AMD Finally Opens Up Its Radeon Raytracing Analyzer "RRA" Source Code

[Nille_kungen]

Good!
Hopefully in 100 years they will open the Windows driver too so that someone can implement all those cool things int he Linux driver too and then create a GUI for it.

I think it's more likely we see gallium and other mesa frameworks ported over to windows than open sourcing of the current windows driver.

[bridgman]

That would not happen even in 1,000 years unless major changes in AMD corporate culture happen.
I recall it was bridgman who explained in response to requests to open source the Windmill, Oasis, and Hangar 21 demos that there is no mindset at AMD that software releases should be open source by default (or even come with a Linux build...). So they always have to make the case internally, and resources are spent on code/legal reviews.

Can I tweak your wording a bit ? There are groups within AMD that believe strongly in the benefits of open sourcing (in terms of both distribution and development models), while there are also groups which do not and groups in between.

The requirement for reviews is not a mindset thing, just a fact of life - particularly for a publicly traded tech company.

[chithanh]

Hopefully in 100 years they will open the Windows driver too

That would not happen even in 1,000 years unless major changes in AMD corporate culture happen.
I recall it was bridgman who explained in response to requests to open source the Windmill, Oasis, and Hangar 21 demos that there is no mindset at AMD that software releases should be open source by default (or even come with a Linux build...). So they always have to make the case internally, and resources are spent on code/legal reviews.

[Linuxxx]

Oh good. I'm glad they're running Linux instead of Mac Pro's with Radeon Pro's in them like Lunar Animation.

Noticed the part where İ said every major studio? 😉

[Linuxxx]

Here's a clue: Movies don't use Real Time Ray Tracing (RTRT) which is the reason there's a specification in terms in the first place, otherwise everyone would just call it wait for it... Ray Tracing. Literally the first movie to use Real Time Ray Tracing only came out this year https://petapixel.com/2022/09/19/aus...in-production/

And here's a clue for the clueless, a.k.a. the average Phoronix reader:

RTRT plays a vital role during production, because artists like to know how the final render will look like without having to wait for hours after every single change to a scene.

You could have known that if you had bothered to watch the short clip İ linked to, but instead you opted to prove your utter cluelessness, the Phoronix way...

[gentoofu]

No, the reality that all major VFX & animation studios are running on Linux since around two decades, and nVidia still being the only viable option on those systems to this very day.

Oh good. I'm glad they're running Linux instead of Mac Pro's with Radeon Pro's in them like Lunar Animation.

[BreachScrambler]

Here's a clue: Movies don't use Real Time Ray Tracing (RTRT) which is the reason there's a specification in terms in the first place, otherwise everyone would just call it wait for it... Ray Tracing. Literally the first movie to use Real Time Ray Tracing only came out this year https://petapixel.com/2022/09/19/aus...in-production/

Regular, non-real-time ray tracing still benefits from being hardware accelerated. Phoronix did a Blender benchmark just a few months ago and it was an absolute slaughterfest for the green team.

[Luke_Wolf]

No, the reality that all major VFX & animation studios are running on Linux since around two decades, and nVidia still being the only viable option on those systems to this very day.

The addition of RTRT acceleration hardware to GPUs is mainly driven by these professional markets, with the retail consumer market profiting from this evolution as a by-product, which is why ray-tracing in games is still an afterthought, because it's not the main driving factor behind this particular technology.

AMD unfortunately has totally missed the train in the professional market, which is why nVidia can still get away with their vendor lock-in tactics.

Just to put this into perspective, here's where the professional market already has been at in 2013:

Here's a clue: Movies don't use Real Time Ray Tracing (RTRT) which is the reason there's a specification in terms in the first place, otherwise everyone would just call it wait for it... Ray Tracing. Literally the first movie to use Real Time Ray Tracing only came out this year https://petapixel.com/2022/09/19/aus...in-production/

[Linuxxx]

You mean the reality that Ray Tracing Hardware won't be really suitable for RTRT for another oh probably 5 years and that the most it's really used for at the moment is some fairly minimal effects that you won't notice unless you're paying really close attention but will tank your frames to the point where you need to render at a much lower resolution and upscale it in order to get anything approximating reasonable FPS? That reality?

No, the reality that all major VFX & animation studios are running on Linux since around two decades, and nVidia still being the only viable option on those systems to this very day.

The addition of RTRT acceleration hardware to GPUs is mainly driven by these professional markets, with the retail consumer market profiting from this evolution as a by-product, which is why ray-tracing in games is still an afterthought, because it's not the main driving factor behind this particular technology.

AMD unfortunately has totally missed the train in the professional market, which is why nVidia can still get away with their vendor lock-in tactics.

Just to put this into perspective, here's where the professional market already has been at in 2013:

Pixar's Fast Lighting Preview with NVIDIA Technology

At SIGGRAPH 2013, Pixar describes how they achieve fast interactive lighting preview using NVIDIA® OptiX™ Technology and GPUs in a Katana-based production pipeline. Jean-Daniel Nahmias, technical director at Pixar, showcases this pipeline using full product shots and assets from Monster's University.

[Luke_Wolf]

Nvidia spankin' AMD like a red-headed stepchild on ray tracing hardware and no amount of open source praying is going to make that reality go away.

You mean the reality that Ray Tracing Hardware won't be really suitable for RTRT for another oh probably 5 years and that the most it's really used for at the moment is some fairly minimal effects that you won't notice unless you're paying really close attention but will tank your frames to the point where you need to render at a much lower resolution and upscale it in order to get anything approximating reasonable FPS? That reality?