Square/Enix presents the fictional city of Midgar in Final Fantasy VII Remake at a filmic level of detail. Epic's Fortnite bathes its environments in ray-traced sunlight, simulating how light bounces in the real world. And artists at Lucasfilm revolutionized virtual production techniques in The Mandalorian, using synchronized NVIDIA RTX GPUs to drive pixels on LED walls that act as photoreal backdrops.
In the eight years since Epic Games launched Unreal Engine 4, graphics has evolved at an unprecedented rate. UE4's advances in world-building, animation, lighting and simulation enabled creators to bring to life environments only hinted at in the past.
In that same time, NVIDIA produced the optimal GPUs, libraries and APIs for supporting the new features the engine introduced. Tens of thousands of developers have enjoyed the benefits of pairing Unreal Engine with NVIDIA technology. That support continues with today's debut of Unreal Engine 5.
Epic and NVIDIA: Building the Future of Graphics From the launch of the GeForce GTX 680 in 2012 to the recent release of the RTX 30 Series, NVIDIA has supported UE4 developers in their quest to stay on the bleeding edge of technology.
At Game Developers Conference 2013, Epic showed off what Unreal Engine 4 could do on a single GTX 680 with their Infiltrator demo. The big rendering advances in that demo were a physically-based rendering pipeline, a groundbreaking temporal anti-aliasing solution, and a lighting solution that mixed the best of precomputed and dynamic lighting. It would be one of many times Unreal Engine and NVIDIA raised the bar.
In 2015, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang appeared as a surprise guest at an Epic Games event to announce the GTX TITAN X. Onstage, Tim Sweeney was given the very first GTX TITAN X off the production line. It's a moment in tech history that's still discussed today.
At GDC 2018, the development community got their first look at real-time ray tracing running in UE4 with the reveal of Reflections, a Star Wars short video. The results were so convincing you'd have been forgiven for thinking the clip was pulled directly out of a J.J. Abrams movie.
Textured area lights, ray-traced area light shadows, reflections, and cinematic depth of field all combined to create a sequence that redefined what was possible with real-time graphics. It was shown on a NVIDIA DGX workstation powered by four Volta architecture GPUs.
Later in the year at GamesCom, that same demo was shown running on one consumer-grade GeForce RTX graphics card, thanks to the Turing architecture's RT Cores, which greatly accelerate ray-tracing performance.
In 2019, Unreal Engine debuted a short called Troll (from Goodbye Kansas and Deep Forest Films), running on a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. It showed what could be done with complex soft shadows and reflections. The short broke ground by rendering convincing human faces in real time, capturing a broad range of emotional states.
Epic and NVIDIA sponsored three installments in the DXR Spotlight Contest, which showed that even one-person teams could achieve remarkable results with DXR, Unreal Engine 4 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX.
One standout was Attack from Outer Space, a video demo developed solely by artist Christian Hecht.
Today, Epic debuts Unreal Engine 5. This launch introduces Nanite and Lumen, which enables developers to create games and apps that contain massive amounts of geometric detail with fully dynamic global illumination.
Nanite enables film-quality source art consisting of billions of polygons to be directly imported into Unreal Engine - all while maintaining a real-time frame rate and without sacrificing fidelity.
With Lumen, developers can create more dynamic scenes where indirect lighting adapts on the fly, such as changing the sun angle with the time of day, turning on a flashlight or opening an exterior door. Lumen removes the need for authoring lightmap UVs, waiting for lightmaps to bake or placing reflection captures, which results in crucial time savings in the development process.
NVIDIA is supporting Unreal Engine 5 with plugins for key technologies, including Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), NVIDIA Reflex and RTX Global Illumination.
DLSS taps into the power of a deep learning neural network to boost frame rates and generate beautiful, sharp images. Reflex aligns CPU work to complete just in time for the GPU to start processing, minimizing latency and improving system responsiveness. RTX Global illumination computes multibounce indirect lighting without bake times, light leaks or expensive per-frame costs.
You can see DLSS and Reflex in action on Unreal Engine 5 by playing Epic's Fortnite on an NVIDIA GeForce RTX-powered PC.
