Introduction to SPIR-V and DirectX 12
Microsoft’s Direct3D and HLSL teams have announced an important development: the integration of SPIR-V support into DirectX 12, scheduled for the upcoming release of Shader Model 7. This transition signifies a pivotal moment in GPU programmability, aiming to streamline the intermediate representation for graphical-shader stages and compute kernels.
The Role of SPIR-V
SPIR-V, an open standard intermediate representation for graphics and compute shaders, will replace the proprietary DirectX Intermediate Language (DXIL) as the shader interchange format for DirectX 12. This switch to an open standard not only simplifies development processes across various GPU runtime environments but also enhances the usability and adaptability of HLSL, positioning it as a leading language for shader compilation across different devices and APIs.
Collaboration and Future Development
This transition is part of a multi-year development plan, where Microsoft intends to collaborate closely with the Khronos Group and the LLVM project. By joining Khronos’s SPIR and Vulkan working groups, Microsoft seeks to ensure an effective collaboration that promotes rapid feature adoption while providing developers with early notice to facilitate their planning. To ease this shift, the company will offer translation tools between SPIR-V and DXIL, supporting application and driver developers as they adapt to the new standard. As SPIR-V establishes itself as the de facto standard for API developers, it is expected to provide a robust framework for graphical applications, enhancing the overall performance and capacity of graphics rendering.
