1.2 KiB
Using GPU Buffers
Buffer Operations
The ability to copy memory between CPU, buffers and textures
| Dimension | WebGPU | WebGL2 | Description |
| --------------------- | ------ | ------ | ----------------------------------------------------- | |
| writeBuffer | ✅ | ✅ | Read a buffer synchronously |
| readBuffer (sync) | ❌ | ✅ | Read a buffer synchronously |
| readBuffer (async) | ✅ | ❌ * | Read a buffer asynchronously |
| copyBufferToBuffer | ✅ | ✅ | Copy a buffer to another buffer without CPU roundtrip |
| copyBufferToTexture | ✅ | ✅ | Copy a buffer to a texture without CPU roundtrip |
| copyTextureToBuffer | ✅ | ✅ | Copy a buffer to a texture without CPU roundtrip |
Remarks:
- A WebGL extension does exist that enables asynchronous buffer reads, but it is not implemented on MacOS which is the primary development environment for luma.gl.
- Asynchronous reads are emulated by luma.gl by providing a Promise style API. The actual reads are still asynchronous though.