AMD Ruby Project

[Kedhrin]

At GDC we showcased 30 seconds of the "Project Ruby" tech demo we're working on with AMD and Crytek.

Unfortunately, we couldn't show more because we're still implementing TressFX (the hair technology used in Tomb Raider). The TressFX stuff adds a fuck ton. So we want to show the whole thing with it fully working... right now, the hair being used is a simple mesh (hair planes, not TressFX at all). We were planning on using the traditionally made hair as an option if TressFX took up too many resources... but TressFX isn't bad on performance, so we're able to ditch traditionally made hair. So we never animated it, which is why it doesn't move in the 30 sec bit.

While we're still working on the whole thing, you can see a shaky cam of the 30 seconds at the AMD press event (loool at Carl and Chuck on stage):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRKaZZjCdRs

It's not on a bigger screen due to some technical difficulties AMD was having at the Press Event.

I also did a presentation with Sean Tracy, Bill Bilodeau, and Dongsoo Han - the powerpoint for that presentation can be downloaded here: http://developer.amd.com/wordpress/media/2013/04/HowCryEngine3AndAMDGCNArchitectureGaveBirthToARedGem_ProjectPhoenix.ppsx

it has higher resolution images there, my part of the presentation is pages 2-12 - the programming part is more at the end, and highlights TressFX specifically.

anyways, once we're done i'll post the whole thing as well as a link to download the actual tech demo...

we only did 30 seconds, but theres a lot to show in the final one.

Thanks!

[Chimeray]

TressFX not bad on performance? That thing really put a strain on my GPU when playing Tomb Raider...

Can't wait to see it in HD!

[FMPONE]

Looks interesting. Damn shame they had to show it on that twenty inch tv XD

[Izuno]

curious...was this implemented in Tomb Raider in the console version? I thought the game looked great, though the frame rate sure dropped on PS3 at times.

[Kedhrin]

Nah it's only on PC, its a DX11 only feature. It looks fantastic in Tomb Raider when you have it on... but her hair is in a pony tail, where as Ruby's hair is long all around (hence making new hurdles for us to jump over). It's pretty freaking awesome. I think once this tech is streamlined it will really change a lot. One of my jr artists picked up shave and a haircut, learned it, and made Ruby's hair within 2 weeks. I think if you got comfortable with the toolset, you could really make new hair styles quickly. I don't think we're adding it, but you also have the ability to grow/shrink the length of the hair strands. I think stuff like this would be epic for custom character creation.... and seeing the hair in motion is truly something to behold... it's every single strand of hair, i love it.