As we already know well, virtual reality is not an adventure limited to headsets and video games. Announcements regarding middleware and development platforms are equally important, since they play a critical role in shaping this fabulous ecosystem. GDC 2015 started with everything, and at the forefront is none other than AMD, presenting its SDK LiquidVR, whose main objective is to reduce latency and extend compatibility to all headsets on the market.
Competition in the world of virtual reality is becoming increasingly broad. Oculus and Sony have their headsets (which we look forward to), recently, HTC joined with the collaboration of Valve, Newell's battalion also works on an internal headset, and Samsung stands firm alongside its Gear VR. The variety of hardware is reaching an acceptable point, while software does everything possible to accelerate its times and create products up to the task. Of course, this is not at all easy. Developers need appropriate tools, with the ability to take full advantage of available performance. The great equation of virtual reality will not work if experiences are not optimized, and that is when projects like the brand-new LiquidVR from AMD appear.
The Four Pillars of LiquidVR
As a manufacturer of graphics cards and processors, it is in AMD's best interest to offer a development package that fully adapts to the latest hardware, improves the strongest points of the virtual offering, and reduces natural negative effects such as latency. Why is so much emphasis placed on latency reduction? In simple terms, it is horrible. All headsets talk about high-definition scenarios and real-time tracking of our movements. No one wants to move their head and have the scene register it 400 or 500 milliseconds later, so no SDK with LiquidVR's characteristics can escape that battle. There are four main elements: Latest Data Latch, Asynchronous Shaders, Affinity Multi-GPU, and Direct-to-Display. The first two work together. Latest Data Latch efficiently obtains tracking data, while Asynchronous Shaders uses that data to "deform" the image by applying shaders out of sync (that is, without waiting for the next frame), reducing both latency and stuttering.
Affinity Multi-GPU and Direct-to-Display
In the case of Affinity Multi-GPU, things are equally interesting. Its advantage is assigning one GPU per eye, dividing the load between graphics cards and limiting CPU intervention. Finally, Direct-to-Display essentially allows ignoring the operating system and connecting a virtual reality headset directly to the GPU, which once again reduces latency and increases headset compatibility. Version 1.0 of the LiquidVR SDK is being distributed to AMD's main partners, including Oculus and the folks at Crytek.
