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1

3D-Tech News Around The Web / AMD Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.2.2 released

« on: February 14, 2019, 09:32:43 AM »

Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.2.2 Highlights

Downloads:
- Latest Adrenalin @ Geeks3D
- Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 19.2.2 Driver for Windows 10 64-bit @ AMD
- Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 19.2.2 Driver for Windows 7 64-bit @ AMD

Support for:

- AMD Radeon VII
- Far Cry New Dawn
- Metro Exodus
- Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI: Gathering Storm
- Crackdown 3
      Up to 5% performance gains with AMD Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.2.2 on a Radeon RX 590 RS-287


Fixed Issues
- Using the Alt+Tab shortcut out of a fullscreen application or game may be slow or take longer than expected when using a display connected by DisplayPort.
- Apply and Discard buttons may not appear in some areas of Radeon Overlay under the Radeon WattMan overclocking tab.
- Radeon WattMan may fail to apply memory clock changes on AMD Radeon VII.
- AMD Radeon VII may intermittently experience a system hang when attempting to perform a timeout detection and recovery on Windows®7 system configurations.
- Radeon WattMan may display the incorrect max fan/temperature values for AMD Radeon VII.
- Radeon WattMan may experience issues with changed values failing to save or load when multiple changes are applied at once.
- AMD Radeon VII may experience intermittent system stability issues on some X399 motherboards.
- Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds may intermittently experience an application crash when changing post-processing settings.
- Radeon Settings may experience an application hang when loading the performance histogram in a game profile through game manager.
- Update Notifications may sometimes incorrectly list the currently installed driver as an available upgrade.
- Apex Legends™ may intermittently experience line corruption on AMD Radeon VII.

Same OpenGL (4.6) and Vulkan (1.1.96) support than Adrenalin 19.1.1.

2

3D-Tech News Around The Web / NVIDIA GeForce 418.91 graphics drivers released

« on: February 13, 2019, 05:51:24 PM »

What’s New in Version 418.91 WHQL 
Provides the optimal gaming experience when using DLSS and Ray Tracing in Battlefield V and Metro Exodus.


Fixed Issues in this Release
- [Battlefield 1]: Lines appear in the terrain with NVIDIA Control Panel anisotropic filtering override enabled.[1969966]
- [GeForce RTX 20 series]: Event ID 14 error appears in event viewer logs when Digital Vibrance setting is changed. [2488424]


Downloads
- 418.91 @ Geeks3D
- 418.91 win10 (desktop) @ NVIDIA
- 418.91 win7/win8 (desktop) @ NVIDIA


GeForce 418.91 exposes OpenGL 4.6 (419 extensions) and Vulkan 1.1.95 like previous 418.81.


More information about this new driver can be found here:
- New Game Ready Driver Supports NVIDIA RTX Tech In Battlefield V and Metro Exodus. And Adds Support For Anthem’s Early Access Launch, Crackdown 3, and Far Cry New Dawn
- Battlefield V: Now With NVIDIA DLSS @ youtube

3

3D-Tech News Around The Web / NVIDIA Ray Tracing Gems Book - Part II and III

« on: February 12, 2019, 07:15:15 PM »

Part II and part III have been released:

https://developer.nvidia.com/books/raytracing/raytracing_gems_preview

4

3D-Tech News Around The Web / Unreal Engine 4.22 Preview 1 with real time ray tracing support

« on: February 12, 2019, 07:13:12 PM »

Unreal Engine 4.22 will be releasing soon with a number of fixes and updates. In the meantime, the first Preview is now available for download from the Epic Games launcher.

Preview 1 includes support for real-time ray tracing, Editor Utility Widgets, Blueprint indexing optimizations, virtual production updates, Oculus Quest support and the Unreal Audio Engine is now on by default for new projects.

