMPLED_IMAGE_YCBCR_CONVERSION_SEPARATE_RECONSTRUCTION_FILTER_BIT, minFilter and magFilter must be equal to the sampler Y′CBCR conversion’s chromaFilter

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-unnormalizedCoordinates-01072
    If unnormalizedCoordinates is VK_TRUE, minFilter and magFilter must be equal

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-unnormalizedCoordinates-01073
    If unnormalizedCoordinates is VK_TRUE, mipmapMode must be VK_SAMPLER_MIPMAP_MODE_NEAREST

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-unnormalizedCoordinates-01074
    If unnormalizedCoordinates is VK_TRUE, minLod and maxLod must be zero

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-unnormalizedCoordinates-01075
    If unnormalizedCoordinates is VK_TRUE, addressModeU and addressModeV must each be either VK_SAMPLER_ADDRESS_MODE_CLAMP_TO_EDGE or VK_SAMPLER_ADDRESS_MODE_CLAMP_TO_BORDER

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-unnormalizedCoordinates-01076
    If unnormalizedCoordinates is VK_TRUE, anisotropyEnable must be VK_FALSE

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-unnormalizedCoordinates-01077
    If unnormalizedCoordinates is VK_TRUE, compareEnable must be VK_FALSE

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-addressModeU-01078
    If any of addressModeU, addressModeV or addressModeW are VK_SAMPLER_ADDRESS_MODE_CLAMP_TO_BORDER, borderColor must be a valid VkBorderColor value

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-addressModeU-01646
    If sampler Y′CBCR conversion is enabled, addressModeU, addressModeV, and addressModeW must be VK_SAMPLER_ADDRESS_MODE_CLAMP_TO_EDGE, anisotropyEnable must be VK_FALSE, and unnormalizedCoordinates must be VK_FALSE

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-None-01647
    If sampler Y′CBCR conversion is enabled and the pNext chain includes a VkSamplerReductionModeCreateInfo structure, then the sampler reduction mode must be set to VK_SAMPLER_REDUCTION_MODE_WEIGHTED_AVERAGE

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-pNext-06726
    If samplerFilterMinmax is not enabled and the pNext chain includes a VkSamplerReductionModeCreateInfo structure, then the sampler reduction mode must be set to VK_SAMPLER_REDUCTION_MODE_WEIGHTED_AVERAGE

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-addressModeU-01079
    If samplerMirrorClampToEdge is not enabled, and if the VK_KHR_sampler_mirror_clamp_to_edge extension is not enabled, addressModeU, addressModeV and addressModeW must not be VK_SAMPLER_ADDRESS_MODE_MIRROR_CLAMP_TO_EDGE

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-compareEnable-01080
    If compareEnable is VK_TRUE, compareOp must be a valid VkCompareOp value

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-magFilter-01081
    If either magFilter or minFilter is VK_FILTER_CUBIC_EXT, anisotropyEnable must be VK_FALSE

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-compareEnable-01423
    If compareEnable is VK_TRUE, the reductionMode member of VkSamplerReductionModeCreateInfo must be VK_SAMPLER_REDUCTION_MODE_WEIGHTED_AVERAGE

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-borderColor-04011
    If borderColor is one of VK_BORDER_COLOR_FLOAT_CUSTOM_EXT or VK_BORDER_COLOR_INT_CUSTOM_EXT, then a VkSamplerCustomBorderColorCreateInfoEXT must be included in the pNext chain

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-customBorderColors-04085
    If the customBorderColors feature is not enabled, borderColor must not be VK_BORDER_COLOR_FLOAT_CUSTOM_EXT or VK_BORDER_COLOR_INT_CUSTOM_EXT

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-borderColor-04442
    If borderColor is one of VK_BORDER_COLOR_FLOAT_CUSTOM_EXT or VK_BORDER_COLOR_INT_CUSTOM_EXT, and VkSamplerCustomBorderColorCreateInfoEXT::format is not VK_FORMAT_UNDEFINED, VkSamplerCustomBorderColorCreateInfoEXT::customBorderColor must be within the range of values representable in format

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-None-04012
    The maximum number of samplers with custom border colors which can be simultaneously created on a device is implementation-dependent and specified by the maxCustomBorderColorSamplers member of the VkPhysicalDeviceCustomBorderColorPropertiesEXT structure

Valid Usage (Implicit)
  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-sType-sType
    sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SAMPLER_CREATE_INFO

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-pNext-pNext
    Each pNext member of any structure (including this one) in the pNext chain must be either NULL or a pointer to a valid instance of VkSamplerCustomBorderColorCreateInfoEXT, VkSamplerReductionModeCreateInfo, or VkSamplerYcbcrConversionInfo

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-sType-unique
    The sType value of each struct in the pNext chain must be unique

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-flags-zerobitmask
    flags must be 0

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-magFilter-parameter
    magFilter must be a valid VkFilter value

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-minFilter-parameter
    minFilter must be a valid VkFilter value

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-mipmapMode-parameter
    mipmapMode must be a valid VkSamplerMipmapMode value

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-addressModeU-parameter
    addressModeU must be a valid VkSamplerAddressMode value

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-addressModeV-parameter
    addressModeV must be a valid VkSamplerAddressMode value

  • VUID-VkSamplerCreateInfo-addressModeW-parameter
    addressModeW must be a valid VkSamplerAddressMode value

See Also

Document Notes

For more information, see the Vulkan Specification

This page is extracted from the Vulkan Specification. Fixes and changes should be made to the Specification, not directly.

Copyright 2014-2023 The Khronos Group Inc.

SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0