Video games and technology advance at great speed, and new terms and techniques appear to get the most out of each component. Among the novelties, the question arises about what is Ray Tracing, what is it used for and how does it work.
The simple definition says that it is a technology used to enhance lighting, shadows and reflection effects in video games. But in addition, this technology represents one of the most elaborated elements in the latest generation graphics cards and video game consoles. Read on to learn more about the scope and what Ray Tracing is.
What is Ray Tracing, algorithms and technology
The name in Spanish of this technology would be "ray tracing". In general, it is a special algorithm that helps take different reference points from the environment for more realistic shadows and lighting effects. While what you get are incredible environments, it ends up affecting the FPS performance of the game.
graphics card manufacturer NVIDIA had already started developing a ray tracing algorithm on its first cards. However, technological limitations prevented its release to the market until 2018. To discriminate cards that support Ray Tracing, manufactured under Turing architecture, the name was changed from GTX to RTX. That is, all NVIDIA RTX have support for Ray Tracing.
Understanding what Ray Tracing is implies understanding the new Tensor Core cores of NVIDIA cards. These are new processing units dedicated exclusively to calculating shadows and reflections in each element present in the environment. Video games have to be compatible with this algorithm, and normally in the internal configuration of each title there is the possibility or not of activating these effects.
Development advances in the implementation of Ray Tracing
According to what has been seen in recent years, video games are moving towards the massive adoption of this algorithm. Among the most recent video games with support to visualize what Ray Tracing is, we find:
- Watch Dogs
- Metro Exodus
- Battlefield V
- Minecraft
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
What benefits does Ray Tracing have?
The reasons for include this technology in our favorite video games They are mainly aesthetic. The quality of the shadows and the lighting effects of the environment and objects are very high, and are especially appreciated in shootouts and scenes with a lot of action and movement. In adventure and exploration games, lighting through plants in a jungle can be greatly benefited by this type of algorithm.
While developer NVIDIA got ahead of itself, competitor AMD also introduced graphics with RDNA 2 architecture that support ray tracing. The PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X have these cards and offer a luxurious visual spectacle in terms of lighting and shading.
A technology essentially for video games
Due to its design and application, Ray Tracing technology is especially focused on improving the visual section of games. Some specific performance tests, or benchmarks, have also been carried out to compare the capacity of cards with this algorithm.
Currently, the most powerful graphics cards are still having trouble maintaining high FPS rates when Ray Tracing is enabled. Among game designers, maintaining a high FPS rate for fluidity is prevalent, so Ray Tracing is still on the rise. In the coming years, efforts will be focused on improving the operation of video games with the highest graphic performance settings.
How Ray Tracing works in a title
The algorithm that gives name to Ray Tracing technology is a system that simulates the path of light rays. The objective is to trace the journey of the light effect and its reactions on each element of the space, from a person to a rock or a tree. The simulation of all possible interactions is very complex, so the technology aims to generate more realistic images.
To visualize the effect, you can visit the epic games gallery where they show different traditional effects of their Unreal Engine engine. Also, you can see the impact of the effect on a title. This comparison is the strong point of the technology, since the changes between an image with and without Ray Tracing are remarkable.
Conclusions
Although Ray Tracing technology is still very demanding, the components are increasing their quality day by day. Video game and console and graphics card developers aim for its general application. Lighting and shading effects significantly change the perception of an environment. NVIDIA and AMD are working hard so that it continues to be applied, affecting FPS as little as possible, so we must pay close attention to the changes and implementation of this technology in the medium term.