From the full list of changes:

Rendering Updates:

- Real-Time Ray Tracing and Path Tracing (Early Access)

        - Added ray tracing low level support.
            Implemented a low level layer on top of UE DirectX 12 that provides support for DXR and allows creating and using ray tracing shaders (ray generation shaders, hit shaders, etc) to add ray tracing effects.

        - Added high-level ray tracing features
            Rect area lights
            Soft shadows
            Reflections
            Reflected shadows
            Ambient occlusion
            RTGI (real time global illumination)
            Translucency
            Clearcoat
            IBL
            Sky
            Geometry types
                Triangle meshes
                    Static
                    Skeletal (Morph targets & Skin cache)
                    Niagara particles support
            Texture LOD
            Denoiser
                Shadows, Reflections, AO
            Path Tracert
            Unbiased, full GI path tracer for making ground truth reference renders inside UE4.

Links:
- https://forums.unrealengine.com/unreal-engine/announcements-and-releases/1583659-unreal-engine-4-22-preview
- https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/4-22-preview-1-now-available

5

General Discussion / Re: Optix 6.0 Path Tracing demo (with RTX support)

« on: February 11, 2019, 05:05:56 PM »

Thanks for the demo. I will test it asap.
I updated the topic title for better referencing...

6

3D-Tech News Around The Web / GreenWithEnvy: NVIDIA graphics card utility for Linux

« on: February 11, 2019, 05:03:09 PM »

GreenWithEnvy (GWE) is a system utility (written in Python) for Linux designed to provide information, control the fans and overclock your NVIDIA video card and graphics processor.

Link:
- https://gitlab.com/leinardi/gwe/

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3D-Tech News Around The Web / Vulkan API specifications 1.1.100 released

« on: February 11, 2019, 04:51:12 PM »

Change log for February 10, 2019 Vulkan 1.1.100 spec update:

  * Update release number to 100.

Public Issues:

  * Clarify that scoped modification order only relates to
    <<memory-model-atomic-operation, atomic writes>> (public pull request
    906).
  * Remove `readme.txt` reference from `xml/README.adoc` (public pull
    request 907).
  * Add missing slink:VkShaderResourceUsageAMD to the <<Vk_AMD_shader_info>>
    appendix (public pull request 908).
  * Fix markup for <<VK_EXT_filter_cubic>> appendix (public pull request
    911).
  * Fix typo "`attachment`" (public pull request 914).
  * Alias the enums for `VK_IMG_filter_cubic` properly to the corresponding
    `VK_EXT_filter_cubic` enums, so they appear in the corresponding
    enumerated types, instead of as #defines (Vulkan-Headers issue 40).

Internal Issues:

  * Remove nested conditionals in valid usage statements for
    slink:VkFramebufferCreateInfo and flink:vkCmdPipelineBarrier by
    duplicating statements along ifdef/ifndef paths for
    VK_KHR_depth_stencil_resolve (internal issue 1527).
  * Clarify allowed values of <<spirv-precision-operation, SPIR-V operations
    near infinity>>. For very large results of operations the allowed range
    of return values as defined in the spec didn't include the largest
    finite number. In some rounding modes (eg. RTZ) the largest finite
    number is the correctly rounded result, so it should be allowed.
  * Require descriptor types to match in slink:VkCopyDescriptorSet.

source: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Docs/commit/fcf5980cf6acc620334f55b0cf2d162b05e0487a

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3D-Tech News Around The Web / Vulkan API specifications 1.1.99 released

« on: February 11, 2019, 04:50:07 PM »

Change log for February 3, 2019 Vulkan 1.1.99 spec update:

  * Update release number to 99.

Public Issues:

  * Add missing pname:pMemoryHostPointerProperties description to
    flink:vkGetMemoryHostPointerPropertiesEXT.txt (public pull request 896).
  * Minor markup fixes (public pull request 900).
  * Minor update to `khronos.css` and markup fixes (originally proposed in
    public pull request 901, but done via an internal MR).

