User Cody Darr, also known as Sonic Ether, has introduced an update for the Minecraft shader pack, adding a rendering technology called 'path tracing'. Externally, it resembles the trendy ray tracing from Battlefield V and Shadow of the Tomb Raider but is implemented differently.
Path tracing implies that light is emitted from a virtual camera. Subsequently, the light is reflected or absorbed by objects. This creates soft shadows and realistic lighting. However, like ray tracing, quality comes at a cost.
The user launched the game with enhancements on a PC featuring an Intel Core i9-9900k processor and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti graphics card. As a result, he achieved a frame rate of around 25–40 frames per second at maximum quality settings and with high draw distance. Naturally, a more powerful graphics card is needed to increase that frame rate.
It is noted that the path tracing technology for Minecraft is only available in the shader pack. It can be obtained by subscribing to the author's Patreon for $10 or more.
Recall that we released an article on testing ray tracing technology and the use of intelligent anti-aliasing in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The testing was conducted on four graphics cards:
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition (1350/14000 MHz, 11 GB);
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 2080 Founders Edition (1515/14000 MHz, 8 GB);
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Founders Edition (1410/14000 MHz, 8 GB);
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Founders Edition (1365/14000 MHz, 6 GB).
However, no mind-blowing difference in quality was observed. Undoubtedly, ray tracing and DLSS improved the visuals, but not as dramatically as in Metro Exodus. Nevertheless, the developers of the Lara Croft action game clearly did everything they could to 'polish' the graphics.
Source: 3dnews.ru
