Topics

41

3D-Tech News Around The Web / Q2VKPT: Quake2 revisited with Realtime Raytracing in Vulkan (VK_NV_ray_tracing)

« on: January 18, 2019, 02:40:39 PM »

Q2VKPT is the first playable game that is entirely raytraced and efficiently simulates fully dynamic lighting in real-time, with the same modern techniques as used in the movie industry. The recent release of GPUs with raytracing capabilities has opened up entirely new possibilities for the future of game graphics, yet making good use of raytracing is non-trivial. While some games have started to explore improvements in shadow and reflection rendering, Q2VKPT is the first project to implement an efficient unified solution for all types of light transport: direct, scattered, and reflected light. This kind of unification has led to a dramatic increase in both flexibility and productivity in the movie industry. The chance to have the same development in games promises a similar increase in visual fidelity and realism for game graphics in the coming years.

This project is meant to serve as a proof-of-concept for computer graphics research and the game industry alike, and to give enthusiasts a glimpse into the potential future of game graphics. Besides the use of hardware-accelerated raytracing, Q2VKPT mainly gains its efficiency from an adaptive image filtering technique that intelligently tracks changes in the scene illumination to re-use as much information as possible from previous computations.

Welcome to Q2VKPT, a Quake II engine with real-time path tracing.  This client
implements fully dynamic illumination without precomputation supporting area
light sources, reflections, soft shadows, and indirect illumination. This
client is a port of our real-time path tracer vkpt and is based on the Quake II
engine Q2PRO.

This client requires a high-end GPU supporting the Vulkan extension
VK_NV_ray_tracing.

Links:
- Q2VKPT homepage
- github repository
- Video: Q2VKPT - Quake 2 real-time path tracing using RTX

42

3D-Tech News Around The Web / On C++ and Object Oriented Programming

« on: January 18, 2019, 02:26:59 PM »

Much has been written lately about C++, the direction the language is taking and how most of what gets called “modern C++” is just a no-go zone for game developers.

Although I fully agree with the sentiment, I tend to look at C++ evolution as the effect of a pervasive set of ideas that dominate the minds of most developers. In this post I’ll try to put some of my thoughts on these ideas in order and, hopefully, something coherent will come up.

Link: https://marccgk.github.io/blog/on-c-and-object-oriented-programming/

43

3D-Tech News Around The Web / Is C++ fast?

« on: January 18, 2019, 02:02:10 PM »

A library that I work on often these days, meshoptimizer, has changed over time to use fewer and fewer C++ library features, up until the current state where the code closely resembles C even though it uses some C++ features. There have been many reasons behind the changes - dropping C++11 requirement allowed me to make sure anybody can compile the library on any platform, removing std::vector substantially improved performance of unoptimized builds, removing algorithm includes sped up compilation. However, I’ve never quite taken the leap all the way to C with this codebase. Today we’ll explore the gamut of possible C++ implementations for one specific algorithm, mesh simplifier, henceforth known as simplifier.cpp, and see if going all the way to C is worthwhile.

Link: https://zeuxcg.org/2019/01/17/is-c-fast/

44

3D-Tech News Around The Web / eneida: experimental demoscene project in C99 and Direct3D 12

« on: January 18, 2019, 01:59:58 PM »

eneida is an experimental demoscene project written in C99 and Direct3D 12. Fully standalone, zero dependencies (no Visual Studio, no Windows SDK, no CRT, no #include usage). C and HLSL compilers included.

Project goals:
- Create interesting, real-time animations by writing simple, low-level code.
- Explore math, procedural generation techniques and audio programming.
- Eventually, create a demoscene production and submit it to a demo party.

Project rules:
- The most important rule is: Write only the code that you need and make it as simple as possible.
- Code is fully standalone, it compiles by running make.bat on any Windows machine (no Visual Studio or any other software is needed).
- No external headers or libs are required (not even system or libc headers).
- Only external functions used are LoadLibrary and GetProcAddress. Everything else is loaded at runtime.
- To optimze build times #include is not allowed. Everything must be declared in the source code.
- Each program consists of single C and single HLSL file.

Link: https://github.com/michal-z/eneida

45

3D-Tech News Around The Web / NVIDIA GeForce 417.71 graphics driver released

« on: January 15, 2019, 06:22:14 PM »

Release info + download links:

- https://www.geeks3d.com/20190115/nvidia-geforce-417-71-whql-graphics-drivers/

46

GeeXLab - english forum / Python 3 demopack

« on: January 10, 2019, 10:53:41 AM »

I uploaded a new demopack, this time focused on Python 3.

