[Guru3d] NVIDIA Turf Effects GameWorks technology Video

[KaRLiToS]

That is just awsome.

http://youtu.be/5B0UMdRE2ws

Nvidia submitted this video to demonstrate a new NVIDIA GameWorks technology which empowers users to simulate and render massive grass simulation with physical interaction. Our grass technology provides a fully geometrical representation. Grass blades can be represented with a resolution as low as 3 triangles to several 100 triangles per blade by using continuous level of detail. This allows millions of grass blades to be simulated.

Marketing video but still very impressive.

 

[kasakka]

Looks cool but I doubt if we will ever see it in a game.

 

[Whitestar127]

Looks cool but I doubt if we will ever see it in a game.

Why?

 

[KingFatty]

This technology could make "Lawnmower Simulator" actually a thing.

Watching the video I just wanted to demolish the grass, it's oddly entrancing.

 

[hawtdawg]

that's pretty rad

 

[railven]

This technology could make "Lawnmower Simulator" actually a thing.

Watching the video I just wanted to demolish the grass, it's oddly entrancing.

Goat Simulator 2015 is going to be off the hook!!!

 

[kasakka]

Looks cool but I doubt if we will ever see it in a game.

Because for now it's tied to the Nvidia Gameworks system and considering games are developed largely console-first (featuring AMD hardware too) these days, having grass simulation is unlikely to be high on the list of graphics options they choose when they have to fit things to the limited resources consoles have.

I mean Nvidia has demoed some really nice real-time fluid dynamics etc for Gameworks in the past but I can't think of anything that actually uses it.

 

[f1sherman]

Because for now it's tied to the Nvidia Gameworks system and considering games are developed largely console-first (featuring AMD hardware too) these days, having grass simulation is unlikely to be high on the list of graphics options they choose when they have to fit things to the limited resources consoles have.

I mean Nvidia has demoed some really nice real-time fluid dynamics etc for Gameworks in the past but I can't think of anything that actually uses it.

Gameworks is fairly new and comprehensive set of Nvidia's tools and libraries.
You are proly confusing it with PhysX. PhysX which is just a subset of Physics subset of GW.
Jensen claims NV's creme de la creme is currently working on GW.

 

[tviceman]

There could be some really, really good uses for this. Looks great too.

 

[wand3r3r]

It's a really nice looking effect. I wish it were cross platform and games would combine this with the hair effects etc.

 

[Kenmitch]

Well it does look nice....Kind of seems like it would be a waste of resources for the most part. Guess it could have uses tho.

 

[3DVagabond]

Because for now it's tied to the Nvidia Gameworks system and considering games are developed largely console-first (featuring AMD hardware too) these days, having grass simulation is unlikely to be high on the list of graphics options they choose when they have to fit things to the limited resources consoles have.

I mean Nvidia has demoed some really nice real-time fluid dynamics etc for Gameworks in the past but I can't think of anything that actually uses it.

Well, we can have PC only features, too. Besides, why can't this work with GCN hardware?

Looks pretty good. Two issues though. 1) Grass doesn't grow all helter skelter like that and 2) the physics of how it "crushes" down doesn't seem realistic/accurate. Those are big problems with the realism of it.

 

[f1sherman]

No. The big problem is disconnect between what CAN be done on GPU, and what is actually done,
ie. how much of their time are devs willing to spend.

Gameworks tries to solve this by offering easy to deploy set of tools/libs.
TressFX can proly do same or similar effects like this NV grass.

 

[RussianSensation]

No. The big problem is disconnect between what CAN be done on GPU, and what is actually done,
ie. how much of their time are devs willing to spend.

If we take this technique and ask a modern GPU to only perform this task, like the video says a GTX680 can run it no problem. Games will need NPCs, dynamic weather/clouds/sky, rocks/mountains, trees/leaves, realistic water and all other elements. Once you incorporate all of these aspects across the entire battlefield in say BF5, a card like GTX980 might run the game at 5-10 fps. It's good to see these next gen techniques give us a peak of what's to come but we are still years off until games use them.

 

[bystander36]

If we take this technique and ask a modern GPU to only perform this task, like the video says a GTX680 can run it no problem. Games will need NPCs, dynamic weather/clouds/sky, rocks/mountains, trees/leaves, realistic water and all other elements. Once you incorporate all of these aspects across the entire battlefield in say BF5, a card like GTX980 might run the game at 5-10 fps. It's good to see these next gen techniques give us a peak of what's to come but we are still years off until games use them.

This is true, but it is possible to dial back the effect to its minimum and have some improved life in a game. You already see games that have grass that moves, so this is something dev's appear to want, but we won't see it at this level for some time.

 

[f1sherman]

@RS
Did you miss the part:

"A fully dynamic simulation of 1M blades of grass completes in under 1ms on GTX 680"

This is actually very usable from perf. hit standpoint.

 

[Bobisuruncle54]

@RS
Did you miss the part:

"A fully dynamic simulation of 1M blades of grass completes in under 1ms on GTX 680"

This is actually very usable from perf. hit standpoint.

That's in isolation. That will go up in an actual in-game situation.

Maybe it's doable, but it's hardly an amazing feature, compare it to Frostbite 3's dynamic water rendering which much more impressive in all regards IMO - non platform specific, works in an actual game, and is much harder to make look convincing than realistic grass.

 

[Keysplayr]

The grass recovering over time at different rates is what I liked the most about it.

 

[KaRLiToS]

The grass recovering over time at different rates is what I liked the most about it.

Yeah, it's really well done. :thumbsup:

 

[NTMBK]

Would love to see this in a horror game. Half glimpsed shapes and rustling noises in cornfields scare the bejeezus out of me.

 

[DiogoDX]

No. The big problem is disconnect between what CAN be done on GPU, and what is actually done,
ie. how much of their time are devs willing to spend.

Gameworks tries to solve this by offering easy to deploy set of tools/libs.
TressFX can proly do same or similar effects like this NV grass.

Was show in Kaveri grass demo. But the objective was to show the APU helping with compute tasks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ktG7QX2BH4

 

[Gloomy]

Was show in Kaveri grass demo. But the objective was to show the APU helping with compute tasks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ktG7QX2BH4

That looks really awesome too, but it lacks the self-shadowing so not really as nice as the Nvidia demo.

 

[DiogoDX]

That looks really awesome too, but it lacks the self-shadowing so not really as nice as the Nvidia demo.

TressFX have self-shadowing so is odd that they didn't implemented in this demo.

 

[bystander36]

TressFX have self-shadowing so is odd that they didn't implemented in this demo.

Given the FPS was 23 when using the APU for compute, they may not have had the grunt power to do it.

I think the cool part was they used the APU to improve compute performance while using the 5770 to render. It's a lot like a dedicated PhysX card.

 

[lavaheadache]

looks cool but we don't even have vegetation interaction in BF4, let alone this level of detail.