3 ms·

Yes, for some specific problems, raytracing definitely makes a lot of sense, but rasterization and 'geometry compression' via triangles also makes a lot of sens

Yes, for some specific problems, raytracing definitely makes a lot of sense, but rasterization and 'geometry compression' via triangles also makes a lot of sense for other situations. I think the best approach will always be a hybrid approach instead of a 100% pure raytracing pipeline. The other question is how much of the raytracing features in 3D APIs need to be implemented in fixed-function hardware units, or whether this is just another area where the pendulum will swing back and forth between hardware and software (running on the GPU of course). But then maybe in 10 years we'll have 'signed distance field units' in GPUs and nobody talks about raytracing anymore ;)

talldayo 2y ago
From everything I've seen, hardware acceleration seems to be the only option. Software-accelerated RT existed for years and was mainly the reason why it was disregarded as a technique in the first place. Here's the OG M1 Pro, manufactured on TSMC 5nm, getting blown the fuck out by a 3070 Ti on Samsung 8nm: https://youtu.be/NgDTCNPm0vo https://youtu.be/NgDTCNPm0vo The architecture will probably improve on both Nvidia and Apple's side going forward, but in theory both GPUs should be easier to support for longer since they're not focused on accelerating obsolete junk like MSAA or HBAO. It enables a better convergence of features, it makes porting to-and-from Mac easier, and with any luck Apple might even quit being so sheepish about working with Khronos since they're not actively neglecting the Vulkan featureset anymore.