In summary:
- Nvidia unveiled DLSS 5 with 3D-Guided Neural Rendering at its GPU Technology Conference, using AI to add photorealistic lighting and materials to games in real-time.
- PCWorld reports this technology aims to bridge the gap between rendering and reality, enhancing details like skin and fabric in major titles including Hogwarts Legacy and Starfield.
- DLSS 5 launches this fall and represents what Nvidia calls a “GPT moment for graphics,” potentially delivering unprecedented visual realism in PC gaming.
We’ve only just gotten some of the headline features of DLSS 4.5, and now Nvidia has announced the next version. At its self-branded GPU Technology Conference in California, Nvidia revealed DLSS 5. The headline feature is “3D-Guided Neural Rendering.” And based on CEO Jensen Huang’s brief presentation during the keynote, it looks like it’s an “AI” filter.
Huang seemed to blast through the DLSS 5 announcement on stage, so thankfully there’s a press release offering a little more detail. The new generation of Dynamic Learning Super-Sampling will inlcude what the company calls “the divide between rendering and reality.”
“DLSS 5 takes a game’s color and motion vectors for each frame as input, and uses an AI model to infuse the scene with photoreal lighting and materials that are anchored to source 3D content and consistent from frame to frame. DLSS 5 runs in real time at up to 4K resolution for smooth, interactive gameplay.”
Calling the new system “the GPT moment for graphics” and comparing it to pre-rendered Hollywood cinema effects, Nvidia says that the system adds in details for subsurface scattering on skin, lighting effects on fabric and hair, and other complex effects, while “retaining the structure and semantics of the original scene.”
I’m no software engineer, but it sounds to me like games supporting DLSS 5 3D-Guided Neural Rendering will be applying a real-time generative AI visual filter to game graphics output. Imagine telling an “AI” photo editor to make a graphic screenshot more realistic, and then do that for every frame. That’s what the demo video looked like. PCWorld is on the ground at GTC and will be reporting more impressions later.
According to the announcement, DLSS 5 will arrive “this fall,” with game support for “AION 2, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Black State, CINDER CITY, Delta Force, Hogwarts Legacy, Justice, NARAKA: BLADEPOINT, NTE: Neverness to Everness, Phantom Blade Zero, Resident Evil Requiem, Sea of Remnants, Starfield, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, Where Winds Meet and more.”
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 15-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he's the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop "battlestation" in his off hours. Michael's previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he's covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he's always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.