NVIDIA VRWorks SDK Adds Pascal Features

In preparation for the release of its GeForce GTX 1070 and 1080 graphics cards, NVIDIA has added support for the hardware’s new Pascal architecture in its VRWorks software development kit. VRWorks is NVIDIA’s suite of API, libraries, and engines for creating virtual reality content.

“With VR performance is key – Virtual Reality headsets render games and applications at a resolution equivalent to 3024×1680, and need to do so at a sustained 90 FPS. Failure to maintain a constant 90 FPS results in stuttering and hitching that ruin the experience,” the GeForce blog reads.

“With the new GeForce GTX 1080, Virtual Reality performance is up to 2X faster than with the GeForce GTX TITAN X,” the post adds. “This remarkable improvement comes courtesy of the amazing graphics horsepower of Pascal, combined with our new Simultaneous Multi-Projection technology, which enables new VRWorks Lens Matched Shading and Single Pass Stereo rendering techniques.”

“With the new Pascal-architecture Simultaneous Multi-Projection technology we can implement several new techniques that improve your experience on these displays,” NVIDIA says. “And in Virtual Reality, improve performance, too.”

“The first of these new Virtual Reality techniques is Lens Matched Shading, which builds upon the Multi-Res Shading technology introduced alongside our previous-generation Maxwell architecture. Lens Matched Shading increases pixel shading performance by rendering more natively to the unique dimensions of VR display output. This avoids rendering many pixels that would otherwise be discarded before the image is output to the VR headset.”

The update also introduces Single Stereo Pass, allowing graphics cards to perform single geometry passes for both eyes, cutting GPU load. The new features are set to be showcased in a set of virtual reality mini-games called NVIDIA VR Funhouse, to be released at an undisclosed date.