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Computation

Computation is the engine-level wrapper around WebGPU compute shaders. It plays the same role for compute work that Model plays for rendering: it assembles shaders, manages shader inputs and bindings, reuses cached pipelines, and dispatches work through a ComputePass.

Computation is only supported on WebGPU devices.

Usage​

import {Computation} from '@luma.gl/engine';

const computation = new Computation(device, {
  source: COMPUTE_SHADER_SOURCE,
  bindings: {
    inputBuffer,
    outputBuffer
  }
});

const computePass = device.beginComputePass();
computation.predraw();
computation.dispatch(computePass, 64, 1, 1);
computePass.end();

Types​

ComputationProps​

PropertyTypeDescription
source?stringWGSL source code for the compute shader.
modules?ShaderModule[]Shader modules to assemble into the shader.
defines?Record<string, boolean>Shader module defines passed to the assembler.
shaderInputs?ShaderInputsPre-created shader input manager.
bindings?Record<string, Binding>Bound textures, samplers, storage buffers, or uniform buffers.
pipelineFactory?PipelineFactoryFactory used to create cached compute pipelines.
shaderFactory?ShaderFactoryFactory used to create cached shader resources.
shaderAssembler?ShaderAssemblerWGSL shader assembler to use.
debugShaders?'never' | 'errors' | 'warnings' | 'always'Debug shader output policy.

ComputationProps also includes the standard ComputePipelineProps supported by device.createComputePipeline(...).

Properties​

device, id​

Device and application-provided identifier.

pipeline: ComputePipeline​

Current compute pipeline.

shader​

Compiled compute shader resource.

source​

Assembled WGSL source.

shaderInputs​

Current ShaderInputs instance.

Methods​

constructor(device: Device, props: ComputationProps)​

Creates a computation wrapper for one WebGPU device. Throws on non-WebGPU devices.

destroy(): void​

Releases the cached pipeline and shader and destroys the internal uniform store.

predraw(): void​

Updates uniform buffers from the current ShaderInputs state.

dispatch(computePass: ComputePass, x: number, y?: number, z?: number): void​

Binds the current pipeline and bindings and dispatches compute workgroups.

setShaderInputs(shaderInputs: ShaderInputs): void​

Replaces the active ShaderInputs instance and rebuilds the managed uniform-buffer bindings.

setShaderModuleProps(props: Record<string, any>): void​

Updates module props through the shader assembler's generated module-uniform helper.

updateShaderInputs(): void​

Flushes current ShaderInputs values into the internal uniform store.

setBindings(bindings: Record<string, Binding>): void​

Sets the resource bindings used for subsequent dispatches.

Remarks​

  • Computation is compute-only and does not expose draw-style geometry or render-pass APIs.
  • For shader-module-based resource management, Computation follows the same ShaderInputs pattern as Model.