RenderSystem API reference

Prisma::Graphic::RenderSystem is the engine subsystem that owns the GPU device, swap chain, resource manager, and active render pipeline. The engine constructs and registers it automatically during Engine::Initialize() — you access it through Engine::GetRenderSystem() rather than constructing it yourself. The system implements ISubSystem, so the engine drives its lifecycle and per-frame updates alongside all other subsystems.

RenderSystemDesc

RenderSystem is constructed from a RenderSystemDesc that specifies the graphics API, window target, and initial resolution.

namespace Prisma::Graphic {

struct RenderSystemDesc {
    RenderAPIType backendType      = RenderAPIType::Vulkan;
    void*         windowHandle     = nullptr;
    void*         surface          = nullptr;
    uint32_t      width            = 1600;
    uint32_t      height           = 900;
    bool          enableDebug      = true;
    bool          enableValidation = true;
    PresentMode   presentMode      = PresentMode::VSync;
    uint32_t      maxFramesInFlight = 3;
    std::string   name             = "PrismaApp";
};

} // namespace Prisma::Graphic

backendType

RenderAPIType

The graphics API to use. See RenderAPIType below. Defaults to RenderAPIType::Vulkan.

windowHandle

void*

Platform window handle — HWND on Windows, ANativeWindow* on Android.

surface

void*

Vulkan surface handle or nullptr when using DirectX 12.

width

uint32_t

Initial render target width in pixels. Defaults to 1600.

height

uint32_t

Initial render target height in pixels. Defaults to 900.

enableDebug

bool

Enables API-level debug layers (D3D12 debug layer / Vulkan validation layers). Defaults to true. Disable in release builds for performance.

enableValidation

bool

Enables extended validation reporting. Defaults to true.

presentMode

PresentMode

Swap-chain presentation mode. Defaults to PresentMode::VSync.

maxFramesInFlight

uint32_t

Number of frames the CPU can run ahead of the GPU. Defaults to 3.

name

std::string

Identifies this render system in debug tools and log output. Defaults to "PrismaApp".

RenderAPIType

enum class RenderAPIType {
    None,
    DirectX12, // Windows
    Vulkan,    // Windows, Linux, Android
    OpenGL     // Linux (fallback)
};

DirectX 12 is the primary backend on Windows. Vulkan is the cross-platform backend used on Windows (editor), Linux, and Android. OpenGL is a fallback path on Linux.

Class overview

namespace Prisma::Graphic {

class ENGINE_API RenderSystem : public ISubSystem {
public:
    explicit RenderSystem(const RenderSystemDesc& desc);
    ~RenderSystem() override;

    // ISubSystem interface
    int         Initialize() override;
    void        Shutdown()   override;
    void        Update(Timestep ts) override;
    const char* GetName()    const override { return "RenderSystem"; }

    // Frame control
    void BeginFrame();
    void EndFrame();
    void Present();
    void Resize(uint32_t width, uint32_t height);

    // Device access
    IRenderDevice*            GetDevice()                const;
    IRenderResourceManager*   GetRenderResourceManager() const;

    // Pipeline management
    void      SetMainPipeline(std::shared_ptr<IPipeline> pipeline);
    IPipeline* GetMainPipeline() const;

    // Scene rendering
    void RenderScene(Prisma::Scene* scene, ICamera* camera,
                     ITexture* targetTexture = nullptr);
};

} // namespace Prisma::Graphic

Lifecycle (ISubSystem)

Initialize

int Initialize() override;

Called by the engine during startup. Runs the following internal stages in order:

InitializeDevice() — selects and initialises the backend (DX12 or Vulkan), creates the swap chain.
InitializeRenderResourceManager() — creates the resource factory and allocators.
InitializeRenderPipelines() — constructs the default forward render pipeline.

Returns 0 on success or a non-zero error code on failure. A failure here aborts engine startup.

Shutdown

void Shutdown() override;

Flushes all in-flight GPU work, destroys pipelines, releases the swap chain, and destroys the device. Called automatically by the engine on exit.

Update

void Update(Timestep ts) override;

Per-frame housekeeping — updates resource streaming, hot-reload checks for shaders, and any async upload completion. Called by the engine before BeginFrame().

Frame control

A typical frame calls these four methods in order:

renderSystem->BeginFrame();
renderSystem->RenderScene(scene, camera);
renderSystem->EndFrame();
renderSystem->Present();

BeginFrame

void BeginFrame();

Acquires the next swap-chain image, resets command allocators for the current frame-in-flight index, and opens command lists. Call once at the start of each rendered frame.

EndFrame

void EndFrame();

Closes and submits all open command lists to the GPU queue, signals the frame fence, and advances the frame-in-flight counter. Call after all draw calls are submitted for the frame.

Present

void Present();

Presents the finished frame to the display according to the configured PresentMode. Blocks until a swap-chain slot is available when PresentMode::VSync is active.

Resize

void Resize(uint32_t width, uint32_t height);

Recreates the swap chain and all resolution-dependent render targets at the new dimensions. Call from your OnEvent() handler when a window resize event is received.

width

uint32_t

required

New render target width in pixels.

height

uint32_t

required

New render target height in pixels.

