Are you a developer or a data analyst? Share your thoughts about your coding tools in our short survey and get a chance to win prizes! Learn more →
Top 23 C++ graphics-programming Projects
-
3d-game-shaders-for-beginners
🎮 A step-by-step guide to implementing SSAO, depth of field, lighting, normal mapping, and more for your 3D game.
-
JetBrains
Tell us how you use coding tools. You may win a prize! Are you a developer or a data analyst? Share your thoughts about your coding tools in our short survey and get a chance to win prizes!
-
Project mention: Ask HN: What are good high information density UIs (screenshots, apps, sites) | news.ycombinator.com | 2025-05-08
Tracy [1] is the first thing that comes to my mind, then RenderDoc [2].
After that Visual Studio while debugging. In general, I think graphical debuggers and profiling tools do a relatively good job of packing lots of information into many, small windows.
[1] https://github.com/wolfpld/tracy
[2] https://github.com/baldurk/renderdoc
-
The other problem is that modern graphics APIs got so complex that they're intimidating even to experienced developers.
When that 'first triangle on screen' code [looks something like this](https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Samples/blob/main/sam...) compared to [the old days](https://github.com/gamedev-net/nehe-opengl/blob/master/vc/Le...), it's not surprising that most game devs now choose a ready-made engine where they can get straight to game logic or playing with shaders.
-
-
-
-
-
InfluxDB
InfluxDB – Built for High-Performance Time Series Workloads. InfluxDB 3 OSS is now GA. Transform, enrich, and act on time series data directly in the database. Automate critical tasks and eliminate the need to move data externally. Download now.
-
HybridRenderingEngine
Clustered Forward/Deferred renderer with Physically Based Shading, Image Based Lighting and a whole lot of OpenGL.
-
JKQtPlotter
an extensive Qt5 & Qt6 Plotter framework (including a feature-richt plotter widget, a speed-optimized, but limited variant and a LaTeX equation renderer!), written fully in C/C++ and without external dependencies
-
MethaneKit
🎲 Modern 3D graphics made simple with C++20 cross-platform framework and rendering abstraction API on top of DirectX 12, Vulkan & Metal
-
-
-
-
GPU-Reshape
GPU Reshape (GRS) is an API & vendor agnostic instrumentation framework, with instruction level validation.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Project mention: Show HN: An update to my friendly C++ WebGPU open source library | news.ycombinator.com | 2024-10-29
-
-
vec-mat-comp-quat
C++ 2d/3d/4d Vector, 2x2/3x3/4x4 Matrix, Complex Number, Quaternion, and 3d Transformation Classes / Functions (Header Only libraries)
-
Sevalla
Deploy and host your apps and databases, now with $50 credit! Sevalla is the PaaS you have been looking for! Advanced deployment pipelines, usage-based pricing, preview apps, templates, human support by developers, and much more!
NOTE:
The open source projects on this list are ordered by number of github stars.
The number of mentions indicates repo mentiontions in the last 12 Months or
since we started tracking (Dec 2020).
C++ graphics-programming discussion
C++ graphics-programming related posts
-
A Taxonomy for Rendering Engines
-
Show HN: An update to my friendly C++ WebGPU open source library
-
Google's First Tensor Processing Unit: Architecture
-
Question regarding descriptor set binding invalidation/disturbing over pipeline boundaries
-
FreeOberon cross-platform Oberon language IDD
-
New Vulkan Sample - VK_EXT_extended_dynamic_state2 Extension
-
Show HN: A tutorial for building a 2D game engine with Go and OpenGL
-
A note from our sponsor - JetBrains
surveys.jetbrains.com | 1 Sep 2025
Index
What are some of the best open-source graphics-programming projects in C++? This list will help you:
| # | Project | Stars |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3d-game-shaders-for-beginners | 18,859 |
| 2 | renderdoc | 9,933 |
| 3 | Vulkan-Samples | 4,881 |
| 4 | SHADERed | 4,537 |
| 5 | VulkanTutorial | 3,506 |
| 6 | tinykaboom | 2,388 |
| 7 | geogram | 2,218 |
| 8 | HybridRenderingEngine | 1,479 |
| 9 | JKQtPlotter | 998 |
| 10 | MethaneKit | 929 |
| 11 | StratusGFX | 778 |
| 12 | SoftwareRenderer | 680 |
| 13 | relion | 489 |
| 14 | GPU-Reshape | 437 |
| 15 | CactusViewer | 256 |
| 16 | aether3d | 205 |
| 17 | quarkGL | 115 |
| 18 | CroissantVulkanRenderer | 94 |
| 19 | BunnyLOD | 78 |
| 20 | ascii-graphics | 65 |
| 21 | wgpu-lab | 48 |
| 22 | csgjs-cpp | 22 |
| 23 | vec-mat-comp-quat | 22 |
Sponsored
Tell us how you use coding tools. You may win a prize!
Are you a developer or a data analyst? Share your thoughts about your coding tools in our short survey and get a chance to win prizes!
surveys.jetbrains.com