Graphics Programming weekly - Issue 169 — February 7, 2021


Implementing Bitonic Merge Sort in Vulkan Compute

  • Shows how to sort data on the GPU using Bitonic Merge Sort networks using GLSL/Vulkan compute
  • Derives how to non-recursively calculate per-thread index pairs for sorting networks
  • Explains how to orchestrate compute-shader dispatches for large input data
  • provides example implementation that sorts pixel by the brightness


Ice Refraction in Shader Graph and URP

  • the article presents how to implement ice shading
  • uses an approximate for ice refraction controlled by textures and fresnel shading
  • effect is implemented using Unity Shader Graph


Coding a fireworks effect

  • the video shows how to implement fireworks using fullscreen shader using Shadertoy


Jobs

Lead Graphics Programmer

(Helsinki, Finland)

Ubisoft RedLynx is a multiplatform game development studio located in Helsinki. Along with the hugely popular Trials series, we have developed and published more than 100 games and we are a passionate team of over 140 people of 21 different nationalities. We are seeking an experienced Graphics Programmer to join our core technology team in creating impactful game experiences


Fast Radius Search Exploiting Ray Tracing Frameworks

  • the paper presents a method that maps spacial search in a fixed radius into a ray tracing paradigm
  • this allows the ways to take advantage of ray tracing hardware to speed up the operations
  • presents an application for GI with progressive photon mapping and point-cloud registration of partial surface scans


Crystal Shader Breakdown

  • the article presents a walkthrough of a stylized crystal shader implemented using Unity Shader Graph
  • effect is implemented as an unlit effect based on color gradient and uses a copy of the scene to implement a refraction approximation


A Voxel Renderer for Learning C/C++

  • the article provides an overview of a GPU voxel renderer using raytracing
  • shows the data structure layout, how GPU and CPU updates are overlapped
  • presents a technique to archive interactive world updates by using incremental parallel updates
  • additionally offers advice to improve the performance of the multi-threaded implementation


Exploring DLSS 2.0 in Unreal Engine 4.26

  • the article presents a comparison of DLSS 2.0 and the default TAA implementation of UE 4.26
  • comparing performance and quality


Stylized rendering for Dungeons of Hinterberg

  • the Twitter thread presents an overview of the stylized g-buffer based rendering pipeline implemented using Unity
  • presents how each material ID written into the g-buffer is later used to adjust post effects based on the affected materials
  • lighting is applied in two stages with a second pass to toon ramp combined lights as well


Godot 4.0 optimization progress report

  • the post presents an overview of optimizations done for Godot 4.0
  • list contains but CPU and GPU optimizations
  • offers a good starting point for everyone looking into optimizing their own renderers


A simple path tracer on the GPU

  • the article presents an overview of a simple GPU based path tracer written in Zig
  • shows how to have two data layouts for changing scenes vs. static scenes
  • presents how to implement spectral rendering and how it affects objects made from glass


Thanks to Jonathan Tinkham for support of this series.


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