This first version contains two demos:
- a system info demo
- a basic 3D template

More demos will be added in the next days...


These demos requires GeeXLab 0.27.2+.

- Demopack Download



system info demo - py3-01-system-info

- Article: https://www.geeks3d.com/hacklab/20190110/python-3-reading-system-information-date-sys-platform-os/





3D template - py3-01-system-info

47

3D-Tech News Around The Web / (CES 2019) High-end AMD Radeon VII announced

« on: January 10, 2019, 08:22:26 AM »

AMD has unveiled the new high-end Radeon VII (seven) based on a 7nm process. The GPU (Vega 20) features 3840 shader cores (60 compute units), 128 ROPs, 16GB HBM2 4096-bit and has a TDP near of 300W.

The card is priced at USD $699 and should be launched on February 7th 2019!

In the performance side, the Radeon VII should compete with the GeForce RTX 2080.




Links:
- anandtech.com
- inpact-hardware.com

48

3D-Tech News Around The Web / Panda3D 1.10.0 released

« on: January 08, 2019, 08:45:09 PM »

Panda3D is a game engine, a framework for 3D rendering and game development for Python and C++ programs. Panda3D is open-source and free for any purpose, including commercial ventures, thanks to its liberal license.

Main features of Panda3D 1.10.0
- Python 3 support
- Gamepad/joystick support
- Android port
- improved shader support
- OpenGL improvements (core profile)
- Deployment system
- HarfBuzz text shaping
- .flac and .opus support
- General cleanup

Links

- Detailed press release: https://www.panda3d.org/blog/sdk-1-10-0-release/
- source code: https://github.com/panda3d/panda3d
- Complete changelog: https://github.com/panda3d/panda3d/releases/tag/v1.10.0

49

3D-Tech News Around The Web / Zep: C++ embeddable editor

« on: January 08, 2019, 01:32:17 PM »

Zep is a simple embeddable editor, with a rendering agnostic design and optional Vim mode. Out of the box it can draw to a Qt Widget or an an ImGui window - useful for embedding in a game engine. A simple syntax highlighting engine is provided, and can easily be extended. Basic theming support is included, and window tabs and vertical/horizontal splits are also available. Zep is 'opinionated' in how it does things, but is easy to modify and supports many common features. It is heavliy influenced by Vim, but has a good notepad-style editing mode too.

Zep is ideally suited to embedding in a game engine, as an in-game editor, or anywhere you need a simple editor without a massive dependency on something more substantial like NeoVim. The core library is dependency free, small, and requires only a modern C++ compiler. The demos for Qt and ImGui require their additional packages, but the core library is easily built and cross platform. The ImGui demo builds and runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS.

Key Features:
- Modal 'vim' or modeless 'standard' editing styles.
- Qt or ImGui rendering (and extensible)
- Terminal-style text wrapping
- Splits and tabs
- A simple syntax highlighting engine, with pluggable secondary highlighters
- Theme support
- Text Markers for highlighing errors, etc.
- No dependencies, cross platform, small library
- Builds on VC 2017, GCC 6, Clang. C++14 is the basic requirement

Link: https://github.com/cmaughan/zep

50

GeeXLab - english forum / H4shG3n 0.2.0 hash code generator (MD5, SHA1, SHA256) released

« on: January 07, 2019, 12:18:26 PM »

H4shG3n 0.2.0 is a stand alone hash code generator (MD5, SHA1, SHA256) for Windows 64-bit and Linux 64-bit. It's a GeeXLab application.

Release notes and download links:
- https://www.geeks3d.com/20190107/h4shg3n-0-2-0-hash-code-generator-md5-sha256/

Homepage:
- https://www.geeks3d.com/h4shg3n/

51

GeeXLab - english forum / GeeXLab 0.27.0.0 released for Windows and Linux

« on: January 07, 2019, 10:33:35 AM »

A new GeeXLab is available, this time for Windows 64-bit and Linux 64-bit!

