“Architecture Challenges in the Android 3D Graphics Stack” by Baiget

  • ©Pau Baiget

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Entry Number: 18

Title:

    Architecture Challenges in the Android 3D Graphics Stack

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Abstract:


    The increasing traction of high-fidelity games on mobile devices is highlighting the challenges game developers have to face in order to optimize their content within the Android ecosystem.

    In this talk, we’ll explain our understanding of these challenges through the lens of how Android’s graphics stack works today. If you’ve ever wondered:

    • Are Android graphics drivers as buggy as I’ve heard?

    • Why is there so much difference from device to device?

    • Why aren’t there great profilers like on console?

    • Why can’t I just measure draw call timings like on desktop?

    • Why aren’t graphics drivers updatable?

    … then this talk is for you! We’ll cover the way the hardware ecosystem for Android works, including the quirks of SOC vs. OEM vs. IP makers and how that translates to unique challenges. Then we will cover how software flows through this ecosystem and out through carriers, and the challenges that brings. We will talk about how the unique architecture features on mobile translate to new types of tooling challenges. Finally, we will talk about parallels between these combined challenges and other more traditional driver models from Windows or Mac, and discuss some of the implications thereof.

References:


    Apple. [n.d.]. iOS. Retrieved February 1, 2019 from https://www.apple.com/ios/home
    Arm. 2016. Tile-based Rendering. Retrieved February 1, 2019 from https://developer.arm.com/graphics/developer-guides/tile-based-rendering
    ImgTec. 2015. A look at the PowerVR graphics architecture: Tile-based rendering. Retrieved February 1, 2019 from https://www.imgtec.com/blog/a-look-at-the-powervr-graphics-architecture-tile-based-rendering
    Khronos. [n.d.]. EGL: Native Platform Interface. Retrieved February 1, 2019 from https://www.khronos.org/egl
    Microsoft. [n.d.]a. SwapBuffers function. Retrieved February 1, 2019 from https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/api/wingdi/nf-wingdi-swapbuffers
    Microsoft. [n.d.]b. Windows. https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows
    Microsoft. [n.d.]c. Windows Display Driver Model. Retrieved February 1, 2019 from https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/display

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