# VkAttachmentLoadOp(3) Manual Page

## Name

VkAttachmentLoadOp - Specify how contents of an attachment are treated at the beginning of a subpass

## C Specification

Possible values of VkAttachmentDescription::`loadOp` and `stencilLoadOp`, specifying how the contents of the attachment are treated, are:

    typedef enum VkAttachmentLoadOp {
        VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_LOAD = 0,
        VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_CLEAR = 1,
        VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_DONT_CARE = 2,
        VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_MAX_ENUM = 0x7FFFFFFF
    } VkAttachmentLoadOp;

## Description

- `VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_LOAD` specifies that the previous contents of the image within the render area will be preserved. For attachments with a depth/stencil format, this uses the access type `VK_ACCESS_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_READ_BIT`. For attachments with a color format, this uses the access type `VK_ACCESS_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_READ_BIT`.

- `VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_CLEAR` specifies that the contents within the render area will be cleared to a uniform value, which is specified when a render pass instance is begun. For attachments with a depth/stencil format, this uses the access type `VK_ACCESS_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_WRITE_BIT`. For attachments with a color format, this uses the access type `VK_ACCESS_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_WRITE_BIT`.

- `VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_DONT_CARE` specifies that the previous contents within the area need not be preserved; the contents of the attachment will be undefined inside the render area. For attachments with a depth/stencil format, this uses the access type `VK_ACCESS_DEPTH_STENCIL_ATTACHMENT_WRITE_BIT`. For attachments with a color format, this uses the access type `VK_ACCESS_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_WRITE_BIT`.

## See Also

VkAttachmentDescription, VkAttachmentDescription2

## Document Notes

For more information, see the Vulkan Specification

This page is extracted from the Vulkan Specification. Fixes and changes should be made to the Specification, not directly.

## Copyright

Copyright (c) 2014-2020 Khronos Group. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.