Release notes:
- https://www.geeks3d.com/hacklab/20190107/geexlab-0-27-0-0-released-for-windows-64-bit-and-linux-64-bit-physx-4-0-bullet-2-88/

Downloads:
- https://www.geeks3d.com/geexlab/downloads/

The Scripting API
- https://www.geeks3d.com/geexlab/reference/

The rootard guide:
- GeeXLab Rootard Guide
- Guide du Rootard GeeXLab


Full changelog:
- http://www.geeks3d.com/geexlab/changelog/

Version 0.27.0.0 - 2019.01.06
+ (2019.01.06) added set_blending_equation() and set_blending_color()
  to gh_renderer (lua, python).
* (2019.01.06) fixed a bug in gh_imgui.combo_box_create(): label was not assigned.
! (2019.01.06) updated Python 3 plugin in order to automatically import
  all GeeXLab modules in scripts loaded via the main XML file.
! (2019.01.06) [Linux] updated title bar when GeeXLab is iconized. The demo title
  is displayed first.
! (2019.01.05) [Windows] updated Python 3 plugin with latest Python 3.7.2.
! (2019.01.04) [Windows / Linux] updated Bullet3 plugin with latest version 2.88.
* (2019.01.03) fixed a bug in gh_utils.extract_dir_from_filename() on Linux.
* (2019.01.03) fixed a bug in the window event loop on Linux.
! (2019.01.02) fixed a bug in the CUDA plugin (CUDA functions were disabled
  after a scene reload).
! (2018.12.31) [Linux] ImageMagick plugin updated with SDK version 7.0.8.22.
! (2018.12.31) [Windows] ImageMagick plugin updated with SDK version 7.0.7.39.
  The branch 7.0.8.20+ of ImageMagick crashes on Windows (an issue with aligned memory).
+ (2018.12.30) added new functions in the gh_renderer lib to list features and limits
  of a Vulkan device.
+ (2018.12.30) added a new plugin (plugin_gxc_cuda_x64) to get information about CUDA
  support on Windows and Linux. A new lib (gh_cuda) has been added in Lua and Python.
* (2018.12.29) fixed a bug in the kx framework (Lua): the GPU programs
  creation failed on Intel GPUs.
+ (2018.12.28) added new PhysX4 plugin on Linux based on PhysX SDK 4.0.
+ (2018.12.28) [Linux] added Python 3 plugin (linked with -lpython3.6m).
! (2018.12.28) [Linux] the Python 2 plugin is now linked with standard Python 2
  shared object (-lpython2.7).
! (2018.12.28) [Linux] many bugfixes and improvements (dynamic lib loading, no-pie
  compilation, ... ). This version of GeeXLab has been compiled on Linut Mint 19.1 64-bit.
! (2018.12.28) [Windows / Linux] FFmpeg plugin updated with latest FFmpeg 4.1.
! (2018.12.28) [Windows] ImageMagick plugin updated with SDK version 7.0.8.21.
! (2018.12.27) [Linux] ImageMagick plugin updated with SDK version 7.0.8.20.
+ (2018.12.22) added new PhysX4 plugin on Windows based on PhysX SDK 4.0.
  A new lib is available in Lua and Python: gh_physx4.
+ added helper libs in Python: libs/python/gxl.py, libs/python/imgui.py
  libs/python/gx_cam_lib_v1.py and libs/python/libfont/libfont1.py.
+ (2018.12.22) added draw_primitives_instancing() to gh_renderer lib (lua, python).
+ (2018.12.22) added set_vertex_attrib_instancing_divisor() to gh_vb lib (lua, python).

52

3D-Tech News Around The Web / (CES 2019) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060

« on: January 07, 2019, 09:09:54 AM »

NVIDIA has announced the new GeForce RTX 2060 at CES 2019. This card targets the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti and will cost USD $350. This new gaming card is probably based on the TU106, like the RTX 2070 and would have 1920 CUDA cores, 6GB GDDR6 and a TDP of 160W. The RTX 2060 is expected on January 15th 2019.

“For $349 you can enjoy next generation gaming,” Huang said to broad hoots from the audience. “The long awaited RTX 2060 is here.”

The RTX 2060 GPU delivers exceptional performance on modern games, with graphics enhanced by ray tracing and AI capabilities. Priced at $349, RTX 2060 delivers new levels of performance and features previously available only in high-end gaming GPUs.

The RTX 2060 is 60 percent faster on current titles than the prior-generation GTX 1060, NVIDIA’s most popular GPU, and beats the gameplay of the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti.(1) With Turing’s RT Cores and Tensor Cores, it can run Battlefield V with ray tracing at 60 frames per second.

Links:
- Press release @ NVIDIA
- CES 2019 @ NVIDIA
- anandtech.com

53

Geeks3D's GPU Tools / GPU Caps Viewer 1.41.0 released

« on: December 31, 2018, 02:58:50 PM »

GPU Caps Viewer 1.41.0.0 has been released.

