PathTracing
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NVIDIA ray-tracing on 'Minecraft' looks surprisingly cool
Minecraft's blocky world might be the last place you'd think would need more realism. However, NVIDIA and Microsoft have announced that they've done exactly that, bringing RTX ray-tracing powers to the ever-popular game. "In normal Minecraft, a block of gold just appears yellow," said Minecraft's Saxs Persson, "but with ray tracing turned on, you really get to see the specular highlight, you get to see the reflection, you can even see a mob reflected in it."
The free 'Quake II RTX' demo is now available on Steam
To show off the capabilities of path tracing, NVIDIA has released an updated version of id Software's classic 1997 FPS Quake II. You can play the first three single-player levels of Quake II RTX for free, and if you own the full game, you'll be able to play the whole thing in path tracing mode, including multiplayer.
Disney explains why its 3D animation looks so realistic
Have you watched 3D-animated Disney flicks like Big Hero 6 and wondered how some of its scenes manage to look surprisingly realistic? Today's your lucky day: Disney has posted a top-level explanation of how its image rendering engine, Hyperion, works its movie magic. The software revolves around "path tracing," an advanced ray tracing technique that calculates light's path as it bounces off objects in a scene. It takes into account materials (like Baymax's translucent skin), and saves valuable time by bundling light rays that are headed in the same direction -- important when Hyperion is tracking millions of rays at once. The technology is efficient enough that animators don't have to 'cheat' when drawing very large scenes, like BH6's picturesque views of San Fransokyo. Although Disney's tech still isn't perfectly true to life, it's close enough that the studio might just fool you in those moments when it strives for absolute accuracy.
