Why is RenderScript graphics removed at API level 23 or higher? Alternative FragmentShader solution without GLSL?

Question

Android RenderScript graphic subsystem is removed from API23 and above:

https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/renderscript/reference/rs_graphics.html

Does that means that renderscript no longer be an alternative to VertexShader/FragmentShader solution? And does that mean renderscript will never use OpenGL/GPU for computing any more?

What is the decision under the deprecation?

Is there any alternative FragmentShader solution without GLSL on Android platform?

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 14 '17 at 09:39

2

RenderScript graphics was removed. RenderScript compute still exists.

I suspect you'll never get an official "why" - you'd have to ask Google.

In my experience game developers don't like targeting OS-specific APIs, especially when iPhone is probably the easier platform to monetize. If you write an application in RS graphics it was Android only, if you write a game using GLES then you can run on both Android and iOS, so as a developer why would you choose to use RS graphics and halve your target market?

answered Jun 14 '17 at 09:39

solidpixel

10,688
1
20
33

I'm looking for some GPU computing stuff, and find that RenderScript seems have no longer associate with GPU... – Gohan Jun 14 '17 at 11:04
It depends on the platform - the choice of using CPU or GPU is dynamic depending on the underlying GPU driver and the platform integration, so will vary from device to device. – solidpixel Jun 14 '17 at 11:54
RenderScript now is a compute only API, the graphics part was deprecated actually way back before Kitkat (API 19), and removed from API23 SDK. – Miao Wang Jun 16 '17 at 20:28
My codes are old and still using rs_graphics so what alternatives I got? – stuckedunderflow Mar 03 '19 at 16:06
Switch to OpenGL ES – solidpixel Mar 03 '19 at 21:53

Why is RenderScript graphics removed at API level 23 or higher? Alternative FragmentShader solution without GLSL?

1 Answers1