Mesh Shading

Mesh shading is an optional graphics path that uses mesh shader workgroups instead of vertex and index input.

Check Support

Check context.Capabilities.MeshShadingSupported before creating a mesh shading pipeline.

Create the Pipeline

Compile the mesh and fragment entry points for the active context. Compile a task entry point only when the workload uses a task stage. See Shaders for the shared compilation workflow.

Create a pipeline from a description whose attachment formats match the render pass:

MeshShadingPipelineDesc desc = new()
{
    TaskShader = null,
    MeshShader = meshShader,
    FragmentShader = fragmentShader,
    PrimitiveTopology = PrimitiveTopology.TriangleList,
    AttachmentFormats = attachmentFormats,
    RenderState = renderState
};

MeshShadingPipeline pipeline = context.CreateMeshShadingPipeline(desc);

Set TaskShader to a compiled task entry point when the workload uses a task stage.

Dispatch Mesh Work

Mesh dispatch runs inside a render pass:

commandBuffer.Transition(texture, default, TextureLayout.Undefined, TextureLayout.ColorAttachment);
commandBuffer.BeginRenderPass([ColorAttachment.Clear(texture, default)], null);

commandBuffer.SetPipeline(pipeline);
commandBuffer.DispatchMesh(groupCountX, groupCountY, groupCountZ);

commandBuffer.EndRenderPass();

Without a task stage, the dispatch counts select mesh shader workgroups directly. When TaskShader is present, they select task shader workgroups, and each task workgroup determines how many mesh shader workgroups to launch. Each mesh shader workgroup determines how many vertices and primitives it emits.

Dispatch Indirectly

DispatchMeshIndirect reads one or more IndirectDispatchMeshArgs records. Its counts follow the same task-versus-mesh workgroup interpretation as DispatchMesh.

Create the argument buffer with BufferUsages.Indirect. If earlier GPU work writes the arguments, also add the matching storage usage and record a barrier before dispatch.

See Bindless Resources for shader-visible mesh data and Synchronization when GPU work produces mesh data or indirect arguments.