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https://github.com/parasyte/pixels
A tiny hardware-accelerated pixel frame buffer. 🦀
https://github.com/parasyte/pixels
emulators game-development gpu pixel-perfect rust
Last synced: about 2 months ago
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A tiny hardware-accelerated pixel frame buffer. 🦀
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/parasyte/pixels
- Owner: parasyte
- License: mit
- Created: 2019-09-26T01:50:51.000Z (almost 5 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2024-05-27T23:14:43.000Z (4 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2024-07-12T14:46:02.907Z (2 months ago)
- Topics: emulators, game-development, gpu, pixel-perfect, rust
- Language: Rust
- Homepage: https://docs.rs/pixels
- Size: 4 MB
- Stars: 1,734
- Watchers: 14
- Forks: 115
- Open Issues: 35
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Funding: .github/FUNDING.yml
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
[](https://crates.io/crates/pixels "Crates.io version")
[](https://docs.rs/pixels "Documentation")
[](https://github.com/parasyte/pixels/actions "CI")
[](https://github.com/parasyte/pixels/commits "Commit activity")
[](https://github.com/sponsors/parasyte "Sponsors")
A tiny hardware-accelerated pixel frame buffer. 🦀
## But why?
Rapidly prototype a simple 2D game, pixel-based animations, software renderers, or an emulator for your favorite platform. Then add shaders to simulate a CRT or just to spice it up with some nice VFX.
`pixels` is more than just a library to push pixels to a screen, but less than a full framework. You're in charge of managing a window environment, event loop, and input handling.
## MSRV Policy
The Minimum Supported Rust Version for `pixels` will always be made available in the [MSRV.md](./MSRV.md) file on GitHub.
## Features
- Built on modern graphics APIs powered by [`wgpu`](https://crates.io/crates/wgpu): Vulkan, Metal, DirectX 12, OpenGL ES3.
- DirectX 11, WebGL2, and WebGPU support are a work in progress.
- Use your own custom shaders for special effects.
- Hardware accelerated scaling on perfect pixel boundaries.
- Supports non-square pixel aspect ratios. (WIP)
## Examples
### Games 🎮
- [Conway's Game of Life](./examples/conway)
- [Pixel Invaders](./examples/invaders)
### Demos 🧪
- [Custom Shader](./examples/custom-shader)
- [Dear ImGui example with `winit`](./examples/imgui-winit)
- [Egui example with `winit`](./examples/minimal-egui)
- [Minimal example for WebGL2](./examples/minimal-web)
- [Minimal example with `winit`](./examples/minimal-winit)
- [Minimal example with `tao`](./examples/minimal-tao)
- [Minimal example with `fltk`](./examples/minimal-fltk)
- [`raqote` example](./examples/raqote-winit)
- [`tiny-skia` example](./examples/tiny-skia-winit)
## Troubleshooting
### Driver issues
The most common issue is having an outdated graphics driver installed on the host machine. `pixels`
requests a low power (aka integrated) GPU by default. If the examples are not working for any reason, you may try setting the `WGPU_POWER_PREF=high` environment variable to see if that addresses the issue on your host machine.
You should also try to keep your graphics drivers up-to-date, especially if you have an old Intel integrated GPU. Keep in mind that some drivers and GPUs are EOL and will not be supported.
### Logging
You may want to use the `RUST_LOG` environment variable (see [`env_logger`](https://docs.rs/env_logger) for full documentation) to gain additional insight while troubleshooting the examples. `RUST_LOG=trace` will spew all logs to `stderr` on debug builds:
```
$ RUST_LOG=trace cargo run --package minimal-winit
```
And also on release builds when default features are disabled:
```
$ RUST_LOG=trace cargo run --package minimal-winit --release --no-default-features
```
## Comparison with `minifb`
The [`minifb`](https://crates.io/crates/minifb) crate shares some similarities with `pixels`; it also allows rapid prototyping of 2D games and emulators. But it requires the use of its own window/GUI management, event loop, and input handling. One of the disadvantages with the `minifb` approach is the lack of hardware acceleration (except on macOS, which uses Metal but is not configurable). An advantage is that it relies on fewer dependencies.
## Comparison with `softbuffer`
There is a more recent project called [`softbuffer`](https://github.com/john01dav/softbuffer). It provides similar capabilities to what `pixels` offers, but is intentionally limited to software-only (not hardware-accelerated) rasterization.