AMD unveils TressFX Hair simulation technology

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polonyc2

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AMD has announced a partnership with Square Enix studio Crystal Dynamics under the Gaming Evolved programme that promises to bring Radeon owners unprecedented realism in a hitherto neglected aspect of gaming: hair simulation.

Announced this week, AMD's deal with Crystal Dynamics sees the company working to increase the realism of hair rendering in games to a level previously only possible with pre-rendered footage, by offloading the heavy lifting to the graphics processor using the DirectCompute offload language...The result is undeniably impressive: compared to the often solid-block hair of most game characters, hair rendered using the TressFX Hair engine - for that is the technology's name - is considerably more complex and dangles in an alarmingly realistic manner...

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2013/02/26/amd-tressfx/1
 
Interesting. I could see this easily impacting other things like grass, fur or feathers. Frayed clothes or flags too. That is if they wish it to, or want to bother with it.
 
Pretty impressive and Tomb Raider is getting great reviews all over. Looks like another AMD win.

lara_3frame.jpg

tress_before_after1.jpg

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this hair technology is perfect for Geralt from the Witcher games...Witcher 3 TressFX exclusive! :D
 
Hmmm......Considering all future consoles are AMD APU's, we might see widespread support for this.

Very nice indeed.
 
That's neat. I hope both camps leverage the power of DiretCompute more as it's a really nice technology with open standards that either camp can utilize. I love the hair mods in Skyrim as they add more realism to the game. Open source tech like this makes me want to purchase games. Even more impressive is AMD really helping a developer to make their title stand out from other titles. Hopefully this will allow this tech to be utilized in other games.
 
DASHlT said:
Hmmm......Considering all future consoles are AMD APU's, we might see widespread support for this.

Very nice indeed.
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Blacklash said:
Interesting. I could see this easily impacting other things like grass, fur or feathers. Frayed clothes or flags too. That is if they wish it to, or want to bother with it.
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Yes, and the really nice thing is that it's Open Source so as long as your video card manufacturer has nice raw performance then you can benefit from this.
 
The future looks brighter, since this will run even on an Intel IGP. Can't wait until we get a smart dev offloading some routines to DirectCompute so that we can get some sick vehicle physics or ballistics going. Usually something misses out if you have to put everything down to the CPU.
 
Loving this news. Anything good for AMD is music to my ears nowadays. I personally do not like consoles but this could be a great way to make people see some sort of visual difference with the next gen.
 
People, this will not run well on Intel IGPs nor Nvidia hardware. AMD's GCN tech is particularly strong in Direct Compute and in GPGPU in general. What you will see is a repeat of what happened in Dirt:Showdown where initially a 7870 was faster than a GTX680. Since then, the best Nvidia could get to is match a 7950.

It took Titan to finally match/beat a 7970. Expect to see something similar with Tomb Raider.

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Perhaps I missed it somewhere, but neither the article nor AMD's blog ever mentions TressFX being open source. Granted, it uses a publicly available, brand-independent GPGPU API, but that's not the same as open source.

That said, as an AMDer, I would love to see TressFX made available to nVidia and/or nVidia develop a driver to run TressFX. It would benefit the consumers and game devs and hopefully incite the "sharing" of proprietary software technologies. *coughphysxcough*

Instead of just reducing to:
"Hey, we have cool hair rendering tech that'll most likely be rarely implemented"
"That's cool, brah, we have cool physics tech that's rarely been implemented well"

On another note, I'd like to see this be able to use secondary GPUs, like nVidia does with PhysX. Would be pretty handy, imo, for AMD APU systems, or mobos with integrated graphics, that have a discrete graphics card.

EDIT: some grammar
 
JBags said:
"Hey, we have cool hair rendering tech that'll most likely be rarely implemented"
"That's cool, brah, we have cool physics tech that's rarely been implemented well"
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Except it can be implemented in all next generation consoles. Same thing was argued with physx, but still...
 
