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GPUCommandEncoder

Create a GPUCommandEncoder with device.createCommandEncoder(). It records a command buffer and does not run the work. Execution happens in device.queue.submit().

interface GPUCommandEncoder {
  beginRenderPass(descriptor: GPURenderPassDescriptor): GPURenderPassEncoder;
  beginComputePass(descriptor?: GPUComputePassDescriptor): GPUComputePassEncoder;


  copyBufferToBuffer(
    source: GPUBuffer,
    sourceOffset: GPUSize64,
    destination: GPUBuffer,
    destinationOffset: GPUSize64,
    size: GPUSize64,
  ): undefined;
  copyBufferToTexture(source: GPUTexelCopyBufferInfo, destination: GPUTexelCopyTextureInfo, copySize: GPUExtent3D): undefined;
  copyTextureToBuffer(source: GPUTexelCopyTextureInfo, destination: GPUTexelCopyBufferInfo, copySize: GPUExtent3D): undefined;
  copyTextureToTexture(source: GPUTexelCopyTextureInfo, destination: GPUTexelCopyTextureInfo, copySize: GPUExtent3D): undefined;


  clearBuffer(buffer: GPUBuffer, offset?: GPUSize64, size?: GPUSize64): undefined;
  resolveQuerySet(querySet: GPUQuerySet, firstQuery: GPUSize32, queryCount: GPUSize32, destination: GPUBuffer, destinationOffset: GPUSize64): undefined;


  finish(descriptor?: GPUCommandBufferDescriptor): GPUCommandBuffer;
}

After beginRenderPass() or beginComputePass(), call end() on that pass before beginning another pass or calling finish(). The encoder cannot be used after finish().

The render pass methods used most often are setPipeline, setBindGroup, setVertexBuffer, setIndexBuffer, draw, drawIndexed, and end. Indirect draws use drawIndirect and drawIndexedIndirect.

GPUQueue

Section titled “GPUQueue”

GPUDevice.queue is the device’s GPUQueue.

interface GPUQueue {
  submit(commandBuffers: GPUCommandBuffer[]): undefined;
  onSubmittedWorkDone(): Promise<undefined>;


  writeBuffer(
    buffer: GPUBuffer,
    bufferOffset: GPUSize64,
    data: BufferSource,
    dataOffset?: GPUSize64,
    size?: GPUSize64,
  ): undefined;


  writeTexture(
    destination: GPUTexelCopyTextureInfo,
    data: BufferSource,
    dataLayout: GPUTexelCopyBufferLayout,
    size: GPUExtent3D,
  ): undefined;


  copyExternalImageToTexture(
    source: GPUCopyExternalImageSourceInfo,
    destination: GPUCopyExternalImageDestInfo,
    copySize: GPUExtent3D,
  ): undefined;
}

A command buffer passed to submit() can be submitted only once. On one queue, writeBuffer(), writeTexture(), and submit() run in call order.

onSubmittedWorkDone() resolves when the work submitted to that queue before this call has finished. It does not cover commands submitted later.

For writeBuffer(), dataOffset and size are counted in elements when data is a TypedArray, and in bytes when data is an ArrayBuffer or DataView. If size is omitted, the copy runs from dataOffset through the end of data. The number of bytes copied must be a multiple of 4.

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