- post containing an overview of the new D3D12 Feature level 12_2 now called DirectX 12 Ultimate
- covers Variable Rate Shading, Mesh Shaders, DirectX Raytracing 1.1 and Sampler Feedback
- fully supported on PC and Xbox Series X
![](/img/posts/graphics-programming-weekly-124/d3d12_ultimate.png)
- the Unity tutorial shows how to use color masks to apply runtime coloring with smooth blending to sprites in a 2D scene
- explains masking, blending over time and using a sin function to achieve effect looping over time
![](/img/posts/graphics-programming-weekly-124/smooth_blending.png)
- the post provides an overview of the new Vulkan raytracing extensions
- using similar concepts as DirectX Raytracing
- the acceleration structure can be built on the CPU or GPU
- the article explains how CPU scheduling is exposed to the application
- adds support for DXR 1.1 features such as inline raytracing
- additionally provides a few code examples
![](/img/posts/graphics-programming-weekly-124/vulkan_raytracing.jpg)
- the presentation provides an overview of mesh shaders
- explains the problem with the classical geometry pipeline and how the mesh shader pipeline is an improvement
- provides a walkthrough of code demonstrating how mesh shaders are implemented and what needs to be considered to achieve excellent performance
- explains the meshlet data structure and how to use this as a base for a mesh shader pipeline
- how to implement instancing, and using per-primitive attributes
![](/img/posts/graphics-programming-weekly-124/mesh_shader_pipeline.png)
- build upon the @Reinventing the Geometry Pipeline: Mesh Shaders in DirectX 12” talks summarized above
- provides more hardware details and how to design mesh shader implementation to give excellent performance
- extending the meshlet pipeline with more advanced culling and mesh data compression
- providing performance numbers for different techniques
![](/img/posts/graphics-programming-weekly-124/mesh_shader_advanced.png)
- the video provides an overview of the new Sampler Feedback feature added to D3D12
- shows how to use compile sampler feedback and reserved resources to improve texture streaming
- overview of texture space shading and how sampler feedback can be used to guide the system
- closing with an API overview
![](/img/posts/graphics-programming-weekly-124/SamplerFeedback.png)
- overview articles by Nvidia for D3D12 Ray Tracing, Mesh shading, Variable Rate Shading, and Sampler Feedback
![](/img/posts/graphics-programming-weekly-124/nvidia_directx.png)
- the article describes the VK_NV_device_generated_commands extension for Vulkan
- it allows partial command buffers to be generated on the GPU
- more flexible then D3D12 ExecuteIndirect
- main functional addition is the support of changing of shaders between commands
![](/img/posts/graphics-programming-weekly-124/IndirectDrawCommandLayout.png)
- the article presents an overview of a BVH structure for GPU raytracing
- this is not using any raytracing APIs and focuses on the data structure design
- how to structure the tree, handle animated meshes and refit the structure for changes
![](/img/posts/graphics-programming-weekly-124/blas.png)
Thanks to Ken Russell for support of this series.
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