Independent developers show playable tech demos with ray tracing

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Nvidia, Epic and Microsoft challenged independent developers in their DXR Spotlight competition to create a playable tech demo that uses ray tracing. The three winning projects can now be viewed and played.

Games that use ray tracing are scarcely available. For the time being, it is mainly the large studios that have ventured into the technology. However, small, independent developers can also create something beautiful; this is evident from the results of the DXR Spotlight competition that were announced on Monday.

Participants had to create a playable tech demo using Unreal Engine 4.22 using DXR, the ray tracing implementation of DirectX 12. The three winning projects can be seen in videos on YouTube, but the tech demos can also be downloaded and played. The winners each took home an Nvidia Titan RTX video card.

Christian Hecht, a 3d designer at a design company in Canada, created the tech demo Attack from Outer Space. He used ray tracing for the reflections, shadows and the ambient lighting. The creator provides more information about his creation on the Unreal Engine forum.

Diode is the winning entry from American Alden Fillion. He has extensive experience in game development and has worked on titles such as Battlefield 4, Crackdown 3 and Lost Planet 3. In the demo you infiltrate a castle as a futuristic knight. Ray tracing is used for the reflections.

The third winning entry is LP Trailer from Opus Visual, a company that creates 3D visualizations of construction projects. In the demo, you can drive around with a truck and enjoy the reflections and ambient occlusion that has been ray-traced.

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