NVIDIA Ominiverse is the ideal companion to the next generation of Unreal Engine. The platform enables artists and developers to connect their 3D design tools for more collaborative workflows, build their own tools for 3D worlds, and use NVIDIA AI technologies. The Unreal Engine Connector enables creators and developers to achieve live-sync workflows between Omniverse and Unreal Engine. This connector will supercharge any game developer's art pipeline.
Learn more about NVIDIA technologies for Unreal Engine 5.
Most recent headlines
17/02/2025
TVBEurope talks to the team who brought a piece of broadcasting history back to life on BBC Wales last night
By Jenny Priestley
Published: February 14, 2025 ...
17/02/2025
Eligible studios will receive the relief directly from their local authorities, with no need to submit a claim
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: February 17, 20...
17/02/2025
As DEI initiatives come under pressure in the USA, supporters of Rise, which promotes diversity in the media and entertainment sector, discuss the continuing im...
17/02/2025
EIB Global loan will partially fund SES's continued O3b mPOWER medium earth orbit (MEO) fleet expansion enabling additional capacity worldwide. O3b mPOWER s...
15/02/2025
At Nielsen, Business Resource Groups (BRGs) play a critical role in nurturing a ...
15/02/2025
Innovation to empower creativity: Explore the latest in Lightroom
Rob Christensen February 15, 2025
0 Comments
Whether you want to remove distracting ...
15/02/2025
Wisycom, a worldwide leader in RF technology and provider of wireless solutions, announces a new distribution agreement with EQUAPHON. An Argentinian profession...
15/02/2025
DPA Microphones, the leading manufacturer of high-quality microphone solutions, is pleased to welcome Nicholas Nick Mariano and Vincent Vince Divine to the ...
15/02/2025
Tuxera, a leading provider of quality-assured file systems and networking solutions, will showcase how Tuxera Fusion SMB enables unprecedented performance for m...
15/02/2025
Bitmovin's latest Video Developer Report indicates an increasing role of AI, the slow adoption of next-generation codecs, and continuing challenges when it ...
15/02/2025
When Michelin Enterprises set out to promote its prestigious Hotel Guide in the new Sleepless in the Kitchen , campaign, veteran German/Slovenian gaffer Robert...
15/02/2025
Formula E, the world's first all-electric racing series, revolutionizing motorsport with cutting-edge technology and a commitment to sustainability has sele...
15/02/2025
Agile Content, a global leader in TV and video technology solutions, announces its rebranding to AgileTV.
The transition to AgileTV stems from a commitment to ...
15/02/2025
Hiltron Communications will promote the latest additions to its range of satellite communication products, systems and supporting services at GovSatCom 2025. Th...
15/02/2025
Following the success of the original Airglow Booklight, DoPchoice debuts a new addition to their inflatable line the Float. This lightweight, inflatable, round...
15/02/2025
LAS VEGAS Marshall Electronics has announced that it will debut its newest camera controller, the RCP Plus, at the 2025 NAB Show at Booth N2649 between April 5 ...
15/02/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has named Blake Sebo as the next general manager of KTUU and KYES, Gray's NBC and CBS affiliates in Anchorage, Alaska....
15/02/2025
KOKKEDAL, Denmark DPA Microphones will feature its new CORE+ technology for distortion-free microphone sound at the 2025 NAB Show, April 5-9, in Las Vegas....
15/02/2025
SWANSEA, U.K. QuickLink will launch StudioPro-NDI and StudioPro-3, two new models of its QuickLine StudioPro video production platform, at the 2025 NAB Show, Ap...
15/02/2025
Live From 2025 NBA All-Star Game Weekend: After 25 Years, Turner Sports All-In F...
15/02/2025
NASCAR Driver Cam on Max Embraces Cloud-Based Workflow for 2025 Season Chris Brown of WBD Sports says Mobii will play key part in delivering signals from the tr...
14/02/2025
Last month, we officially launched the Spotify Partner Program, a powerful new m...
14/02/2025
From an island off the coast of Lutruwita to the global stage in France SBS & ...
14/02/2025
The future of electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) land systems is evolving so that ...
14/02/2025
Here are 5 reasons why you should attend ISE 2025
Discover more about Calrec: Learn more about Calrec's legacy of innovation in broadcast audio solutions ...
