The Metro Exodus NVIDIA RTX GDC 2018 demo from 4A Games

In the past we’ve demonstrated real-time ray tracing on many an occasion, but only in basic scenes, or at low framerates. Now, as the videos above show, NVIDIA RTX and the power of Volta-architecture GPUs make real-time ray tracing a reality in highly detailed videogame scenes at playable framerates. And through a collaboration with Microsoft, RTX will be fully supported in applications that utilize their new DirectX® Raytracing (DXR) API, and Volta-architecture GPUs, ensuring widespread support for the new features.

Kim Libreri, chief technology officer at Epic Games, developer of the cutting-edge Unreal Engine, commented that, “the availability of NVIDIA RTX opens the door to make real-time ray tracing a reality.” And that, “by making such powerful technology available to the game development community with the support of the new DirectX Raytracing API, NVIDIA is the driving force behind the next generation of game and movie graphics.”

Over at Remedy Entertainment, the boundary-pushing studio responsible for Alan Wake, Max Payne and Quantum Break, technology team manager Mikko Orrenmaa stated that, “Integrating NVIDIA RTX into our Northlight engine was a relatively straightforward exercise,” adding, “we were surprised just how quickly we were able to prototype new lighting, reflection and ambient occlusion techniques, with significantly better visual fidelity than traditional rasterization techniques.” And like other studios, Remedy is, “really excited about what we can achieve in the future with the NVIDIA RTX technology; gamers are in for a something special.”

With the capabilities and tools of NVIDIA RTX, our ready-made ray tracing GameWorks SDK modules, and Microsoft’s DXR API, Epic, Remedy and every other developer out there can dramatically increase realism to a degree that was never before possible, and drastically shorten the time it takes to develop and integrate ray tracing effects.

If you’re a developer, head here to learn more about NVIDIA RTX. Or if you simply wish to learn more about ray tracing itself, check out our “What’s the Difference Between Ray Tracing and Rasterization?” primer. It’s techy, but by the end you’ll be a ray tracing expert!