Microsoft unveils the DirectX Raytracing graphics interface

Nvidia recently introduced its RTX technology, which will enable hardware acceleration ray tracing in real time with the company’s architecture Volta. This should be able to be used in games to provide more realistic graphics and several developers have already announced that they are working on implementing it in future game titles.

In connection with this, Microsoft is also unveiling its graphics interface DirectX Raytracing (DXR) – an extension of DirectX 12 that will give developers the opportunity to implement ray tracing in games.

The function is intended as a complement to traditional raster rendering, where specific elements such as shadows, reflections, transparency and depth of field can be drawn with the help of ray tracing for significantly higher realism.

According to Microsoft, DXR should be able to be used in its software mode on current generation graphics hardware, provided that there is support in the drivers – something that both AMD and Nvidia have promised will come in the future. Then ray tracing is still extremely computationally intensive, however, DXR is more of an interface for a future where graphics card makers are developing hardware acceleration for the feature.

Microsoft DirectX Raytracing is available today for developers as an experimental developer package via the company forum. The interface has so far begun to be implemented in the graphics engines Unreal Engine, Frostbite, Unity and Northlight (Remedy Entertainment) for further integration in games in the future.