14/02/2025
World Radio Day: On the same wavelength
By Graham Murray, International Sales Manager at Calrec
To mark World Radio Day, Calrec's International Sales Ma...
14/02/2025
DALLAS and TYSONS, Va. Tegna has concluded a broadcast rights agreement that makes Tegna's KFAA in Dallas the exclusive local television partner of the Dall...
14/02/2025
Amazon's Prime Video has released a new app for Apple TV that the streamer said delivers an improved streaming experiences with faster scrolling, improved s...
14/02/2025
CLEVELAND Telos Alliance announced a software update for its Axia Quasar XR and SR line of audio-over-IP (AoIP) mixing consoles and will show the offering at th...
14/02/2025
Puget Systems Returns to HPA Tech Retreat 2025 with New Analysis Tools for Puge...
14/02/2025
Glass Animals: Tour of Earth Uses Blackmagic Live Production Workflow
Brie Clayton February 14, 2025
0 Comments
80six deploys Blackmagic URSA Broadcas...
14/02/2025
A dispute between Paramount and Youtube TV that would have pulled CBS stations and Paramount's cable channels from the streaming service has been temporaril...
14/02/2025
Colourist Deidre (Dee) McClelland details how she helped shape the distinct look and feel of whimsical Oscar-nominated stop-motion film, Memoir of a Snail
By C...
14/02/2025
BitFire said it intends to introduce forward-looking services that simplify the launch of live production workflows, and enhance real-time collaboration
By Jen...
14/02/2025
The claim by the liquidators is the latest twist in the ongoing saga of the companys collapse at the end of 2021
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: February 14, ...
14/02/2025
A carriage dispute between YouTube TV and Paramount could come to a head today (Feb. 13), with the virtual pay TV provider threatening to pull all of the progra...
14/02/2025
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. LG Electronics USA has opened a new in-house, state-of-the-art virtual production studio at its 360,000-square-foot North American headqu...
14/02/2025
NEW YORK In a bid to help local broadcasters find new ways of monetizing their content, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) and TVB have relea...
14/02/2025
WASHINGTON Three Democratic U.S. Senators have sent a stern letter blasting FCC Chair Brendan Carr for the weaponization of the agency for attacking broadcast...
14/02/2025
Years after launching the streaming service Apple TV+ in November of 2019, Apple has finally released a version of its steaming app for Android devices....
14/02/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. Red Digital Cinema will make its V-RAPTOR [X] and KOMODO-X camera systems available with Nikon's premier Z Mount, providing filmmaker...
14/02/2025
DAYTONA, Fla. The Fox Sports production of this year's Daytona 500 will see the addition of a few new tech elements and the continued unfolding of the broad...
14/02/2025
Watch Bryson Battles Blind Audition on The Voice Get a Four-Chair Turn Michael Bubl said the Boston Conservatory at Berklee musical theater senior might have...
14/02/2025
2025 Daytona 500: FOX Sports Looks To Ride Super Bowl LIX Momentum Into NASCAR S...
14/02/2025
14 Feb 2025
VEON's Kyivstar and the Come Back Alive Foundation Raise USD 2....
14/02/2025
Max Renews THE PITT, Starring Noah Wyle, For A Second Season
Max
Warner Bros. Television Group
The Pitt
New Episodes Of The Medical Drama From John...
14/02/2025
This year, Technicolor proudly celebrates 110 years of shaping the magic of cinema pioneering color, visual effects, and innovation that bring unforgettable l...
14/02/2025
NBA All-Star: More Games, More Teams, More Music, More Sound From the Court Turner Sports' team will deploy familiar tech to capture all the audio By Dan D...
14/02/2025
LIV Golf Continues To Innovate With Drones, Data-Driven Graphics, and All-Access...
Square/Enix presents the fictional city of Midgar in Final Fantasy VII Remake at a filmic level of detail. Epic's Fortnite bathes its environments in ray-traced sunlight, simulating how light bounces in the real world. And artists at Lucasfilm revolutionized virtual production techniques in The Mandalorian, using synchronized NVIDIA RTX GPUs to drive pixels on LED walls that act as photoreal backdrops.