Release notes and download links:
https://www.geeks3d.com/20181231/gpu-caps-viewer-1-41-0-released/

Version 1.41.0.0 - 2018.12.29

+ added NVIDIA Titan RTX support.
! GPU panel and multi-GPU support: when it's possible, Vulkan,
  OpenCL, CUDA and OpenGL data is linked to the selected GPU.
  Useful when you have an Intel GPU + an NVIDIA or AMD GPU.
! updated CUDA panel with new information (bus id, mem clock,
  mem bandwidth, L2 cache).
* fixed a bug in GPU program initialization (OpenGL) in the
  kx framework of GeeXLab demos: the GPU programs were not
  created on Intel GPUs.
! updated with latest GeeXLab SDK libs.
! updated: GPU Shark 0.12.2.0
! updated: ZoomGPU 1.22.2 (GPU monitoring library).

54

3D-Tech News Around The Web / NVIDIA Asteroids Tech-Demo Released

« on: December 20, 2018, 02:27:58 PM »

Tech-demo that shows the new Mesh-shading feature of Turing GPU (GeForce RTX)

https://www.geeks3d.com/20181220/tested-nvidia-asteroids-tech-demo-released/

55

3D-Tech News Around The Web / Microsoft Windows Sandbox: lightweight VM for running applications in isolation

« on: December 20, 2018, 01:27:24 PM »

Microsoft Windows Sandbox is lightweight desktop environment tailored for safely running applications in isolation.

How many times have you downloaded an executable file, but were afraid to run it? Have you ever been in a situation which required a clean installation of Windows, but didn’t want to set up a virtual machine?

At Microsoft we regularly encounter these situations, so we developed Windows Sandbox: an isolated, temporary, desktop environment where you can run untrusted software without the fear of lasting impact to your PC. Any software installed in Windows Sandbox stays only in the sandbox and cannot affect your host. Once Windows Sandbox is closed, all the software with all its files and state are permanently deleted.

 
Windows Sandbox has the following properties:

- Part of Windows – everything required for this feature ships with Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise. No need to download a VHD!

- Pristine – every time Windows Sandbox runs, it’s as clean as a brand-new installation of Windows

- Disposable – nothing persists on the device; everything is discarded after you close the application

- Secure – uses hardware-based virtualization for kernel isolation, which relies on the Microsoft’s hypervisor to run a separate kernel which isolates Windows Sandbox from the host

- Efficient – uses integrated kernel scheduler, smart memory management, and virtual GPU
 

Prerequisites for using the feature:

- Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise Insider build 18305 or later
- AMD64 architecture
- Virtualization capabilities enabled in BIOS
- At least 4GB of RAM (8GB recommended)
- At least 1 GB of free disk space (SSD recommended)
-  At least 2 CPU cores (4 cores with hyperthreading recommended)

Graphics virtualization is also supported:

This enables the Windows Sandbox VM to benefit from hardware accelerated rendering, with Windows dynamically allocating graphics resources where they are needed across the host and guest. The result is improved performance and responsiveness for apps running in Windows Sandbox, as well as improved battery life for graphics-heavy use cases.

To take advantage of these benefits, you’ll need a system with a compatible GPU and graphics drivers (WDDM 2.5 or newer). Incompatible systems will render apps in Windows Sandbox with Microsoft’s CPU-based rendering technology.

More information:
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Windows-Kernel-Internals/Windows-Sandbox/ba-p/301849

56

3D-Tech News Around The Web / AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 18.12.3

« on: December 20, 2018, 12:08:36 PM »

Fixed Issues

- Fan speed gauge in Radeon WattMan may sometimes overfill.
- Memory clocks on Radeon RX Vega series graphics products may become locked at 800Mhz.
- Game profiles with custom fan settings may sometimes remain even after closing a game.
- The game streaming tab may be missing in Radeon Settings when Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition is installed twice on a system.
- Radeon ReLive for VR may experience minor corruption for a few seconds immediately after connecting a headset.
- Auto tuning controls are not displaying their warning message in Radeon Overlay.
- Custom values for the sampling interval slider in the performance metrics feature may fail to enable.
- Radeon Settings may sometimes list a previously installed driver version even after driver successfully upgrading.
- Apply and Done buttons may sometimes overlap in Radeon Settings or Radeon Overlay.