I see all the fuss over RUNT frames and AMD fudging the bucket when it comes to framerates and how they are perceived higher via FRAPS than what they really are. Then I see stuff like this where AMD is making major progress and overtaking Nvidia in other aspects. FFS!!!!!!!! Impossibly hard decision to make over CF 7970s or SLI 680's!
 
This will be interesting to see... This may be a good showcase product for AMD to highlight the strong gpgpu capabilities they have opted to keep on their cards, at the expense of a bit more power consumption and heat.

A good tradeoff it seems.
 
Stoly said:
Except it can be implemented in all next generation consoles. Same thing was argued with physx, but still...
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It never would've happened with Physx. Look at the PS3, do you see any games using GPU based physx there? No, all you get is Physx running on the SPUs because the GPU is far too weak.
 
Lorien said:
It never would've happened with Physx. Look at the PS3, do you see any games using GPU based physx there? No, all you get is Physx running on the SPUs because the GPU is far too weak.
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I don't think the PS3 GPU can even use it anyway. PhysX GPU only works on the 8000 series and higher on desktop. Never supported the 7000 series that the PS3 GPU is based on.
 
Won't ever play Tomb Raider (which I often just think of as "Boob Raider") because... will never happen :(
 
DASHlT said:
Hmmm......Considering all future consoles are AMD APU's, we might see widespread support for this.
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But not on PS4 or any potential Steam Box. DirectCompute is a proprietary MS tech and is only available on DirectX software platforms as far as I know.

cageymaru said:
That's neat. I hope both camps leverage the power of DiretCompute more as it's a really nice technology with open standards that either camp can utilize. Open source tech like this makes me want to purchase games.
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I wish it was the case. For whatever reason AMD shunned the open standards and more mature OpenCL for a closed framework. Maybe they had a deal with MS or whatever but this will be an Xbox / Windows PC exclusive.
 
jwcalla said:
But not on PS4 or any potential Steam Box. DirectCompute is a proprietary MS tech and is only available on DirectX software platforms as far as I know.
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You don't need Direct Compute exclusively to expose the capabilities of the hardware. All that matters is that the hardware is capable of doing it, the API used is largely irrelevant.


I wish it was the case. For whatever reason AMD shunned the open standards and more mature OpenCL for a closed framework. Maybe they had a deal with MS or whatever but this will be an Xbox / Windows PC exclusive.
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What kind of BS are you trying to spin? You do realize that Microsoft works with both AMD and Nvidia in defining what gets included into each version of DirectX?

Direct Compute is as open as it gets, the only closed thing about it is the requirement of Windows OS and that is only because the majority of games are made FOR windows and thus DirectX is the dominant API.

Fact is the PS4 will be capable of doing the same exact thing the only difference is they'll be using Sony's own LibGCM API instead of Direct3D.

P.S: Please people if you are going to try to spin this as a negative at least make sure you do some research so you don't end up sounding like you're talking out of your ass.
 
Cool. Forward progress is good progress! Kudos to AMD for not being dbags and supporting Open API/Protocol's. It pushes the industry forward instead of keeping us stale and locked down to proprietary features.

With AMD being in all of the next-gen console's I wonder what that means for PhysX, don't think much of anybody except maybe Tegra dev's will be utilizing it. Shame.
 
the article in the first post has been updated...TressFX is not exclusive to AMD

As we suspected, AMD's press release has been very carefully worded. 'TressFX is not exclusive to AMD,' a spokesperson for the company has told us. 'It works on any DirectX11 card, similar to some other AMD-built technologies - for example Order-Independent Transparency (OIT) or High Definition Ambient Occlusion (HDAO).' Thus is the truth revealed: any DirectX11-capable graphics hardware, including those from rival Nvidia, will be able to make use of AMD's hair-rendering know-how.

Devon Nekechuck, product manager for high-end discrete desktop graphics at AMD, offers a bit more detail - and a sneaky plug for his company's GCN-based Radeon HD products: 'TressFX will definitely work on any DirectCompute-enabled device. This has roots in the core of Gaming Evolved, where we want to enable technology for all gamers, and not create proprietary features that lock out gamers that use our competitor's products. That said, TressFX is very computationally intensive, and hence games that use TressFX will really be able to benefit from high DirectCompute performance. Because of that, you will see Graphics Core Next-based GPUs excel when it's enabled.'
 
