CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidgpurenderscript
Timothy
Timothy

Reputation: 469

Is it possible to program GPU for Android

I am now programming on Android and I wonder whether we can use GPGPU for Android now? I once heard that Renderscript can potentially execute on GPGPU in the future. But I wonder whether it is possible for us to programming on GPGPU now? And if it is possible for me to program on the Android GPGPU, where can I find some tutorials or sample programs? Thank you for your help and suggestions.

Up till now I know that the OpenGL ES library was now accelerated use GPU, but I want to use the GPU for computing. What I want to do is to accelerate computing so that I hope to use some libraries of APIs such as OpenCL.

Upvotes: 16

Views: 12867

Answers (4)

Morrison Chang
Morrison Chang

Reputation: 12121

2021-April Update

Google has announced deprecation of the RenderScript API in favor of Vulkan with Android 12.

The option for manufacturers to include the Vulkan API was made available in Android 7.0 Compatibility Definition Document - 3.3.1.1. Graphic Libraries.

Original Answer

Actually Renderscript Compute doesn't use the GPU at this time, but is designed for it

From Romain Guy who works on the Android platform:

  • Renderscript Compute is currently CPU bound but with the for_each construct it will take advantage of multiple cores immediately
  • Renderscript Compute was designed to run on the GPU and/or the CPU
  • Renderscript Compute avoids having to write JNI code and gives you architecture independent, high performance results
  • Renderscript Compute can, as of Android 4.1, benefit from SIMD optimizations (NEON on ARM)

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/android-developers/m194NFf_ZqA/Whq4qWisv5MJ

Upvotes: 9

IsaacKleiner
IsaacKleiner

Reputation: 425

There are several options: You can use OpenGL ES 2.0, which is supported by almost all devices but has limited functionality for GPGPU. You can use OpenGL ES 3.0, with which you can do much more in terms of GPU processing. Or you can use RenderScript, but this is platform-specific and furthermore does not give you any influence on whether your algorithms run on the GPU or the CPU. A summary about this topic can be found in this master's thesis: Parallel Computing for Digital Signal Processing on Mobile Device GPUs.

You should also check out ogles_gpgpu, which allows GPGPU via OpenGL ES 2.0 on Android and iOS.

Upvotes: 1

keaukraine
keaukraine

Reputation: 5364

As of Android 4.2, Renderscript can involve GPU in computations (in certain cases). More information here: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2013/01/evolution-of-renderscript-performance.html

As I understand, ScriptIntrinsic subclasses are well-optimized to run on GPU on compatible hardware (for example, Nexus10 with Mali T604). Documentation: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/renderscript/ScriptIntrinsic.html

Of course you can decide to use OpenCL, but Renderscript is guaranteed (by Google, being a part of Android itself) to be running even on hardware which doesn't support GPGPU computation and will use any other available acceleration means supported by hardware it is running on.

Upvotes: 3

android developer
android developer

Reputation: 115980

yes , it is possible .

you can use either renderscript or opengGL ES 2.0 .

renderscript is available on android 3.0 and above , and openGL ES 2.0 is available on about 95% of the devices.

Upvotes: 3

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