Known Issues

- Some systems running multiple displays may experience mouse lag when at least one display is enabled but powered off.
- Uninstalling Radeon Software may fail to remove Radeon Settings.
- Zero RPM may fail to enable/disable correctly when switching between manual and automatic fan controls.
- Upgrade Advisor may intermittently fail to detect games and provide compatibility recommendations.
- A port 58888 already in use error message may be observed when AMD Link Server was disabled while an IOS device client was - connected.
- Radeon Overlay’s new in overlay video player may experience smoothness issues while adjusting the playback slider.
- Scene Editor may have issues with scrolling when many elements are added to a scene.
- Custom settings in Radeon WattMan may sometimes fail to apply on Radeon RX Vega series graphics products.

Downloads
- Adrenalin 18.12.3 win10 x64 @ Geeks3D
- Adrenalin 18.12.3 win7/win8 x64 @ Geeks3D

- Release notes and downloads @ AMD


Adrenalin 18.12.3 has the same OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.1.86 support than Adrenalin 18.12.2

57

GeeXLab - english forum / Hash codes demo (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256)

« on: December 19, 2018, 06:09:48 PM »

A quick article about new hash functions in GeeXLab 0.26+

Article:
https://www.geeks3d.com/hacklab/20181219/hash-functions-md5-sha-1-sha-256/

Demo download (the demo requires GeeXLab 0.26.3.0+):
https://www.geeks3d.com/r/50041

GeeXLab download
https://www.geeks3d.com/geexlab/downloads/

58

GeeXLab - english forum / Simple memory buffer example (Lua and Python)

« on: December 13, 2018, 03:53:02 PM »

A very simple demo that shows how to use new memory buffer functions to read the content of the txt file stored in a zip file.

The demo is shipped in two versions: Lua and Python 3. Unzip the demo somewhere, and load each demo in GeeXLab.

=> Demo download

=> GeeXLab download

 

59

3D-Tech News Around The Web / NVIDIA GeForce 417.35 WHQL Graphics Drivers

« on: December 12, 2018, 07:24:53 PM »

NVIDIA has just released a new set of WHQL graphics drivers for all GeForce graphics cards.


New Features:
- Provides the optimal gaming experience for the release of Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) in Final Fantasy XV: Windows Edition

Fixed Issues:
- [SLI][TITAN Xp]: SLI is disabled by default after installing the driver. [200471881]
- [TITAN V][NVIDIA Control Panel]: The Workstation->Manage GPU Utilization page appears when it shouldn’t. [200470813]
- [Rocket League]: The game launches to a white screen with audio in the background and then crashes. [2451530]
- [Battlefield V: Day0 97][Ansel]: After being moved all the way to the left, the Ansel field-of view (FoV) slider stops following the click-and-drag mouse movement. [2438857]
- [Hitman 2 Silent assassin]: There is flickering texture corruption in the game. [200472315]
- [Notebook][3D games]: Frame rate of 3D games may drop to under 30 fps on notebooks. [2456653]

Open Issues (Win10):
- [GeForce GTX 1080Ti]: Random DPC watchdog violation error when using multiple GPUs on motherboards with PLX chips. [2079538]
- [Firefox]: Cursor shows brief corruption when hovering on certain links in Firefox. [2107201]
- [G-Sync]: Random flickering occurs when connecting G-sync monitor + non-G-Sync HDMI monitor with G-Sync enabled. [2399845]


GeForce 417.35 Downloads

- Desktop + Notebook win10 64-bit @ Geeks3D
- Desktop win7 / win8 64-bit @ Geeks3D

- win10 64-bit @ NVIDIA
- win7 / win8 64-bit @ NVIDIA

60

GeeXLab - forum en français / (Demo) Polices TTF et Primitives avec ImGui

« on: December 12, 2018, 04:59:17 PM »

Voici une demo qui montre comment utiliser les nouvelles fontions de GeeXLab 0.26+ pour charger et utiliser des polices TTF et dessiner des primitives.


La demo (20181212-imgui-primitives-and-fonts.zip) peut être directement chargée dans GeeXLab. Il suffit de glisser le fichier zip dans GeeXLab (la v0.26+ est obligatoire).

- Téléchargement de la Demo

- Téléchargement de GeeXLab


Quelques explications sur le chargement et l'utilisation des polices TTF avec ImGui:
-  https://www.geeks3d.com/geexlab/fr/gdr/tutorials/imgui.php#ttf_font


Comment dessiner les primitives:
- https://www.geeks3d.com/geexlab/fr/gdr/tutorials/imgui.php#primitives