Raspberry Pi 4 expands 3D potential with Vulkan update

The Raspberry Pi 4 hits a major milestone in graphics by adding support for the more modern Vulkan 3D API. While this doesn’t mean a smooth Doom (2016) experience on a single-board wonder, it does help the Pi work with Android and point to some future possibilities.

On Monday, Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton announced that the Pi 4 is Vulkan 1.2 compliant. Support is not yet available on downloadable Pi-compatible operating systems, but should be available soon.

For most people using their Pi as a server, homemade controller, or lightweight desktop, Vulkan 1.2 compliance won’t be noticeable. The desktop graphics in the stock Raspberry Pi OS are based on OpenGL, an older graphics API that is supposed to replace Vulkan. There is one group that wins, according to Upton: games and other 3D Android apps. Android uses Vulkan as its low overhead graphics API.

As with most Raspberry Pi advances, this seemingly tiny change could open up unexpected possibilities. Support for Vulkan 1.2 gives developers the same 3D graphics interface (if not the same power) as 2019 NVIDIA graphics cards, 2020 Intel integrated graphics chips, and dozens of other devices. With the Vulkan 1.0 driver installed, developer Iago Toral was able to run the original Quake trilogy mostly on the Pi 4 in 2020 with not too bad frame rates.

The promotion of a modern Vulkan driver for the Pi 4 is of particular importance to Pi CEO Upton. Before he started working on the Raspberry Pi, Upton was part of the Broadcom team that developed the VideoCore 3d GPU chip, the same one found on every Raspberry Pi board. Upton also represented Broadcom from 2007 to 2012 at Khronos, a graphics API standards body that oversaw standards such as OpenGL. OpenGL had already shown its age during Upton’s time and was part of the initial effort to launch its successor, Vulkan.

If you’re determined to mess around with Vulkan 1.2 support on the Pi before the drivers go into stable builds, you’ll need, in the words of Pi’s director of marketing and communications Liz Upton, “a clean install of Mesa from GitHub, and then you’ll need to squawk “. You’ll also need the Raspberry Pi 4 itself, which buying at this point could be another scream-inducing ordeal.