Version: 2023.2
LanguageEnglish
  • C#

ComputeBuffer

class in UnityEngine

/

Implemented in:UnityEngine.CoreModule

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Description

GPU data buffer, mostly for use with compute shaders.

ComputeShader programs often need arbitrary data to be read & written into memory buffers. ComputeBuffer class is exactly for that - you can create & fill them from script code, and use them in compute shaders or regular shaders.

Compute buffers are always supported in compute shaders. Compute shader support can be queried runtime using SystemInfo.supportsComputeShaders. See the Compute Shaders Manual page for more information about platforms supporting compute shaders. In regular graphics shaders the compute buffer support requires minimum shader model 4.5.

For a ComputeBuffer that uses a counter, Metal and Vulkan platforms don't have native counters and use separate small buffers that act as counters internally. These small buffers are bound separately from the ComputeBuffer and count towards the limit of possible buffers bound (31 for Metal, based on the device for Vulkan).

On the shader side, ComputeBuffers with default ComputeBufferType map to StructuredBuffer<T> and RWStructuredBuffer<T> in HLSL.

Additional resources: ComputeShader class, Shader.SetGlobalBuffer, Material.SetBuffer, Compute Shaders overview.

Properties

countNumber of elements in the buffer (Read Only).
nameThe debug label for the compute buffer (setter only).
strideSize of one element in the buffer in bytes (Read Only).

Constructors

ComputeBufferCreate a Compute Buffer.

Public Methods

BeginWriteBegins a write operation to the buffer
EndWriteEnds a write operation to the buffer
GetDataRead data values from the buffer into an array. The array can only use blittable types.
GetNativeBufferPtrRetrieve a native (underlying graphics API) pointer to the buffer.
IsValidReturns true if this compute buffer is valid and false otherwise.
ReleaseRelease a Compute Buffer.
SetCounterValueSets counter value of append/consume buffer.
SetDataSet the buffer with values from an array.

Static Methods

CopyCountCopy counter value of append/consume buffer into another buffer.