C Specification

To begin a render pass instance, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_3
void vkCmdBeginRendering(
    VkCommandBuffer                             commandBuffer,
    const VkRenderingInfo*                      pRenderingInfo);
// Provided by VK_KHR_dynamic_rendering
// Equivalent to vkCmdBeginRendering
void vkCmdBeginRenderingKHR(
    VkCommandBuffer                             commandBuffer,
    const VkRenderingInfo*                      pRenderingInfo);

Parameters

  • commandBuffer is the command buffer in which to record the command.

  • pRenderingInfo is a pointer to a VkRenderingInfo structure specifying details of the render pass instance to begin.

Description

After beginning a render pass instance, the command buffer is ready to record draw commands.

If pRenderingInfo->flags includes VK_RENDERING_RESUMING_BIT then this render pass is resumed from a render pass instance that has been suspended earlier in submission order.

If there is an instance of VkTileMemorySizeInfoQCOM included in the pNext chain of VkRenderingInfo, the structure is ignored.

Valid Usage
Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • VUID-vkCmdBeginRendering-commandBuffer-parameter
    commandBuffer must be a valid VkCommandBuffer handle

  • VUID-vkCmdBeginRendering-pRenderingInfo-parameter
    pRenderingInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkRenderingInfo structure

  • VUID-vkCmdBeginRendering-commandBuffer-recording
    commandBuffer must be in the recording state

  • VUID-vkCmdBeginRendering-commandBuffer-cmdpool
    The VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from must support VK_QUEUE_GRAPHICS_BIT operations

  • VUID-vkCmdBeginRendering-renderpass
    This command must only be called outside of a render pass instance

  • VUID-vkCmdBeginRendering-suspended
    This command must not be called between suspended render pass instances

  • VUID-vkCmdBeginRendering-videocoding
    This command must only be called outside of a video coding scope

Host Synchronization

  • Host access to commandBuffer must be externally synchronized

  • Host access to the VkCommandPool that commandBuffer was allocated from must be externally synchronized

Command Properties
Command Buffer Levels Render Pass Scope Video Coding Scope Supported Queue Types Command Type

Primary
Secondary

Outside

Outside

VK_QUEUE_GRAPHICS_BIT

Action
State
Conditional Rendering

vkCmdBeginRendering is not affected by conditional rendering

See Also

VK_KHR_dynamic_rendering, VK_VERSION_1_3, VkCommandBuffer, VkRenderingInfo

Document Notes

For more information, see the Vulkan Specification.

This page is extracted from the Vulkan Specification. Fixes and changes should be made to the Specification, not directly.

Copyright

Copyright 2014-2026 The Khronos Group Inc.

SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0