Graphics Programming 411


A case for learning GPU programming with a compute-first mindset

  • proposes teaching GPU programming through compute shaders before graphics pipelines
  • demonstrates starting from simple compute shaders in Vulkan, and using RenderDoc debugging as an essential teaching tool
  • presents how to develop from this to understand the execution model, binding model, and how to integrate shader toy examples
  • additionally presents next learning steps


Ocean Rendering, Part 1 - Simulation

  • details the theory and mathematics behind FFT-based ocean simulation
  • covers oceanographic spectra including JONSWAP and TMA, directional spreading functions, and dispersion relationships
  • presents implementation details for cascaded simulation and FFT using compute shaders


Nintendo Switch 2 DLSS Image Quality Analysis: Tiny DLSS/Full-Fat DLSS Confirmed

  • video analyzing DLSS image quality on Nintendo Switch 2
  • compares different DLSS implementations and their visual quality


Avowed: A GPU Technical Retrospective | Unreal Fest Orlando 2025

  • presentation covering the GPU rendering optimization process in Avowed using Unreal Engine
  • shares insights from the development process and technical challenges encountered
  • covers aspects from art authoring, material optimization, ray tracing, nanite tweaks, and much more


ADAPTIVE VOXEL-BASED ORDER-INDEPENDENT TRANSPARENCY

  • presents an adaptive voxel-based approach for order-independent transparency rendering
  • demonstrates performance and quality against other OIT methods


RAY TRACING THE WORLD OF ASSASSIN'S CREED SHADOWS (Advances in Real-Time Rendering SIGGRAPH 2025)

  • video presentation on ray tracing implementation in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows
  • focuses on the algorithms and implementations
  • followed by the challenges specific to AC and a look at performance
  • additionally discusses the limitations of the presented techniques


GPU Instanced Grass Breakdown

  • tutorial covering GPU instancing for rendering of grass efficiently
  • explains setup using Graphics.RenderMeshPrimitives and compute buffers for instance data
  • includes GPU frustum culling implementation and optimization techniques for Unity


Code golfing a tiny demo using maths and a pinch of insanity

  • presents the creation of a 448-character GLSL procedural demo featuring mountains, clouds, and fog
  • explains techniques for generating noise using sine waves, rotation matrices, and FBM accumulation


Descriptors are Hard

  • XDC 2025 talk providing an overview of resource mapping from API and hardware perspectives
  • discusses the differences in approaches to descriptors and how varios drivers map it onto the hardware
  • additionally presents a preview of the new descriptor model coming to Vulkan


Billions of triangles in minutes

  • details optimization work improving meshoptimizer’s hierarchical clustered LOD generation
  • achieves 3.5x speedup through addressing memory sparsity, thread balancing, and SIMD optimizations
  • demonstrates processing NVIDIA’s 1.64 billion-triangle Zorah scene in under 3 minutes, down from 30 at the start of the article


Inside NVIDIA GPUs: Anatomy of high performance matmul kernels

  • comprehensive guide covering GPU architecture fundamentals, including memory hierarchies and compute pipelines
  • explains PTX/SASS assembly languages and analyzes compiler-generated code from CUDA kernels
  • progresses from warp-tiling synchronous kernels to SOTA Hopper asynchronous implementations using TMA and tensor cores


  • video summarizing the Game Optimization series of video tutorials
  • recaps key optimization techniques covered throughout the series
  • discusses future content directions and advanced optimization topics


Why complex exponents matter | Laplace Transform Prelude

  • video from 3Blue1Brown explaining the mathematical foundations of complex exponents
  • connects dynamics and Euler’s formula through visualization

Thanks to Nathan Reed for support of this series.


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