vkCmdSetFrontFace(3)

# vkCmdSetFrontFace(3) Manual Page

## Name

vkCmdSetFrontFace - Set front face orientation dynamically for a command buffer

## C Specification

To dynamically set the front face orientation, call:

    // Provided by VK_VERSION_1_3
    void vkCmdSetFrontFace(
        VkCommandBuffer                             commandBuffer,
        VkFrontFace                                 frontFace);

    // Provided by VK_EXT_extended_dynamic_state, VK_EXT_shader_object
    // Equivalent to vkCmdSetFrontFace
    void vkCmdSetFrontFaceEXT(
        VkCommandBuffer                             commandBuffer,
        VkFrontFace                                 frontFace);

## Parameters

- `commandBuffer` is the command buffer into which the command will be recorded.

- `frontFace` is a VkFrontFace value specifying the front-facing triangle orientation to be used for culling.

## Description

This command sets the front face orientation for subsequent drawing commands when drawing using shader objects, or when the graphics pipeline is created with VK_DYNAMIC_STATE_FRONT_FACE set in VkPipelineDynamicStateCreateInfo::`pDynamicStates`. Otherwise, this state is specified by the VkPipelineRasterizationStateCreateInfo::`frontFace` value used to create the currently active pipeline.

Valid Usage

- VUID-vkCmdSetFrontFace-None-08971
  At least one of the following must be true:

  - the `extendedDynamicState` feature is enabled

  - the `shaderObject` feature is enabled

  - the value of VkApplicationInfo::`apiVersion` used to create the VkInstance parent of `commandBuffer` is greater than or equal to Version 1.3

Valid Usage (Implicit)

- VUID-vkCmdSetFrontFace-commandBuffer-parameter
  `commandBuffer` must be a valid VkCommandBuffer handle

- VUID-vkCmdSetFrontFace-frontFace-parameter
  `frontFace` must be a valid VkFrontFace value

- VUID-vkCmdSetFrontFace-commandBuffer-recording
  `commandBuffer` must be in the recording state

- VUID-vkCmdSetFrontFace-commandBuffer-cmdpool
  The `VkCommandPool` that `commandBuffer` was allocated from must support VK_QUEUE_GRAPHICS_BIT operations

- VUID-vkCmdSetFrontFace-videocoding
  This command must only be called outside of a video coding scope

Host Synchronization

- Host access to `commandBuffer` must be externally synchronized

- Host access to the `VkCommandPool` that `commandBuffer` was allocated from must be externally synchronized

Command Properties

Command Buffer Levels | Render Pass Scope | Video Coding Scope | Supported Queue Types | Command Type
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Primary Secondary | Both | Outside | VK_QUEUE_GRAPHICS_BIT | State

Conditional Rendering

vkCmdSetFrontFace is not affected by conditional rendering

## See Also

VK_EXT_extended_dynamic_state, VK_EXT_shader_object, VK_VERSION_1_3, VkCommandBuffer, VkFrontFace

## 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 2014-2026 The Khronos Group Inc.

SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0