Image

NVIDIA DLSS 3.5: Enhancing Ray Tracing With AI

4/30/2024

NVIDIA DLSS 3.5: Enhancing Ray Tracing With AI

NVIDIA has been at the forefront of AI hardware and software, driving breakthroughs across various industries. One of their significant achievements is NVIDIA DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling), an AI algorithm introduced five years ago that enhances performance using neural rendering. DLSS leverages the Tensor Cores inside each GeForce RTX GPU to deliver impressive results.

Ray Reconstruction: A New Breakthrough

The latest innovation from NVIDIA is Ray Reconstruction, which is part of an enhanced AI-powered neural renderer. This technology significantly improves ray-traced image quality for all GeForce RTX GPUs by replacing hand-tuned denoisers with an NVIDIA supercomputer-trained AI network. Let’s dive into the details:

  1. How Ray Tracing Works:

    • In a ray-traced scene, a game engine generates geometry and materials, each with physically based attributes affecting their appearance and light interactions.
    • Rays are shot from the camera’s viewpoint to determine light properties and interactions with materials. For example, rays hitting a mirror generate reflections.
    • However, calculating rays for every pixel on the screen is computationally demanding. Instead, ray samples are used, resulting in a noisy, speckled image.

  2. The Challenge: Filling in Missing Pixels:

    • The output of ray samples provides an incomplete image. To fill in the missing pixels, hand-tuned denoisers are used.
    • These denoisers accumulate pixels across multiple frames and interpolate neighboring pixels to create a coherent image.

  3. Introducing NVIDIA DLSS 3.5 with Ray Reconstruction:

    • Ray Reconstruction replaces traditional denoisers with an AI network trained on NVIDIA supercomputers.
    • This AI network generates higher-quality pixels between sampled rays, resulting in improved image quality.
    • DLSS 3.5 also includes other AI rendering technologies like Super Resolution, Deep Learning Anti-Aliasing, and Frame Generation.

Real-World Applications

Several games and applications are adopting NVIDIA DLSS 3.5 this fall, including:

  • Alan Wake 2
  • Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
  • Portal with RTX
  • Chaos Vantage
  • D5 Render
  • NVIDIA Omniverse

In Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, DLSS 3.5 allows players to experience the game’s newest location, Dogtown, at its best—sharper images, accurate lighting, and high frame rates. Jakub Knapik, VP of Art at CD PROJEKT RED, praises DLSS 3.5’s smart technology fueled by AI rendering power.

How to Enable DLSS 3.5

To enjoy DLSS 3.5, follow these steps:

  1. Install the latest GeForce Game Ready Driver from GeForce Experience or NVIDIA’s website.
  2. Download the latest version of the game you want to play.
  3. Open the game’s options menu and enable ray tracing and NVIDIA DLSS.

In summary, NVIDIA DLSS 3.5 with Ray Reconstruction represents a significant leap forward in ray-traced image quality, making gaming experiences more immersive and visually stunning. As AI continues to evolve, we can expect even more exciting innovations in the future. Stay tuned! 🚀🎮🔥