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Warnock: Harnessing GPU Geometry Amplification for Vector Graphics

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Mark Kilgard, Brian Barron

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Description

Warnock: Harnessing GPU Geometry Amplification for Vector Graphics is an HPG talk by Mark Kilgard (with Brian Barron) presenting Warnock, a research GPU library that fills and strokes 2D vector paths from a compact baked link buffer. Kilgard connects classic vector graphics algorithms to modern tessellation and mesh shader hardware.

The session covers polar stroking and polar filling techniques, mapping path links to GPU-generated triangles, pixel-space error bounds, and comparisons against Cairo, Skia, and Direct2D on representative SVG workloads. Emphasis is on predictable quality for UI-scale geometry at high DPI.

Attendees should know 2D vector path terminology, GPU rasterization pipelines, and either OpenGL/Vulkan/D3D12 geometry stages at an advanced level. HPG's research audience mix of academics and engine tool engineers is assumed.

The talk video is available on YouTube; Warnock remains a research codebase with papers and slides linked from Kilgard's publications rather than a shrink-wrapped SDK.

Kilgard's vector GPU work at NVIDIA is widely respected in 2D rendering and UI tooling circles; Warnock continues a line of talks that engine teams watch when building GPU-accelerated vector backends.