Realistic graphics with high-quality textures can consume significant amounts of graphics memory. While having a powerful graphics card is one solution, optimization is also a way to reduce VRAM consumption and optimize resources.
AMD has published research explaining how it was able to drastically reduce graphics memory usage through the procedural generation of certain 3D objects, such as trees and vegetation, in real-time rendered scenes.
The Impact of Procedural Generation on VRAM Usage
This technique can help systems with limited graphics memory push graphics to a level that would otherwise be impossible without this advancement. In the future, it could be used in games to significantly reduce graphics memory consumption and prevent the situation where we need 16 GB of VRAM to play in 1080p or 32 GB to play in 4K.
In the demonstration scene used for this technique, the graphics memory consumption was reduced from 34.8 GB to 51 KB. It’s such a drastic reduction that it almost seems like science fiction, but it works. The system uses “work graphs” to generate vegetation in real-time, eliminating the need to store it in graphics memory or system storage.
Demonstration on the Radeon RX 7900 XTX
The demo was run on a Radeon RX 7900 XTX, a graphics card with 24 GB of VRAM. In 1080p, the demo required nearly 35 GB of memory when rendered using traditional methods, but with procedural generation, the graphics memory consumption dropped to just 51 KB.
Despite the change in technique, the trees maintained a high level of detail and could dynamically change seasons without any pop-in issues. This technology differs from NVIDIA’s neural texture compression because it is not limited to textures but generates entire blocks of vegetation.
