NVIDIA Announces Evolutionary Neural Graphics and Ray Tracing Technology For Game Developers

Author: by Ike Nnoli

At GTC, NVIDIA announced the Ada Lovelace architecture. This next generation GPU, named GeForce RTX 40 Series, alongside new software technologies, will help developers across industries accelerate 3D graphics workflows.

Developers can use the latest solutions, such as NVIDIA DLSS 3 (Deep Learning Super Sampling) and NVIDIA RTX Path Tracing, to multiply their frame rates while accelerating their process for producing true-to-life lighting. For example, NetEase is showcasing a path-traced upgrade with the launch of Fuyun Court, a new location that all players can access when the next Justice game update is released.

Learn more about the benefits of these groundbreaking technologies in neural rendering and next generation ray tracing.

A Revolution in Neural Graphics for Gaming Performance

DLSS 3 builds on the industry-defining AI-powered Super Resolution technology that has been adopted by over 200 games and applications and now introduces a new AI network, called Optical Multi Frame Generation. This revolutionary new AI network which takes information from sequential frames and an optical flow field to generate a new high quality frame, boosts graphics performance in both GPU and CPU bound scenarios. DLSS 3 deploys NVIDIA Reflex low latency technology to maintain amazing responsiveness. By combining DLSS Frame Generation, DLSS Super Resolution, and NVIDIA Reflex technology, DLSS 3 delivers up to 4x improvements in frame rate and up to 2x improvements in latency compared to native resolution rendering – all without compromising image quality or responsiveness.

DLSS 3 is powered by dedicated AI processors called Tensor Cores, and the new Optical Flow Accelerator in NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs. The technology takes advantage of AI models that are continuously improved through ongoing training on NVIDIA supercomputers.

This new technology is already being integrated in over 35 games and applications. Get a headstart and integrate the Streamline SDK today, so you’ll be ready to take full advantage of DLSS 3 when available and sign up to be notified of its availability here.

Next Generation Real-Time Ray Tracing That Accelerates Lighting Production

Engineers and artists can leverage the new RTX Path Tracing SDK as a real-time reference, saving time during development.

Traditionally, the process to render baked lighting solutions was very iterative and time consuming. But the RTX Path Tracing toolkit addresses this issue by unifying direct and indirect lighting across various kinds of materials in real time, serving as a ground truth reference to ensure accurate lighting production. Whether you want to ship your game fully path-traced or with baked lighting, this toolkit will reduce iteration and allow you to work on more photorealistic content in shorter amounts of time.

This technology combines best practices within real-time ray tracing and neural graphics development to provide new efficiencies during production, while offering ultra quality rendering modes for higher-end GPUs. Key features of RTX Path Tracing include:

Additionally, NVIDIA announced Displaced Micro-Mesh and Opacity Micro-Map, two technologies that are built from the ground up for real-time path tracing of a 50x increase in geometry. These technologies allow developers to fill scenes full of highly detailed geometry — from fossils to crawling creatures to nature — expressed in its full richness.

Simplygon at Microsoft, the leader in 3D games content optimization, has integrated Displaced Micro-Meshes. “We are very excited to partner with NVIDIA to enable game creators with the Simplygon SDK, to compress super-detailed objects by an order of magnitude unmatched by other solutions. With NVIDIA Displaced Micro-mesh technology developers can pursue crafting environments at unprecedented levels of fidelity, density, and variety – immersing players in new stunning and beautiful worlds in games” - Magnus Isaksson, Studio Head.

Adobe has also integrated Displaced Micro-Mesh in Substance 3D “We at Adobe are excited about NVIDIA’s Displaced Micro-Mesh technology with native ray tracing support, which has the potential to unlock ultra-detailed real-time ray traced scenes with minimal memory cost” – Tamy Boubekeur, Director of Adobe Research Paris.

Both of these partners have seen substantial reduction in memory footprint, and are looking to explore Opacity Micro-Map in the future for increased path tracing performance.

Watch our GTC sessions on neural graphics and path tracing this week.

Explore more of the latest technologies in game development, and learn more about DLSS 3, RTX Path Tracing, and NVIDIA Micro-Mesh.