- Qt 6.9
- Qt Quick
- C++ Classes
- QSGRenderNode
- Qt 6.9.2 Reference Documentation

# QSGRenderNode Class

The QSGRenderNode class represents a set of custom rendering commands targeting the graphics API that is in use by the scenegraph. More...

Header: | `#include <QSGRenderNode>`
CMake: | `find_package(Qt6 REQUIRED COMPONENTS Quick)` `target_link_libraries(mytarget PRIVATE Qt6::Quick)`
qmake: | `QT += quick`
Inherits: | QSGNode

- List of all members, including inherited members

## Public Types

struct | RenderState
enum | RenderingFlag { BoundedRectRendering, DepthAwareRendering, OpaqueRendering, NoExternalRendering }
flags | RenderingFlags
enum | StateFlag { ViewportState, ScissorState, DepthState, StencilState, ColorState, …, RenderTargetState }
flags | StateFlags

## Public Functions

virtual | ~QSGRenderNode() override
virtual QSGRenderNode::StateFlags | changedStates() const
const QSGClipNode * | clipList() const
`(since 6.6)` QRhiCommandBuffer * | commandBuffer() const
virtual QSGRenderNode::RenderingFlags | flags() const
qreal | inheritedOpacity() const
const QMatrix4x4 * | matrix() const
`(since 6.0)` virtual void | prepare()
`(since 6.5)` const QMatrix4x4 * | projectionMatrix() const
virtual QRectF | rect() const
virtual void | releaseResources()
virtual void | render(const QSGRenderNode::RenderState *state) = 0
`(since 6.6)` QRhiRenderTarget * | renderTarget() const

## Detailed Description

QSGRenderNode allows creating scene graph nodes that perform their own custom rendering via QRhi (the common approach from Qt 6.6 on), directly via a 3D graphics API such as OpenGL, Vulkan, or Metal, or, when the `software` backend is in use, via QPainter.

QSGRenderNode is the enabler for one of the three ways to integrate custom 2D/3D rendering into a Qt Quick scene. The other two options are to perform the rendering `before` or `after` the Qt Quick scene's own rendering, or to generate a whole separate render pass targeting a dedicated render target (a texture) and then have an item in the scene display the texture. The QSGRenderNode-based approach is similar to the former, in the sense that no additional render passes or render targets are involved, and allows injecting custom rendering commands "inline" with the Qt Quick scene's own rendering. See Qt Quick Scene Graph for a further discussion of the three approaches.

See also Scene Graph - Custom QSGRenderNode.

## Member Type Documentation

### enum QSGRenderNode::RenderingFlag
flags QSGRenderNode::RenderingFlags

Possible values for the bitmask returned from flags().

Constant | Value | Description
--- | --- | ---
`QSGRenderNode::BoundedRectRendering` | `0x01` | Indicates that the implementation of render() does not render outside the area reported from rect() in item coordinates. Such node implementations can lead to more efficient rendering, depending on the scenegraph backend. For example, the `software` backend can continue to use the more optimal partial update path when all render nodes in the scene have this flag set.
`QSGRenderNode::DepthAwareRendering` | `0x02` | Indicates that the implementations of render() conforms to scenegraph expectations by only generating a Z value of 0 in scene coordinates which is then transformed by the matrices retrieved from RenderState::projectionMatrix() and matrix(), as described in the notes for render(). Such node implementations can lead to more efficient rendering, depending on the scenegraph backend. For example, the batching OpenGL renderer can continue to use a more optimal path when all render nodes in the scene have this flag set.
`QSGRenderNode::OpaqueRendering` | `0x04` | Indicates that the implementation of render() writes out opaque pixels for the entire area reported from rect(). By default the renderers must assume that render() can also output semi or fully transparent pixels. Setting this flag can improve performance in some cases.
`QSGRenderNode::NoExternalRendering` | `0x08` | Indicates that the implementations of prepare() and render() exclusively use the QRhi family of APIs, instead of directly calling a 3D API such as OpenGL, Vulkan, or Metal.

The RenderingFlags type is a typedef for QFlags<RenderingFlag>. It stores an OR combination of RenderingFlag values.

See also render(), prepare(), rect(), and QRhi.

### enum QSGRenderNode::StateFlag
flags QSGRenderNode::StateFlags

This enum contains the possible values for use in the bitmask returned from changedStates().

Constant | Value | Description
--- | --- | ---
`QSGRenderNode::ViewportState` | `0x40` | Viewport
`QSGRenderNode::ScissorState` | `0x04` | Scissor test enabled state, scissor rectangle
`QSGRenderNode::DepthState` | `0x01` | This value has no effect in Qt 6.
`QSGRenderNode::StencilState` | `0x02` | This value has no effect in Qt 6.
`QSGRenderNode::ColorState` | `0x08` | This value has no effect in Qt 6.
`QSGRenderNode::BlendState` | `0x10` | This value has no effect in Qt 6.
`QSGRenderNode::CullState` | `0x20` | This value has no effect in Qt 6.
`QSGRenderNode::RenderTargetState` | `0x80` | This value has no effect in Qt 6.