Internal Issues:

  * Document restrictions on image queries for Y'CbCr formats in the
    <<features-formats-requiring-sampler-ycbcr-conversion>> table as well as
    for slink:sname:VkImageFormatProperties and slink:VkImageCreateInfo
    (internal issue 1361).
  * Correct type of the code:FragSizeEXT built-in in the
    <<interfaces-builtin-variables, Built-In Variables>> section (internal
    issue 1526).
  * Clean up math in the <<textures, Image Operations>> chapter by
    refactoring, using better naming conventions, updating diagrams to use
    the correct orientation, etc. (internal merge request 2968).
  * Fix minor typos for slink:VkImageCreateInfo and
    slink:VkImageStencilUsageCreateInfoEXT.
  * Add missing documentation for tlink:VkResolveModeFlagsKHR.
  * Fix extension dependency of pname:scalarBlockLayout in the
    <<features-features-requirements, Feature Requirements>> section.
  * Fix indexing math for shader binding table calculations in the
    <<shader-binding-table-indexing-rules, Indexing Rules>> section, and use
    spelling "`any-hit`" consistently.
  * Reconcile valid usage statement and text for sampled image layouts in
    slink:VkWriteDescriptorSet
    (KhronosGroup/Vulkan-ValidationLayers#551).
  * Make SPIR-V code:OpConvertUToPtr and code:OpConvertPtrToU operations
    require a 64-bit integer for physical storage buffer pointers in the
    <<spirvenv-module-validation, Validation Rules within a Module>>
    section.
  * Update to KaTeX 10.0.

New Extensions:

  * `VK_EXT_filter_cubic`
  * `VK_NV_dedicated_allocation_image_aliasing`

source: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Docs/commit/b59ec03ee3f44086ebc3e4c556952afe9e743655

New extensions:
- VK_EXT_filter_cubic
- VK_NV_dedicated_allocation_image_aliasing

9

3D-Tech News Around The Web / NVIDIA Ray Tracing Gems Book

« on: February 07, 2019, 05:07:57 PM »

In 2018, with the release of NVIDIA’s RTX series GPUs, real-time ray tracing finally became accessible to game developers, content creators, and consumers. It is a technology that will forever change graphics processing.

To help developers navigate this new technology, a wide-ranging book on the topic is being published early this year: Ray Tracing Gems.

We have some great news: Readers of NVIDIA’s Dev News Center get early access to the text, at no cost!  NVIDIA will be distributing the book for free in its entirety, as a series of seven PDFs. Every few days, a new section of the book will be made available.

Link:
- https://news.developer.nvidia.com/the-authoritative-book-on-real-time-ray-tracing-has-arrived/

The book Ray Tracing Gems is nearing completion, with the hardback version to be available mid-March at GDC and GTC. Our main goal with this book is educating developers at all levels about important concepts and the state of the art in ray tracing, with an emphasis on real-time rendering. You can see the full Table of Contents on this site, or order the hardcover version from Apress or on Amazon.

We wanted to make the contents available as soon as the chapters reach a finished state. The book is “Open Access,” under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY-NC-ND), “which permits use, duplication, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and the source, a link is provided to the Creative Commons license, and any changes made are indicated.”

As such, we will be releasing a part of the book every few days, as we process them. These chapter are “preprints,” in that they will look a bit different than the publisher’s layout, but the information is the same, barring any last-minute fixes. By the end of February, the professionally laid-out electronic version of the final book from Apress will be available for free (formats to be determined), along with the code repository.

