NVIDIA has just released its Path Tracing SDK v1.0.0 which is a milestone for RTX technologies in bringing path tracer integration.

NVIDIA RTX Path Tracing SDK v1.0.0 Is Here, Real-Time Path Tracer Integration To Become A Reality

The announcement was made within the NVIDIA GameWorks Github page where the Path Tracing SDK has been added. In an overview, NVIDIA states that the new SDK is a code sample that strives to embody years of ray tracing and neural graphics research and experience. It is intended as a starting point for path tracer integration, as a reference for various integrated SDKs, and/or for learning and experimentation.

he RTX Path Tracing SDK accurately re-creates the physics of all light sources in a scene to reproduce what the eye sees in real life. This new SDK gives you the flexibility and customizability to take advantage of proven NVIDIA technologies to suit the following use cases:

Building a reference path tracer to ensure that your lighting during production is true to life, accelerating the iteration process.Building high-quality photo modes for RT-capable GPUs or real-time, ultra-quality modes that take advantage of the Ada Lovelace architecture.

The RTX Path Tracing SDK is the culmination of decades of NVIDIA research. This SDK demonstrates best practices for building a path tracer using the latest versions of the following tools and features:

DLSS 3 for super-resolution and frame generation, to multiply performance.RTX Direct Illumination (RTXDI) for efficient sampling of a high number of shadow casting and dynamic lights.NVIDIA Real-Time Denoisers (NRD) for high-performance denoising of all light sources.Opacity Micro-Map (OMM) for improving RT performance in scenes with heavy alpha effects.Shader execution reordering (SER) for improving shader scheduling, thus increasing performance.

via NVIDIA

The base path tracing implementation derives from NVIDIA’sFalcor Research Path Tracer, ported to the approachable C++/HLSL Donut framework.

Features

DirectX 12 and Vulkan back-endsReference and real-time modesSimple BSDF model that is easy to extendSimple asset pipeline based on glTF 2.0 (support for a subset of glTF extensions including animation)NEE/visibility rays and importance sampling for environment maps with MISBasic volumes and nested dielectrics with priorityRayCone for texture MIP selectionBasic analytic lights (directional, spot, point)RTXDI integration for ReSTIR DI (light importance sampling) and ReSTIR GI (indirect lighting)OMM integration for fast ray-traced alpha testingNRDReLAX and ReBLUR denoiser integration with up to 3-layer path space decomposition (Stable Planes)Reference mode 'photo-mode screenshot' with basicOptiX denoiserintegrationBasic TAA, tone mapping, etc.Streamline + DLSS integration (coming very soon)

Requirements

Windows 10 20H1 (version 2004-10.0.19041) or newerDXR Capable GPUGeForce Game Ready Driver 531.18 or newerDirectX 12 or Vulkan APIDirectX Raytracing 1.1 API, or higherVisual Studio 2019 or later

Recently, NVIDIA and CDProjektRed announced that they will be bringing RTX Path Tracing into Night City within Cyberpunk 2077. The GDC session is one of the two which NVIDIA will present on the 22nd & 23rd of April and focuses on building and integrating a real-time path tracer. It will be very interesting to see how path tracing improves upon ray tracing in bringing even better lighting and shadow quality to existing and future AAA games that utilize it.