The StateFlags type is a typedef for QFlags<StateFlag>. It stores an OR combination of StateFlag values.

## Member Function Documentation

### `[override virtual noexcept]` QSGRenderNode::~QSGRenderNode()

Destructs the render node. Derived classes are expected to perform cleanup similar to releaseResources() in here.

With QRhi and resources such as QRhiBuffer, QRhiTexture, QRhiGraphicsPipeline, etc., it is often good practice to use smart pointers, such as std::unique_ptr, which can often avoid the need to implement a destructor, and lead to more compact source code. Keep in mind, however, that implementing releaseResources(), likely containing a number of reset() calls on the unique_ptrs, is still important.

See also releaseResources().

### `[virtual]` QSGRenderNode::StateFlags QSGRenderNode::changedStates() const

This function should return a mask where each bit represents graphics states changed by the render() function.

Note: With Qt 6 and QRhi-based rendering the only relevant values are ViewportState and ScissorState. Other values can be returned but are ignored in practice.

Constant | Description
--- | ---
`ViewportState` | Viewport
`ScissorState` | Scissor test enabled state, scissor rectangle
`DepthState` | This value has no effect in Qt 6.
`StencilState` | This value has no effect in Qt 6.
`ColorState` | This value has no effect in Qt 6.
`BlendState` | This value has no effect in Qt 6.
`CullState` | This value has no effect in Qt 6.
`RenderTargetState` | This value has no effect in Qt 6.

Note: The `software` backend exposes its QPainter and saves and restores before and after invoking render(). Therefore reporting any changed states from here is not necessary.

The default implementation returns 0, meaning no relevant state was changed in render().

Note: This function may be called before render().

### const QSGClipNode *QSGRenderNode::clipList() const

Returns the current clip list.

### `[since 6.6]` QRhiCommandBuffer *QSGRenderNode::commandBuffer() const

Returns the current command buffer.

This function was introduced in Qt 6.6.

See also renderTarget().

### `[virtual]` QSGRenderNode::RenderingFlags QSGRenderNode::flags() const

Returns flags describing the behavior of this render node.

The default implementation returns 0.

See also RenderingFlag and rect().

### qreal QSGRenderNode::inheritedOpacity() const

Returns the current effective opacity.

### const QMatrix4x4 *QSGRenderNode::matrix() const

Returns pointer to the current model-view matrix.

### `[virtual, since 6.0]` void QSGRenderNode::prepare()

Called from the frame preparation phase. There is a call to this function before each invocation of render().

Unlike render(), this function is called before the scenegraph starts recording the render pass for the current frame on the underlying command buffer. This is useful when doing rendering with graphics APIs, such as Vulkan, where copy type of operations will need to be recorded before the render pass.

The default implementation is empty.

When implementing a QSGRenderNode that uses QRhi to render, query the QRhi object from the QQuickWindow via QQuickWindow::rhi(). To get a QRhiCommandBuffer for submitting work to, call commandBuffer(). To query information about the active render target, call renderTarget(). See the {Scene Graph - Custom QSGRenderNode} example for details.

This function was introduced in Qt 6.0.

### `[since 6.5]` const QMatrix4x4 *QSGRenderNode::projectionMatrix() const

Returns pointer to the current projection matrix.

In render() this is the same matrix that is returned from RenderState::projectionMatrix(). This getter exists so that prepare() also has a way to query the projection matrix.

When working with a modern graphics API, or Qt's own graphics abstraction layer, it is more than likely that one will want to load `*projectionMatrix() * *matrix()` into a uniform buffer. That is however something that needs to be done in prepare(), so outside the recording of a render pass. That is why both matrices are queriable directly from the QSGRenderNode, both in prepare() and render().

This function was introduced in Qt 6.5.

### `[virtual]` QRectF QSGRenderNode::rect() const

Returns the bounding rectangle in item coordinates for the area render() touches. The value is only in use when flags() includes BoundedRectRendering, ignored otherwise.

Reporting the rectangle in combination with BoundedRectRendering is particularly important with the `software` backend because otherwise having a rendernode in the scene would trigger fullscreen updates, skipping all partial update optimizations.

For rendernodes covering the entire area of a corresponding QQuickItem the return value will be (0, 0, item->width(), item->height()).

Note: Nodes are also free to render outside the boundaries specified by the item's width and height, since the scenegraph nodes are not bounded by the QQuickItem geometry, as long as this is reported correctly from this function.

See also flags().

### `[virtual]` void QSGRenderNode::releaseResources()

This function is called when all custom graphics resources allocated by this node have to be freed immediately. In case the node does not directly allocate graphics resources (buffers, textures, render targets, fences, etc.) through the graphics API that is in use, there is nothing to do here.