Lorien said:
You don't need Direct Compute exclusively to expose the capabilities of the hardware. All that matters is that the hardware is capable of doing it, the API used is largely irrelevant.

What kind of BS are you trying to spin? You do realize that Microsoft works with both AMD and Nvidia in defining what gets included into each version of DirectX?

Direct Compute is as open as it gets, the only closed thing about it is the requirement of Windows OS and that is only because the majority of games are made FOR windows and thus DirectX is the dominant API.

Fact is the PS4 will be capable of doing the same exact thing the only difference is they'll be using Sony's own LibGCM API instead of Direct3D.

P.S: Please people if you are going to try to spin this as a negative at least make sure you do some research so you don't end up sounding like you're talking out of your ass.
Click to expand...

I just went on the article that was linked in the OP which only mentioned a version of this "TressFX" that was implemented with the DirectCompute API. Is it also available for other GPGPU frameworks?

And yes, DirectCompute is closed in the sense that it requires a license and that license is restricted to certain platforms. So there certainly will not be a DirectCompute version of this TressFX on PS4. Whether they decide to use another framework for the PS4 is beside the point, as I was correcting the statement that this is an "open" technology as-is. It's not. It's not even close.
 
jwcalla said:
I just went on the article that was linked in the OP which only mentioned a version of this "TressFX" that was implemented with the DirectCompute API. Is it also available for other GPGPU frameworks?

And yes, DirectCompute is closed in the sense that it requires a license and that license is restricted to certain platforms. So there certainly will not be a DirectCompute version of this TressFX on PS4. Whether they decide to use another framework for the PS4 is beside the point, as I was correcting the statement that this is an "open" technology as-is. It's not. It's not even close.
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Stop looking for needles in a haystack. :)
 
the new hair looks nice but c'mon, anyone who believes this to be some monumental achievement in graphics technology is not thinking straight...this is just another gimmick which will probably have even less of an impact then PhysX...plus in still shots vs actual in-game video it'll probably hardly be noticable, hence the reason AMD did not release any video of the new tech in action
 
polonyc2 said:
the article in the first post has been updated...TressFX is not exclusive to AMD

As we suspected, AMD's press release has been very carefully worded. 'TressFX is not exclusive to AMD,' a spokesperson for the company has told us. 'It works on any DirectX11 card, similar to some other AMD-built technologies - for example Order-Independent Transparency (OIT) or High Definition Ambient Occlusion (HDAO).' Thus is the truth revealed: any DirectX11-capable graphics hardware, including those from rival Nvidia, will be able to make use of AMD's hair-rendering know-how.

Devon Nekechuck, product manager for high-end discrete desktop graphics at AMD, offers a bit more detail - and a sneaky plug for his company's GCN-based Radeon HD products: 'TressFX will definitely work on any DirectCompute-enabled device. This has roots in the core of Gaming Evolved, where we want to enable technology for all gamers, and not create proprietary features that lock out gamers that use our competitor's products. That said, TressFX is very computationally intensive, and hence games that use TressFX will really be able to benefit from high DirectCompute performance. Because of that, you will see Graphics Core Next-based GPUs excel when it's enabled.'
Click to expand...

Thank you for posting this. :)
 
polonyc2 said:
the new hair looks nice but c'mon, anyone who believes this to be some monumental achievement in graphics technology is not thinking straight...this is just another gimmick which will probably have even less of an impact then PhysX
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Lol!!

there is just no Pleasing today's PC Gamer :)


just makes me laugh.. a technology comes out that makes the graphics have a higher fidelity and all of a sudden its a bad thing.

