Yesterday, Nvidia announced the release of several game development SDKs at GDC 2023. This includes the new version of DLSS or Deep Learning Super Sampling, now with frame generation, as well as Streamline and abstraction layer of super resolution solutions (FSR, DLSS, Xe Super Sampling). They additionally announced new Path Tracing SDKs, including a caustics branch for Unreal Engine 5.1. They also announced the release of Opacity MicroMesh SDK with Displaced MicroMesh support coming soon.
Details of DLSS 3 and Streamline from the Nvidia developer blog:
DLSS Frame Generation is the new performance multiplier in DLSS 3 that uses AI to create entirely new frames. It is powered by NVIDIA GeForce 40 series and the Optical Flow Accelerator. This breakthrough has made real-time path tracing—the next frontier in video game graphics—possible.
Since that announcement, 28 top games and applications now use DLSS 3 to deliver realistic graphics with incredible performance, including A Plague Tale Requiem, Portal with RTX, and Cyberpunk 2077. In some cases, frames-per-second in games have almost tripled.
DLSS Frame Generation is coming to GDC as a plugin for developers through the Streamline 2.0 SDK. Streamline is the NVIDIA open-source cross-IHV framework that simplifies the integration of features like DLSS 3. Instead of manually integrating the DLSS Frame Generation SDK, you identify which resources (motion vectors, depth, and so on) are required for the desired plug-in and then execute the plug-ins to run in your rendering pipeline.
In addition, Epic Games announced the DLSS Frame Generation plugin coming to Unreal Engine in its next release. Coupled with the NVIDIA Reflex low latency technology available through UE5, you have all the tools to boost the performance of your games while providing a highly responsive experience for players.
One very consistent (and annoying) thing about these announcements, all of these technolgies except Streamline are tied to the Ada (40__) series of GPUs. Nvidia have a history of doing this, then “magically” down the road being able to support these technologies on older GPU technology.
Key Links
GDC 2023 Nvidia Developer Blog
You can learn more about Nvidia at GDC 2023 in the video below.