<s>
Nvidia	B-Algorithm
RTX	I-Algorithm
(	O
Ray	B-Algorithm
Tracing	I-Algorithm
Texel	O
eXtreme	O
;	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
Nvidia	B-Application
GeForce	I-Application
RTX	B-Algorithm
under	O
the	O
GeForce	B-Application
brand	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
professional	O
visual	O
computing	O
platform	O
created	O
by	O
Nvidia	O
,	O
primarily	O
used	O
in	O
workstations	B-Device
for	O
designing	O
complex	O
large-scale	O
models	O
in	O
architecture	O
and	O
product	O
design	O
,	O
scientific	O
visualization	O
,	O
energy	O
exploration	O
,	O
and	O
film	O
and	O
video	O
production	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
being	O
used	O
in	O
mainstream	O
PCs	B-Device
for	O
gaming	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nvidia	B-Algorithm
RTX	I-Algorithm
enables	O
real-time	O
ray	B-Algorithm
tracing	I-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
Historically	O
,	O
ray	B-Algorithm
tracing	I-Algorithm
had	O
been	O
reserved	O
to	O
non-real	O
time	O
applications	O
(	O
like	O
CGI	O
in	O
visual	O
effects	O
for	O
movies	O
and	O
in	O
photorealistic	O
renderings	O
)	O
,	O
with	O
video	O
games	O
having	O
to	O
rely	O
on	O
direct	O
lighting	O
and	O
precalculated	O
indirect	O
contribution	O
for	O
their	O
rendering	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RTX	B-Algorithm
facilitates	O
a	O
new	O
development	O
in	O
computer	O
graphics	O
of	O
generating	O
interactive	O
images	O
that	O
react	O
to	O
lighting	O
,	O
shadows	O
and	O
reflections	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RTX	B-Algorithm
runs	O
on	O
Nvidia	O
Volta-	O
,	O
Turing-	O
,	O
Ampere	B-General_Concept
-	O
and	O
Ada	O
Lovelace-based	O
GPUs	B-Architecture
,	O
specifically	O
utilizing	O
the	O
Tensor	O
cores	O
(	O
and	O
new	O
RT	O
cores	O
on	O
Turing	O
and	O
successors	O
)	O
on	O
the	O
architectures	O
for	O
ray-tracing	B-Algorithm
acceleration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
March	O
2019	O
,	O
Nvidia	O
announced	O
that	O
selected	O
GTX	B-Device
10	I-Device
series	I-Device
(	O
Pascal	B-General_Concept
)	O
and	O
GTX	B-Device
16	I-Device
series	I-Device
(	O
Turing	O
)	O
cards	O
would	O
receive	O
support	O
for	O
subsets	O
of	O
RTX	B-Algorithm
technology	O
in	O
upcoming	O
drivers	O
,	O
although	O
functions	O
and	O
performance	O
will	O
be	O
affected	O
by	O
their	O
lack	O
of	O
dedicated	O
hardware	O
cores	O
for	O
ray	B-Algorithm
tracing	I-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
October	O
2020	O
,	O
Nvidia	O
announced	O
Nvidia	B-Algorithm
RTX	I-Algorithm
A6000	O
as	O
the	O
first	O
Ampere-architecture-based	O
graphics	O
card	O
for	O
use	O
in	O
professional	O
workstations	B-Device
in	O
the	O
Nvidia	B-Algorithm
RTX	I-Algorithm
product	O
line	O
,	O
replacing	O
the	O
former	O
Quadro	B-Application
product	O
line	O
of	O
professional	O
graphics	O
cards	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nvidia	O
worked	O
with	O
Microsoft	O
to	O
integrate	O
RTX	B-Algorithm
support	O
with	O
Microsoft	O
's	O
DirectX	B-Algorithm
Raytracing	I-Algorithm
API	O
(	O
DXR	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RTX	B-Algorithm
is	O
currently	O
available	O
through	O
Nvidia	O
OptiX	B-Algorithm
and	O
for	O
DirectX	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
the	O
Turing	O
and	O
Ampere	B-General_Concept
architectures	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
also	O
available	O
for	O
Vulkan	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
to	O
ray	B-Algorithm
tracing	I-Algorithm
,	O
RTX	B-Algorithm
includes	O
artificial	B-Application
intelligence	I-Application
integration	O
,	O
common	O
asset	O
formats	O
,	O
rasterization	O
(	O
CUDA	O
)	O
support	O
,	O
and	O
simulation	O
APIs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
components	O
of	O
RTX	B-Algorithm
are	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
computer	O
graphics	O
,	O
ray	B-Algorithm
tracing	I-Algorithm
generates	O
an	O
image	O
by	O
tracing	O
rays	O
cast	O
through	O
pixels	B-Algorithm
of	O
an	O
image	B-General_Concept
plane	I-General_Concept
and	O
simulating	O
the	O
effects	O
of	O
its	O
encounters	O
with	O
virtual	O
objects	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
NVIDIA	B-Algorithm
RTX	I-Algorithm
achieves	O
this	O
through	O
a	O
combination	O
of	O
hardware	O
and	O
software	O
acceleration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
a	O
hardware	O
level	O
,	O
RTX	B-Algorithm
cards	O
feature	O
fixed-function	O
"	O
RT	O
cores	O
"	O
that	O
are	O
designed	O
to	O
accelerate	O
mathematical	O
operations	O
needed	O
to	O
simulate	O
rays	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
bounding	B-Data_Structure
volume	I-Data_Structure
hierarchy	I-Data_Structure
traversal	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
ray-tracing	B-Algorithm
is	O
still	O
computationally	O
intensive	O
,	O
many	O
developers	O
choose	O
to	O
take	O
a	O
hybrid	O
rendering	O
approach	O
where	O
certain	O
graphical	O
effects	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
shadows	O
and	O
reflections	O
,	O
are	O
performed	O
using	O
ray-tracing	B-Algorithm
;	O
while	O
the	O
remaining	O
scene	O
is	O
rendered	O
using	O
the	O
more	O
performant	O
rasterization	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nvidia	O
OptiX	B-Algorithm
is	O
part	O
of	O
Nvidia	O
DesignWorks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
OptiX	B-Algorithm
is	O
a	O
high-level	O
,	O
or	O
"	O
to-the-algorithm	O
"	O
API	O
,	O
meaning	O
that	O
it	O
is	O
designed	O
to	O
encapsulate	O
the	O
entire	O
algorithm	O
of	O
which	O
ray	B-Algorithm
tracing	I-Algorithm
is	O
a	O
part	O
,	O
not	O
just	O
the	O
ray	B-Algorithm
tracing	I-Algorithm
itself	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
meant	O
to	O
allow	O
the	O
OptiX	B-Algorithm
engine	O
to	O
execute	O
the	O
larger	O
algorithm	O
without	O
application-side	O
changes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Aside	O
from	O
computer	O
graphics	O
rendering	O
,	O
OptiX	B-Algorithm
also	O
helps	O
in	O
optical	O
and	O
acoustical	O
design	O
,	O
radiation	O
and	O
electromagnetic	O
research	O
,	O
artificial	B-Application
intelligence	I-Application
queries	O
and	O
collision	O
analysis	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nvidia	O
has	O
released	O
many	O
cards	O
that	O
support	O
RTX	B-Algorithm
including	O
the	O
20	O
,	O
and	O
30	B-Device
series	I-Device
.	O
</s>
