Two criticisms are repeatedly made regarding the Ray Tracing The first of these is from the portion that does not see the resource as a major differentiator. The other installment would even like to play with RT enabled, but complains about the hardware requirements to be inhabitable.
A new patent registered by Microsoft indicates that we may have a milder outlook in the future in relation to the requirement for computational resources to use the technology.
This patent describes a method for reducing the load on VRAM, that is, video card memory, when using Ray Tracing. Basically this method revolves around a kind of hierarchy, a classification into levels, of detail for objects and textures in the scene at the time of rendering.
In short, similar to what we have with an important issue in game optimization, the LOD (Level of Details). The fundamental principle behind LOD is to adjust the complexity, in terms of detail, of 3D objects according to their visual importance at the time, which is generally related to the distance of the object from the observer. For example, objects that are very far away can have their highly complex 3D model replaced by less detailed textures.
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With this Microsoft technology, Ray Tracing would act as a structure that can be divided into different levels. The system used then determines the hierarchy of virtual objects and creates a map, according to which the system will be guided and will determine where and when which detail should be. A LOD applied to Ray Tracing.
Comparatively, in terms of dynamic mapping, we can bring out the difference between HDR10 and Dolby Vision. Both are high dynamic range standards, but Dolby Vision’s biggest difference is dynamic adjustment, scene by scene, instead of the fixed metadata point of HDR10.
Just as Dolby Vision allows dynamic adjustments that improve the visual experience scene by scene (or frame by frame), the application of LOD in Ray Tracing also seeks optimization, but in another sense. Microsoft’s idea would be a way to relieve one of the components that are most “penalized” for Ray Tracing to work, video memory.
Making it impossible, or making the use of Ray Tracing on cards with a low amount of VRAM nowadays – 8 GB – something that isn’t even worth trying. Taking into account the drop in terms of FPS.
There is still no indication of when or if Microsoft already has plans to launch this feature. Until then, there is only the question of registering the patent.
Tags: salvation cards Microsoft develops solution Ray Tracing consumes VRAM