Failing to release all custom resources can lead to incorrect behavior in graphics device loss scenarios on some systems since subsequent reinitialization of the graphics system may fail.

Note: Some scenegraph backends may choose not to call this function. Therefore it is expected that QSGRenderNode implementations perform cleanup both in their destructor and in releaseResources().

Unlike with the destructor, it is expected that render() can reinitialize all resources it needs when called after a call to releaseResources().

With OpenGL, the scenegraph's OpenGL context will be current both when calling the destructor and this function.

### `[pure virtual]` void QSGRenderNode::render(const QSGRenderNode::RenderState *state)

This function is called by the renderer and should paint this node with directly invoking commands via QRhi or directly via the underlying graphics API (OpenGL, Direct3D, etc.).

The effective opacity can be retrieved with inheritedOpacity().

The projection matrix is available through state, while the model-view matrix can be fetched with matrix(). The combined matrix is then the projection matrix times the model-view matrix. The correct stacking of the items in the scene is ensured by the projection matrix.

When using the provided matrices, the coordinate system for vertex data follows the usual QQuickItem conventions: top-left is (0, 0), bottom-right is the corresponding QQuickItem's width() and height() minus one. For example, assuming a two float (x-y) per vertex coordinate layout, a triangle covering half of the item can be specified as (width - 1, height - 1), (0, 0), (0, height - 1) using counter-clockwise direction.

Note: QSGRenderNode is provided as a means to implement custom 2D or 2.5D Qt Quick items. It is not intended for integrating true 3D content into the Qt Quick scene. That use case is better supported by the other methods for integrating custom rendering.

Note: QSGRenderNode can perform significantly better than texture-based approaches (such as, QQuickRhiItem), especially on systems where the fragment processing power is limited. This is because it avoids rendering to a texture and then drawing a textured quad. Rather, QSGRenderNode allows recording draw calls in line with the scenegraph's other commands, avoiding an additional render target and the potentially expensive texturing and blending.

Clip information is calculated before the function is called. Implementations wishing to take clipping into account can set up scissoring or stencil based on the information in state. The stencil buffer is filled with the necessary clip shapes, but it is up to the implementation to enable stencil testing.

Some scenegraph backends, software in particular, use no scissor or stencil. There the clip region is provided as an ordinary QRegion.

When implementing a QSGRenderNode that uses QRhi to render, query the QRhi object from the QQuickWindow via QQuickWindow::rhi(). To get a QRhiCommandBuffer for submitting work to, call commandBuffer(). To query information about the active render target, call renderTarget(). See the {Scene Graph - Custom QSGRenderNode} example for details.

With Qt 6 and its QRhi-based scene graph renderer, no assumptions should be made about the active (OpenGL) state when this function is called, even when OpenGL is in use. Assume nothing about the pipelines and dynamic states bound on the command list/buffer when this function is called.

Note: Depth writes are expected to be disabled. Enabling depth writes can lead to unexpected results, depending on the scenegraph backend in use and the content in the scene, so exercise caution with this.

Note: In Qt 6, changedStates() has limited use. See the documentation for changedStates() for more information.

With some graphics APIs, including when using QRhi directly, it can be necessary to reimplement prepare() in addition, or alternatively connect to the QQuickWindow::beforeRendering() signal. These are called/emitted before recording the beginning of a renderpass on the command buffer (vkCmdBeginRenderPass with Vulkan, or starting to encode via MTLRenderCommandEncoder in case of Metal. Recording copy operations cannot be done inside render() with such APIs. Rather, do such operations either in prepare() or the slot connected to beforeRendering (with DirectConnection).

See also QSGRendererInterface and QQuickWindow::rendererInterface().

### `[since 6.6]` QRhiRenderTarget *QSGRenderNode::renderTarget() const

Returns the current render target.

This is provided mainly to enable prepare() and render() implementations that use QRhi accessing the QRhiRenderTarget's renderPassDescriptor or pixel size.

To build a QRhiGraphicsPipeline, which implies having to provide a QRhiRenderPassDescriptor, query the renderPassDescriptor from the render target. Be aware however that the render target may change over the lifetime of the custom QQuickItem and the QSGRenderNode. For example, consider what happens when dynamically setting `layer.enabled: true` on the item or an ancestor of it: this triggers rendering into a texture, not directly to the window, which means the QSGRenderNode is going to work with a different render target from then on. The new render target may then have a different pixel format, which can make already built graphics pipelines incompatible. This can be handled with logic such as the following:

     if (m_pipeline && renderTarget()->renderPassDescriptor()->serializedFormat() != m_renderPassFormat) {
         delete m_pipeline;
         m_pipeline = nullptr;
     }
     if (!m_pipeline) {
         // Build a new QRhiGraphicsPipeline.
         // ...
         // Store the serialized format for fast and simple comparisons later on.
         m_renderPassFormat = renderTarget()->renderPassDescriptor()->serializedFormat();
     }

This function was introduced in Qt 6.6.

See also commandBuffer().