Nvidia releases video showing HairWorks in The Witcher 3

by Mark Tyson on 25 June 2014, 09:57

Tags: NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), PC

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Nvidia GameWorks has published a new video showcasing its HairWorks middleware. The tool is meant to enable developers to render more lifelike and realistic hair than has previously been possible in games. HairWorks fits into a familiar, fast and easy to implement workflow, we are told. 3D designers who use Maya or 3DS Max are catered for by the software. Hair and fur can be edited and checked in real-time within these applications.

The video above shows an example of the effect which can be achieved, showing a wolf from The Witcher 3 running. As the wolf runs, its fur moves realistically, flowing as you would expect in the wind and with the motion of the running animal. Artists can tweak hair and fur parameters such as waviness, clumping, density and more. We are also shown a horse movement simulation which uses "multiple collision volumes," to present a realistic movement of its mane and tail. We assume this is basically the horse upon which Geralt will travel through the world of The Witcher.

Nvidia reminds us that its HairWorks was most recently notable for providing 'Riley', the Alsatian from Call of Duty: Ghosts, his dynamic moving fur. The video highlights the difference in Riley's appearance with HairWorks simulation turned on and off. We are told Riley "featured up to a half million strands of hair". In the same game there is a scene with a pack of wolves, all of which feature a full dynamic coat of fur.

A DirectX 11 capable GPU will be required for HairWorks effects. EuroGamer spoke to one of the producers of The Witcher 3 recently at E3. They were told that the PC version of the game would feature HairWorks effects when played at 'Ultra' settings. As well as the better hair and fur this ultra high quality setting will bring "better tessellation, more physics and more post-processing". Meanwhile console gamers would enjoy graphics roughly equivalent to the PC's 'High' quality settings.



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A DirectX 11 capable GPU will be required for HairWorks effects.

An nvidia DX11 capable GPU, or any GPU? And if it is any GPU, how much opportunity will AMD have to optimise - or potentially remove nvidia sub-optimisation, if rumours are to be believed - for performance on their graphics cards?

Still, I guess it is about time NV caught up with AMD's TressFX in that regard… ;)

Be every intersting to see benchmarks of these effects, and whether (if they're available at all) they do hammer AMD's performance when enabled…
Might be asking a pretty stupid question, but how exactly does this differ from TressFX?
scaryjim
An nvidia DX11 capable GPU, or any GPU? And if it is any GPU, how much opportunity will AMD have to optimise - or potentially remove nvidia sub-optimisation, if rumours are to be believed - for performance on their graphics cards?

Still, I guess it is about time NV caught up with AMD's TressFX in that regard… ;)

Be every intersting to see benchmarks of these effects, and whether (if they're available at all) they do hammer AMD's performance when enabled…

TressFX was very glitchy with nVIDIA GPUs in all the games it was implemented in (one game…). AMD also specifies on their site that “it’s all made possible by the unique processing capabilities of AMD Radeon™ HD graphics”. And then they go on and recommend a GCN GPU. They don't say it works with nVIDIA or Intel GPUs.

And that's understandable. One cannot expect AMD to use their own funds and own time to test hardware from the competition. And nVIDIA should be held to the same standards. Even if they would test hardware from outside the company, they couldn't possibly specify that it works with *any*/*AMD*/*Intel* GPU, that would make them liable. And while they can control what their software/hardware development teams do, they cannot in any way control what AMD's or Intel's development teams do. So it would be impossible to ensure compatibility with 3rd party GPUs. And this is true for any GPU maker, be it nVIDIA, AMD or Intel.
scaryjim
A DirectX 11 capable GPU will be required for HairWorks effects.

An nvidia DX11 capable GPU, or any GPU? And if it is any GPU, how much opportunity will AMD have to optimise - or potentially remove nvidia sub-optimisation, if rumours are to be believed - for performance on their graphics cards?

Still, I guess it is about time NV caught up with AMD's TressFX in that regard… ;)

Be every intersting to see benchmarks of these effects, and whether (if they're available at all) they do hammer AMD's performance when enabled…

when you ppl are going to learn, TressFX is not AMD exclusive, its DirectCompute and works on any GPU, while HairWorks is part of GameWorks Nvidia Exclusive Library, it doesnt work unless if you have nvidia hardware, not because other GPUs cannot handle it, but because its locked as it has been specifically developed and implemented by Nvidia.
sirtrouserpress
Might be asking a pretty stupid question, but how exactly does this differ from TressFX?

My guess is that it won't bring a Titan to it's knees.

All this news lately is making me more and more nervous about vendor lock-in….