In attendance at GDC 2022, Nvidia relayed a new SDK called Streamline, which, as the name might imply, is intended to make super-resolution technologies far easier to integrate into various workflows, specifically gaming. Nvidia's Streamline SDK is already available and can be found on GitHub.
Nvidia describes it as an open-source, cross-vendor framework that tries to make the entire process of applied gaming 3D graphics much less convoluted for developers. The graphics card company relays it best in its own press release, providing detailed graphics and images to support its claims and concepts.
"[Streamline] sits between the game and render API, and abstracts the SDK-specific API calls into an easy-to-use Streamline framework. Instead of manually integrating each SDK, developers simply identify which resources (motion vectors, depth, etc) are required for the target super-resolution plug-ins and then set where they want the plug-ins to run in their graphics pipeline."
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Intel is also working alongside the brand to introduce its own XeSS technology within the Streamline SDK framework. Intel's director of game engineering and VP of AXG, Andre Bremer, considers the play a must-given "the power in open interfaces." He says not only will it "simplify game developers' integration efforts," but it will likewise "accelerate the adoption of new technology."
Nvidia's own DLSS/DLAA pipeline is already fully supported within Streamline, and the company's own Image Scaling technology, NIS for short, is seeing integration soon enough. Streamline can also be used by developers to affix Nvidia Real-Time Denoisers into their games, allowing the SDK framework a veritable slew of potential in game design.
The company has been quite vocal amid the ongoing GDC 2022 event, highlighting its updated RTX SDKs with improved image quality on glossy surfaces and introducing the RTXGI plugin for Unreal Engine 5. Global illumination is an enhanced overworld lighting feature in games that has taken a major focus via Epic Games' Unreal Engine. RTXGI will assist as a tool to integrate real-time infinite light bouncing and limit concepts like light leaks and light baking.
Nvidia's Real-time Denoisers now include NIS and path-tracing and optimized performance for its sample application on lower-spec systems. The graphics card company also highlighted its Kickstart RT SDK, which is essential to expand ray tracing tools and parameters for game developers. Nivida says of the new toolset:
"Kickstart RT provides a convenient starting point for developers to quickly and easily include realistic dynamic lighting in complex scenes in their game engines in a much shorter timespan than traditional methods. It's also helpful for those who may find upgrading their engine to the DirectX12 API difficult."
Nvidia stock took a major jump on Thursday, Mar. 24, seeing a 5.8% bump from the prior day's close. The semiconductor firm is vying to become a leader and stay at the forefront of a potential $1 trillion market opportunity. Nvidia told investors to keep an eye on rising business pipelines, including GeForce Now cloud infrastructure, Omniverse enterprise software, automotive chip sales, and more. As of writing, the current price of Nvidia stock sits at $280.
