Nvidia announced DLSS 5 on Monday during its GTC conference, and early reactions indicate it’s expected to be a divisive update, with some calling it a “vulgarity” that unacceptably alters the artistic intent. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang calls this “a GPT moment for graphics. We’re blending handcrafted rendering with generative AI to deliver dramatic leaps in visual realism while maintaining the control artists need for creative expression.”
For games that support DLSS 5, this tool can immediately provide a noticeable boost to lighting and shadows, but unlike previous versions of upscaling, which used machine learning to bridge the gap between high and low graphics settings, this version applies generative AI to rework lighting and materials with supposedly newly added details. An example from Nvidia today is: Resident Evil Requiem, star field, hogwarts legacyand EA Sports FC Admittedly, each version looks more authentic, but the DLSS 5 version has changes that are very similar to the “AI slop” updates that have been applied to photos, videos, and other creative endeavors.
According to Nvidia, “AI models are trained end-to-end to understand complex scene semantics such as characters, hair, fabrics, and translucent skin, as well as environmental lighting conditions such as frontlighting, backlighting, and overcast skies, by analyzing single frames. DLSS 5 uses its deep understanding to produce visually accurate images that handle complex elements such as subsurface scattering in skin, the delicate sheen of fabrics, and light and material interaction in hair, while preserving the original structure and semantics of the scene. ”
The most noticeable impact appears to be a significant change in how character models are displayed in DLSS 5. in the case of requiema generative AI inserted on top of the original assets creates the protagonist grace ashcroft It looked completely different, as if she had used an Instagram filter to plump up her lips and apply dark eyeshadow.
Examples of its application star field Similarly, you can achieve an eerie result that makes you feel like you’ve turned the sharpness all the way up, providing bright highlights that make your features and hair look like stage lights, even though you’re standing in an unlit environment. Nvidia quotes Todd Howard, head of studio at Bethesda Game Studios, as saying: star fieldit was great to bring it to life. I played. We can’t wait for you to do the same. ”
DLSS 5 can run in real-time at up to 4K resolution, which will definitely satisfy some gamers and developers who expect more photorealism in more titles, but its effects won’t work for everyone. Game developer Mike Bissell wrote, “For when you absolutely, positively don’t want art direction in your game experience. It’s disappointing to see people taking this nonsense so seriously. It’s truly awful.”
However, Nvidia says it’s giving game developers more control to decide how DLSS 5 affects the look of their games, so when it ships, the in-game effects may be different than what you see here.
NVIDIA:
DLSS 5 respects artistic intent in two ways:
Input the game’s color and motion vectors for each frame into the model and anchor the output to the source 3D content.
Gives developers more control over things like intensity and color grading. Artists can use these controls to adjust blending, contrast, saturation, and gamma, and decide where and how to apply enhancements to maintain a game’s unique aesthetic. Developers can also mask specific objects or areas to exclude them from expansion.
DLSS 5 is coming this fall, but so far it has only been confirmed to be compatible with a select number of games, which includes the games mentioned above, as well as larger titles such as: The Elder Scrolls VI: Oblivion remake and Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