Link:
- https://developer.nvidia.com/books/raytracing/raytracing_gems_preview

10

3D-Tech News Around The Web / AMD Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.2.1 released

« on: February 05, 2019, 05:08:38 PM »

Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.2.1 Highlights

Downloads:
- Latest Adrenalin @ Geeks3D
- Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 19.2.1 Driver for Windows 10 64-bit @ AMD
- Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 19.2.1 Driver for Windows 7 64-bit @ AMD

Support for:
- APEX Legends
-  The Division 2 Private Beta
- Assassin’s Creed™: Odyssey
  -  Up to 5% performance improvement with AMD Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.2.1 on a Radeon™ RX Vega 64. RS-285


Fixed Issues
- Battlefield™ V players may experience character outlines stuck on screen after being revived.
- Radeon Settings may fail to install while doing a software update on some Hybrid Graphics system configurations.
- Some displays may experience a loss of video when launching a fullscreen application with Radeon FreeSync enabled.
- Anthem™ may experience a white screen or corruption while playing or launching the game.
- Radeon Settings may experience a crash if the user changes tabs quickly with a very large game list.
- Fixed an issue where Radeon Settings update notifications may suggest older driver releases to upgrade to.
- HDMI Underscan settings may not retain after system restart.
- Radeon ReLive may intermittently experience captured recordings or Instant Replays with inverted colors.

Same OpenGL and Vulkan support than Adrenalin 19.1.1.

11

3D-Tech News Around The Web / Decoding a Projection Matrix

« on: February 01, 2019, 03:06:45 PM »

Most folks who make games are aware of the various transformations that must take place to render convert a 3d model from object or artist space to screen or pixel space.  I think most folks also kind of understand what a projection matrix is.  However, I find that many have trouble explaining what each number in a projection matrix actually means.  The goal of this article is to take away the magic of those numbers and provide clarity with regards to what each number means in a projection matrix.

Link: http://xdpixel.com/decoding-a-projection-matrix/

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3D-Tech News Around The Web / GuiLite: the smallest UI framework for all platforms

« on: February 01, 2019, 03:03:41 PM »

The smallest UI framework for all platform -- 5K lines code

- GuiLite has 5000 lines of C++ code, providing UI framework for all platforms, could run on iOS, Android, GNU/Linux, Windows, macOS and all ARM Linux IOT platforms.

- GuiLite is OS independent, even could run on any kind of MCU without OS.

- GuiLite is a embedded UI framework. It can work with Qt/MFC/UWP/XCode, which means you can get not only GuiLite features but also iOS/Android/macOS/Qt/MFC/UWP features as well.

- GuiLite can work with other languages(e.g. Swift, Java, C#).

Links:
- https://github.com/idea4good/GuiLite
- https://github.com/idea4good/GuiLiteSamples

13

GeeXLab - english forum / Shadertoy Demopack - bubble rings

« on: February 01, 2019, 02:58:07 PM »

Demo Bubble rings ported to GeeXLab.

Location in the demopack: gl-32-shadertoy-01/gl32-bubble-rings.xml

Downloads:
- Shadertoy demopack for GeeXLab
- GeeXLab downloads


Rendering speed (GeForce GTX 1080 + driver 417.71):
- 800x480 => 2500 FPS 
- 2560x1440 => 495 FPS 

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GeeXLab - english forum / Shadertoy Demopack - Sonic Fusion

« on: February 01, 2019, 02:55:57 PM »

Demo Sonic Fusion ported to GeeXLab.

Location in the demopack: gl-32-shadertoy-01/gl32-sonic-fusion.xml

Downloads:
- Shadertoy demopack for GeeXLab
- GeeXLab downloads


Rendering speed (GeForce GTX 1080 + driver 417.71):
- 800x480 => 4300 FPS 
- 2560x1440 => 820 FPS 

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GeeXLab - english forum / Shadertoy Demopack - Mist by Ohno! - part2

« on: February 01, 2019, 02:52:55 PM »

Demo Mist by Ohno! - part2 ported to GeeXLab.

