The ray tracing (or ray tracing) is a critical technique for generating light sources and shadows. The film industry embraced its benefits long ago, but it carries an enormous processing cost, and the idea of applying it in real time to high-definition animations seemed like madness... until now.
Today is the last day of GDC 2018, one of the most frenetic and interesting editions in recent years. It all started with Microsoft kicking in the door and throwing DirectX Raytracing (DXR) onto the table, which, as its name suggests, enables accelerated ray tracing under DirectX 12. Within hours, major industry names announced their support, from Nvidia and AMD to Frostbite Labs, Remedy, Unity and Epic Games. A quick YouTube search for ray tracing reveals that the number of available demos has multiplied in the last 72 hours, and one of the most striking is "Reflections" by Epic Games, based on Star Wars characters.
(Editor's note: I recommend enabling 1080p and fullscreen).
Almost immediately, all our attention is focused on the reflections. The floor, Phasma's metallic suit, the Stormtroopers' armor, the elevator... the interplay of light and shadow is extraordinary, despite the 1080p 24 fps limit. Now, many of our readers must be thinking, "Lisandro, ray tracing isn't new," which is true, but that scene was created in real time, whereas before you'd have to leave a render farm chewing on data for hours. The hardware involved in "Reflections" (confirmed by Epic Games) is an Nvidia DGX station, equipped with four Tesla V100 graphics cards. It's a $60,000 platform ($49,900 if you buy one now), and not necessarily the most powerful in the green giant's arsenal.
(Editor's note: The video's title is incorrect).
One of ray tracing's promises is to revolutionize video game development with unprecedented realism. Of course, we're still far from having the equivalent of four Tesla V100s on our desktops (at a reasonable price, of course), and to be honest, the rest of the demos... aren't quite as polished. Still, it's an excellent glimpse into the future, and we welcome it with open arms. Ten years ago, playing in 4K was a pipe dream. Imagine what we'll do in the next ten.