Good thing 3dfx didn't come out today, they would have been run out the door with pitchforks.. how day they make the graphics look better..
 
also i should wanted to add.,.. for some reason tombraider is all about the pony tail.. i remember back when tombraider 2 was released it was a nice suprised to see her "ponytail" simulated like a rope :)

from Tombraider 2's review

Gamespot UK said:
This year's model is a lot more curvy, a bit skinnier, and sports a fully functioning ponytail (I shudder to think how many hours were spent getting her hair to move "just right").
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The problem is fanboys. I bet you if this was announced by Nvidia you'd see pages of fanboys circle jerking each other about it.
 
polonyc2 said:
the new hair looks nice but c'mon, anyone who believes this to be some monumental achievement in graphics technology is not thinking straight...this is just another gimmick which will probably have even less of an impact then PhysX...plus in still shots vs actual in-game video it'll probably hardly be noticable, hence the reason AMD did not release any video of the new tech in action
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actually it is a step forward cause life like hair on characters has been neigh impossible
 
H-street said:
just makes me laugh.. a technology comes out that makes the graphics have a higher fidelity and all of a sudden its a bad thing
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where did I say it's a bad thing?...I said it looks nice...PhysX looks nice as well when it's implemented correctly so why hasn't it taken off?...improving technology is great but it doesn't automatically make it an evolutionary step for the industry
 
polonyc2 said:
the new hair looks nice but c'mon, anyone who believes this to be some monumental achievement in graphics technology is not thinking straight...this is just another gimmick which will probably have even less of an impact then PhysX...plus still shots vs actual in-game video will probably hardly be noticable hence the reason AMD did not release any video of the new tech in action
Click to expand...

No, if you ever played Dirt Showdown you'd see DirectCompute shining very nicely. The lighting in that game is ridiculous! I'd like to see Tomb Raider in motion also. Going by the reviews so far it's getting very good reviews so I'm expecting good things. DirectCompute is here to stay and will get utilized more in the future because of MS, DX11, amd other standards that both video card manufacturers agreed to.

From what I've experienced of PhysX 3.2 gaming it's not "there" yet without gpu help. I'm in the beta for a game that uses it a lot and it's very stressful on my cpu even at 4.2GHz. But the game is in alpha stage so maybe it will get better in later builds.
 
polonyc2 said:
where did I say it's a bad thing?...I said it looks nice...PhysX looks nice as well when it's implemented correctly so why hasn't it taken off?...improving technology is great but it doesn't automatically make it an evolutionary step for the industry
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PhysX is proprietary and only supposed by one camp. That's why it is only used sparingly in a few titles.
 
cageymaru said:
No, if you ever played Dirt Showdown you'd see DirectCompute shining very nicely. The lighting in that game is ridiculous! I'd like to see Tomb Raider in motion also. Going by the reviews so far it's getting very good reviews so I'm expecting good things. DirectCompute is here to stay and will get utilized more in the future because of MS, DX11, amd other standards that both video card manufacturers agreed to.

From what I've experienced of PhysX 3.2 gaming it's not "there" yet without gpu help. I'm in the beta for a game that uses it a lot and it's very stressful on my cpu even at 4.2GHz. But the game is in alpha stage so maybe it will get better in later builds.
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will have to give Dirt Showdown a look...either way I'm glad to see AMD not making this a proprietary tech and am curious how it looks on Nvidia hardware

can they get TressFX to look like the red hair on that girl from the latest Pixar movie, Brave?...that was impressive

 
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Good guy AMD, creates new video game graphics technology.

Let's the competition use it too.
 
polonyc2 said:
will have to give Dirt Showdown a look...either way I'm glad to see AMD not making this a proprietary tech and am curious how it looks on Nvidia hardware

can they get TressFX to look like the red hair on that girl from the latest Pixar movie, Brave?...that was impressive

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we're not there yet, but amd's tech is a good start, I loved that movie, her hair really made the character more awesome
 
polonyc2 said:
will have to give Dirt Showdown a look...either way I'm glad to see AMD not making this a proprietary tech and am curious how it looks on Nvidia hardware

can they get TressFX to look like the red hair on that girl from the latest Pixar movie, Brave?...that was impressive

Click to expand...

Would be nice to see something like that in the future as a DirectCompute tech demo.
 
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