Location in the demopack: gl-32-shadertoy-01/gl32-mist-by-ohno.xml

Downloads:
- Shadertoy demopack for GeeXLab
- GeeXLab downloads


Rendering speed (GeForce GTX 1080 + driver 417.71):
- 800x480 => 450 FPS 
- 2560x1440 => 56 FPS 

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3D-Tech News Around The Web / Philips 499P9H: 49-inch ultrawide curved monitor with HDR and built-in webcam

« on: January 30, 2019, 08:11:01 PM »

Philips has announced the 499P9H, an ultrawide (5120 x 1440, pixel density of 109 PPI) monitor with a VA panel (viewing angle: 178º H / 178º V, 5ms response time grey to grey) and HDR support (DisplayHDR 400 certified). The monitor includes two speakers (2 x 5W), a webcam (2.0 megapixel FHD camera with microphone and LED indicator), a RJ45/ethernet port, two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort several USB ports (USB-C, USB-B, USB-3.0).

The 499P9H will cost more or less USD $1300.

All features can be found in this document.

Homepage:
- https://www.philips.co.uk/c-p/499P9H_00/brilliance-329-superwide-curved-lcd-display

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3D-Tech News Around The Web / Intel Open Image Denoise: high-performance denoising filters for ray tracing

« on: January 30, 2019, 07:48:23 PM »

Open Image Denoise Overview

Intel® Open Image Denoise is a collection of high-performance, high-quality denoising filters for images rendered with ray tracing. Open Image Denoise is part of the Intel Rendering Framework and is released under the permissive Apache 2.0 license.

The purpose of Open Image Denoise is to provide an open, high-quality, efficient, and easy-to-use denoising library that allows one to significantly reduce rendering times in ray tracing based rendering applications. It filters out the Monte Carlo noise inherent to stochastic ray tracing methods like path tracing, reducing the amount of necessary samples per pixel by even multiple orders of magnitude (depending on the desired closeness to the ground truth).

Open Image Denoise supports Intel® 64 architecture based CPUs and compatible architectures, and runs on anything from laptops, to workstations, to compute nodes in HPC systems. It is efficient enough to be suitable not only for offline rendering, but, depending on the hardware used, also for interactive ray tracing.

Open Image Denoise internally builds on top of Intel Math Kernel Library for Deep Neural Networks (MKL-DNN), and fully exploits modern instruction sets like Intel SSE4, AVX2, and AVX-512 to achieve high denoising performance. A CPU with support for at least SSE4.2 is required to run Open Image Denoise.

Links:
- https://openimagedenoise.github.io/
- https://github.com/OpenImageDenoise/oidn

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3D-Tech News Around The Web / Falcor 3.2.1 D3D12 and Vulkan rendering framework released

« on: January 30, 2019, 07:42:24 PM »

This new version of Falcor, a real time rendering framework for prototyping, has been updated with a new code sample based on DXR (DirectX RayTracing).

Complete release notes are available here:
- https://github.com/NVIDIAGameWorks/Falcor/releases/tag/3.2.1

Latest source code:
- https://github.com/NVIDIAGameWorks/Falcor

Additional links:
- https://developer.nvidia.com/falcor
- https://devblogs.nvidia.com/introduction-nvidia-rtx-directx-ray-tracing/

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3D-Tech News Around The Web / KABOOM! Ray Marching Renderer in 180 lines of bare C++

« on: January 30, 2019, 07:33:29 PM »

This article shows a trivial implementation of a ray marching, the goal is to go a little bit beyond simple spheres I rendered in my raytracer project. I do not aim at getting photorealistic images, I want to have a simple stuff applicable to video games.

As always, we only have a bare compiler at our disposal, no third-party libraries are allowed. I don't want to bother with window managers, mouse/keyboard processing and so on. The result of our program will be a simple picture saved on the disk. I do not pursue speed/optimization at all, my goal is to show the underlying principles.

Links:
- https://github.com/ssloy/tinykaboom/wiki
- https://github.com/ssloy/tinykaboom/

kaboom-raymarching

20

Geeks3D's GPU Tools / Re: MSI Kombustor v4 (0.6.3.1) mising dll?

« on: January 29, 2019, 07:36:38 AM »

I'm working on a new update of Kombustor and the 32-bit version will be fixed as well.