7
Thus, emerging next-generation games, that employ multiple
light sources with many visible objects in each scene—such as
Doom III
from id Software—will see dramatic improvements in
execution speeds. The technology advancements in
UltraShadow II also deliver a 4× performance increase
(compared to the previous generation) for passes involving
shadow volumes.
NVIDIA UltraShadow II gives developers the ability to calculate
shadows much more quickly by eliminating unnecessary areas
from consideration. By defining a bounded portion of a scene
(called “depth bounds”), and focusing calculations only on the
area most affected by the light source, developers can greatly
accelerate the shadow generation process. With the ability to
fine-tune shadows within critical regions, developers create
incredible visualizations that mimic reality, and still achieve
awesome performance for fast-action games. UltraShadow II
also works perfectly with NVIDIA® Intellisample 3.0 technology
to ensure that shadow edges are properly antialiased.
64-Bit Texture Filtering and Blending
Based on the OpenEXR technology from Industrial Light &
Magic, NVIDIA’s 64-bit texture implementation sets new
standards for image clarity and quality through floating point
capabilities in shading, filtering, texturing and blending.
Revolutionary innovations like 64-bit texture filtering and
blending allow for higher visual quality and more unique effects
by maintaining floating point precision in all aspects of rendering,
including shading, texturing, filtering, and blending.
The Industry's First On-Chip Video Processor
Video-PX 6600
series GPUs contain a revolutionary
programmable video processor that delivers state-of-the-art,
high-quality video features. They provide on-chip acceleration for
many functions previously relegated to the CPU or a second
chip. A Video-PX 6600
series GPU essentially serves as two
chips in one: a GPU and a video processor.
Video processing on the GPU deals with two major uses of
video: playback (decoding), and recording analog video and