Device access

GetDevice

IRenderDevice* GetDevice() const;

Returns the underlying render device interface. Use this to create low-level GPU resources (buffers, textures, pipelines) directly. Returns nullptr and logs an error if called before Initialize().

GetRenderResourceManager

IRenderResourceManager* GetRenderResourceManager() const;

Returns the resource manager that wraps the backend-specific resource factories (DX12ResourceFactory or VulkanResourceFactory). Use this for managed resource creation with automatic lifetime tracking.

Pipeline management

SetMainPipeline

void SetMainPipeline(std::shared_ptr<IPipeline> pipeline);

Replaces the active render pipeline. The engine defaults to a ForwardPipeline at startup. Pass a DeferredPipeline or a custom IPipeline implementation to switch rendering strategies at runtime.

pipeline

std::shared_ptr<IPipeline>

required

The new pipeline to use. Ownership is shared — the previous pipeline is destroyed when no other references to it exist.

GetMainPipeline

IPipeline* GetMainPipeline() const;

Returns a raw pointer to the current active pipeline. Valid as long as the RenderSystem is alive and SetMainPipeline() has not replaced it.

Scene rendering

RenderScene

void RenderScene(Prisma::Scene* scene, ICamera* camera,
                 ITexture* targetTexture = nullptr);

Drives the full scene-rendering path through the current main pipeline: geometry collection → depth pre-pass → opaque pass → transparent pass (forward) or geometry pass → composition pass (deferred). Pass targetTexture to render to an off-screen texture instead of the swap chain back buffer.

scene

Prisma::Scene*

required

The scene graph to render. All visible mesh renderers in the scene are submitted to the pipeline.

camera

Prisma::Graphic::ICamera*

required

The camera providing the view and projection matrices for this frame.

targetTexture

ITexture*

Optional off-screen render target. When nullptr (default), output goes to the swap-chain back buffer.

Render pipeline architecture

The following diagram shows how RenderSystem sits in the broader rendering stack:

RenderSystem
├── IRenderDevice
│   ├── DX12RenderDevice   (Windows)
│   └── VulkanRenderDevice (Windows / Linux / Android)
│
├── IRenderResourceManager
│   ├── DX12ResourceFactory
│   └── VulkanResourceFactory
│
└── IPipeline (main pipeline)
    ├── ForwardPipeline
    │   ├── DepthPrePass
    │   ├── OpaquePass
    │   └── TransparentPass
    └── DeferredPipeline
        ├── GeometryPass
        └── CompositionPass

Renderer (high-level command API)

For code that wants to submit draw calls without touching the pipeline directly, use the static Renderer API in src/engine/graphic/Renderer.h:

namespace Prisma::Graphic {

struct RenderCommand {
    Mesh*              mesh;
    Material*          material;
    PrismaMath::mat4   transform;
    BoundingBox        boundingBox;
    Prisma::Color      color;
};

class ENGINE_API Renderer {
public:
    static void BeginScene(const CameraData& camera);
    static void Submit(Mesh* mesh, Material* material,
                       const PrismaMath::mat4& transform,
                       const Prisma::Color& color = {1,1,1,1});
    static void EndScene();

    static const std::vector<RenderCommand>& GetCommandQueue();
    static const SceneData& GetSceneData();
    static void ClearQueue();
};

} // namespace Prisma::Graphic

Renderer::BeginScene() sets the active camera, Submit() enqueues a RenderCommand, and EndScene() signals that no more commands will arrive this frame. The pipeline retrieves the queue via GetCommandQueue() and dispatches the GPU work.

mesh

Mesh*

required

The mesh geometry to draw.

material

Material*

required

The material (shader + textures + constants) to apply.

transform

const PrismaMath::mat4&

required

World-space transform matrix for this draw call.

color

const Prisma::Color&

Per-instance tint color. Defaults to opaque white (1, 1, 1, 1).

Engine Core

Rendering

Assets & Resources

CMake

RenderSystem API reference

RenderSystemDesc

RenderAPIType

Class overview

Lifecycle (ISubSystem)

Initialize

Shutdown

Update

Frame control

BeginFrame

EndFrame

Present

Resize

Device access

GetDevice

GetRenderResourceManager

Pipeline management

SetMainPipeline

GetMainPipeline

Scene rendering

RenderScene

Render pipeline architecture

Renderer (high-level command API)

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Engine Core

Rendering

Assets & Resources

CMake

Documentation Index

​RenderSystemDesc

​RenderAPIType

​Class overview

​Lifecycle (ISubSystem)

​Initialize

​Shutdown

​Update

​Frame control

​BeginFrame

​EndFrame

​Present

​Resize

​Device access

​GetDevice

​GetRenderResourceManager

​Pipeline management

​SetMainPipeline

​GetMainPipeline

​Scene rendering

​RenderScene

​Render pipeline architecture

​Renderer (high-level command API)

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

RenderSystemDesc

RenderAPIType

Class overview

Lifecycle (ISubSystem)

Initialize

Shutdown

Update

Frame control

BeginFrame

EndFrame

Present

Resize

Device access

GetDevice

GetRenderResourceManager

Pipeline management

SetMainPipeline

GetMainPipeline

Scene rendering

RenderScene

Render pipeline architecture

Renderer (high-level command API)