NVIDIA RTX Technology Realizes Dream of Real-Time Cinematic Rendering

SAN FRANCISCO, March 19, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Game Developers Conference - NVIDIA today announced NVIDIA RTX™, a ray-tracing technology that brings real-time, cinematic-quality rendering to content creators and game developers.

NVIDIA RTX is the product of 10 years of work in computer graphics algorithms and GPU architectures. It consists of a highly scalable ray-tracing technology running on NVIDIA Volta architecture GPUs. Architected to support ray tracing through a variety of interfaces, NVIDIA partnered closely with Microsoft to enable full RTX support for applications that use Microsoft’s new DirectX® Raytracing (DXR) API.

Long considered the definitive solution for realistic and lifelike lighting, reflections and shadows, ray tracing offers a level of realism far beyond what is possible using traditional rendering techniques. Real-time ray tracing replaces a majority of the techniques used today in standard rendering with realistic optical calculations that replicate the way light behaves in the real world, delivering more lifelike images.

“Real-time ray tracing has been a dream of the graphics industry and game developers for decades, and NVIDIA RTX is bringing it to life,” said Tony Tamasi, senior vice president of content and technology at NVIDIA. “GPUs are only now becoming powerful enough to deliver real-time ray tracing for gaming applications, and will usher in a new era of next-generation visuals.”

Ray tracing has been used for years to pre-render lifelike worlds in movies. But until now, it has been too computationally demanding to be practical for real-time, interactive gaming, which requires fast frame rates and low latency. NVIDIA RTX overcomes those limitations.

Broad Industry Support
“DirectX Raytracing is the latest example of Microsoft’s commitment toward enabling developers to create incredible experiences using cutting-edge graphics innovations,” said Max McMullen, development manager of Windows Graphics and AI at Microsoft. “Our close partnership with NVIDIA on DirectX Raytracing and NVIDIA’s RTX technology brings real-time ray tracing closer than ever for millions of gamers on Windows.”

Industry leaders such as 4A Games, Epic, Remedy Entertainment and Unity are featuring NVIDIA RTX in their technology demonstrations at the Game Developers Conference this week. They are showing how real-time ray tracing can provide amazing, lifelike graphics in future games. And because RTX supports Microsoft DirectX Raytracing, the groundbreaking technology will be enjoyed by Windows users everywhere.