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> Nanite intelligently streams and processes only the detail you can perceive, largely removing poly count and draw call constraints, and eliminating time-consu

> Nanite intelligently streams and processes only the detail you can perceive, largely removing poly count and draw call constraints, and eliminating time-consuming work like baking details to normal maps and manually authoring LODs, freeing you up to concentrate on creativity. Not having to create normal maps/LODs seems like a pretty big deal if this is true. If I understand right normally in games you have multiple discrete versions of the same mesh with different detail levels depending on how close the player is. You sometimes notice this glitching out in games where a model will suddenly pop in to a higher detail. It sounds like nanite is more like having continuous LOD for the mesh. I wonder how well it works in practice. Also curious how it will affect game asset sizes

127 5y ago
For non-vegetation non-deforming assets it works great so far. Looks absolutely seamless and works an order of magnitude faster.
DizzyDoo 5y ago
Unreal actually already has an automatic LOD creation system (https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.26/en-US/WorkingWithContent/Types/StaticMeshes/HowTo/AutomaticLODGeneration/ https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.26/en-US/WorkingWithContent/...), and there are quite a number of 3d Content middleware solutions that run this sort of mesh reduction processes. In one sense Nanite isn't anything brand new, but what is really exciting about it is that it operates from the sculpt downwards. As in, you import from zbrush raw, with the highest raw textures, and everything is automatically handled by the engine itself, in such a way that the LOD transitions are really hard to spot. From what I've seen on Twitter, it looks like it really delivers, even in its early stage: https://twitter.com/IonizedGames/status/1397636481913610241 https://twitter.com/IonizedGames/status/1397636481913610241
- Animats 5y ago
  Now that's impressive. Seeing the dog picture scale out is encouraging. All the LOD algorithms do a good job on rocks. It's all repeated instances of one object, though. I'd like to see someone load in a big game level at high res and give us a tour. Quadric mesh reduction, where the algorithm tries to minimize the volume difference between original and reduce geometry, does great on rocks. Terrible on thin sheets like cloth or long thin things like hair. Mediocre on objects with lots of hard edges, like houses. I've been trying to run the UE5 Early Access version on Linux. Building UE5 Editor worked, and I built and ran one of the built-in sample projects. But the files for the demo are only available for download via Epic Game Loader, which is only available as a 32-bit Windows program. Trying to run that under Wine leads to a popup complaining some DLL is missing. But it doesn't tell you which one. Some people have been able to get it to work, probably depending on what Windows DLLs they happen to have installed. Trying to run Nanite on Linux produces a line of red text saying that the machine doesn't have a supported graphics card or driver. This is with a NVidia 3070 with the current NVidia driver on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, which is about as good as it gets today. It's a typical "we tossed the Linux users a crumb" port. Well, it's early access. Filed all the appropriate bug reports.
  - boulos 5y ago
    > This is with a NVidia 3070 with the current NVidia driver on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, which is about as good as it gets today. Driver installed by “hand” or via the Ubuntu packages? More importantly: What’s the output of nvidia-smi?
    - Animats 5y ago
      Ubuntu packages. Driver version 460.73.01 Cuda version 11.2. GeForce RTX 3070.
      - boulos 5y ago
        Hmm. The Linux statement for UE4 just says “use latest stable” [1] (which is why I always just download the .run file and install “by hand”). But your driver was released in April. While there are a lot of serious-ish sounding issues fixed in the 460.80 series [2], I sort of doubt UE hardcoded that. Then again, UE now relies entirely on Vulkan and it feels like every NV driver release has fixed at least one major Vulkan bug, so maybe since they just released it they are asking folks to use 460.80+? [1] https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.26/en-US/Basics/RecommendedSpecifications/ https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.26/en-US/Basics/RecommendedS... (then select Linux from the drop down icon I guess) [2] https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/175203/en-us https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/175203/en...

127 5y ago

For non-vegetation non-deforming assets it works great so far. Looks absolutely seamless and works an order of magnitude faster.

DizzyDoo 5y ago

Unreal actually already has an automatic LOD creation system (https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.26/en-US/WorkingWithContent/Types/StaticMeshes/HowTo/AutomaticLODGeneration/ https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.26/en-US/WorkingWithContent/...), and there are quite a number of 3d Content middleware solutions that run this sort of mesh reduction processes. In one sense Nanite isn't anything brand new, but what is really exciting about it is that it operates from the sculpt downwards. As in, you import from zbrush raw, with the highest raw textures, and everything is automatically handled by the engine itself, in such a way that the LOD transitions are really hard to spot. From what I've seen on Twitter, it looks like it really delivers, even in its early stage: https://twitter.com/IonizedGames/status/1397636481913610241 https://twitter.com/IonizedGames/status/1397636481913610241

Animats 5y ago
Now that's impressive. Seeing the dog picture scale out is encouraging. All the LOD algorithms do a good job on rocks. It's all repeated instances of one object, though. I'd like to see someone load in a big game level at high res and give us a tour. Quadric mesh reduction, where the algorithm tries to minimize the volume difference between original and reduce geometry, does great on rocks. Terrible on thin sheets like cloth or long thin things like hair. Mediocre on objects with lots of hard edges, like houses. I've been trying to run the UE5 Early Access version on Linux. Building UE5 Editor worked, and I built and ran one of the built-in sample projects. But the files for the demo are only available for download via Epic Game Loader, which is only available as a 32-bit Windows program. Trying to run that under Wine leads to a popup complaining some DLL is missing. But it doesn't tell you which one. Some people have been able to get it to work, probably depending on what Windows DLLs they happen to have installed. Trying to run Nanite on Linux produces a line of red text saying that the machine doesn't have a supported graphics card or driver. This is with a NVidia 3070 with the current NVidia driver on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, which is about as good as it gets today. It's a typical "we tossed the Linux users a crumb" port. Well, it's early access. Filed all the appropriate bug reports.
- boulos 5y ago
  > This is with a NVidia 3070 with the current NVidia driver on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, which is about as good as it gets today. Driver installed by “hand” or via the Ubuntu packages? More importantly: What’s the output of nvidia-smi?
  - Animats 5y ago
    Ubuntu packages. Driver version 460.73.01 Cuda version 11.2. GeForce RTX 3070.
    - boulos 5y ago
      Hmm. The Linux statement for UE4 just says “use latest stable” [1] (which is why I always just download the .run file and install “by hand”). But your driver was released in April. While there are a lot of serious-ish sounding issues fixed in the 460.80 series [2], I sort of doubt UE hardcoded that. Then again, UE now relies entirely on Vulkan and it feels like every NV driver release has fixed at least one major Vulkan bug, so maybe since they just released it they are asking folks to use 460.80+? [1] https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.26/en-US/Basics/RecommendedSpecifications/ https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.26/en-US/Basics/RecommendedS... (then select Linux from the drop down icon I guess) [2] https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/175203/en-us https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/175203/en...