Intel is developing a frame generation technique for XeSS, called ExtraSS. Unlike DLSS 3 and FSR 3, the technique uses extrapolation to ‘predict’ extra frames. That should result in higher frame rates in games.
Intel demonstrated ExtraSS at the Siggraph Asia 2023 trade show in Sydney, also writes Wccftech. The chipmaker is following the example of Nvidia and AMD, both of which already have frame generation techniques available. However, the operation of Intel’s upcoming technology is different, as it uses extrapolation. Intel demonstrated the technology in Unreal Engine, although no images are available.
Nvidia’s DLSS 3 technology and AMD FSR 3.0 both use interpolation. Two ‘regular’ frames are rendered. Then an additional generated frame is pasted between those two frames. This produces relatively good image quality, but also leads to extra latency. With extrapolation, such as in ExtraSS, only old frames are used to ‘predict’ future frames. Since the technique does not have to withhold frames to generate intermediate frames, this should result in less latency.
Image: Intel
Since the ExtraSS technology has less data available to use, a higher input resolution must be used, according to Intel. The technology can also cause artifacts in the image, for example if objects that were previously not visible suddenly appear on the screen, the chipmaker reports. in a research paper. After all, the technology has no visual data available for objects that have not yet appeared on screen in previous frames.
Intel said it chose extrapolation because it has a new flow model called FRNet. This should provide better results than previous frame generation techniques and produce less latency than interpolation. The ExtraSS technique uses a warping method to predict the new frame. The FRNet algorithm is then used to refine the output and correct imperfections.
ExtraSS can be used in combination with the Intel XeSS upscaling technique, which renders frames at a lower resolution and then scales them up to a higher resolution. This should deliver even higher frame rates, just like similar techniques such as DLSS Super Resolution and AMD’s FSR 2 technology. It is not known when exactly ExtraSS will be available to users. It is also not known on which GPUs the technology works. XeSS works on various GPUs from Intel itself, AMD and Nvidia.
Image: Intel