AMD releases FidelityFX SDK 2.0 and UE5 plugin with FSR 4 support
AMD has released FidelityFX SDK 2.0 (FSR 2.0), the latest version of its SDK for developers looking to integrate its FidelityFX features into their software.
The update includes FSR 4 (FidelityFX Super Resolution 4), the latest version of the AI-based render upscaling system, widely used in games and real-time rendering software.
In addition, AMD has updated its FSR plugin for Unreal Engine to support FSR 4.
FSR: render upscaling improves viewport frame rates in games and CG software
Introduced in 2021, FSR is a GPU-based image upscaling system, equivalent to NVIDIA’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and Intel’s Xe Super Sampling (XeSS).
It enables software to render the screen at lower resolution, then upscale the result to the actual resolution of the user’s monitor.
The workflow improves frame rates over rendering natively at the higher resolution, without significant loss of visual quality if the upscaling isn’t too extreme.
As well as games, FSR is supported by some CG software, including real-time visualization apps Lumion, where it is used in the editor and render preview, and D5 Render.
FSR 4: better temporal stability and detail preservation, particularly on particles
FSR 4 provides a “significant” improvement in visual quality over FSR 3.1, reducing ghosting on moving objects, and increasing temporal stability and detail, particularly on particle effects.
You can judge for yourself how significant the changes are in the before-and-after comparisons on AMD’s blog.
FSR 4 has been available to end users for some time, AMD having made it available as a drop-in replacement for FSR 3.1 in its consumer GPU drivers in March.
You can find a list of games that support FSR 4 here, although as far as we’re aware, no CG application supports it yet.
FidelityFX SDK 2.0: a ‘launching pad’ for future AI technologies
That may change with the release of FidelityFX SDK 2.0, since the SDK is intended to make it easier for developers to integrate Fidelity FX technologies in their software.
The update also “serves as a launching pad” for upcoming AMD AI tech like FSR Redstone.
The suite of machine-learning-based technologies includes Neural Radiance Caching, for real-time global illumination, and ML Frame Generation, for improving real-time frame rates.
FidelityFX SDK 2.0 currently includes an older AI-based frame-generation technology, Frame Interpolation.
In related news, AMD has updated its FSR plugin for Unreal Engine, for integrating FSR into games and real-time applications developed with Unreal Engine 5, to support FSR 4.
Licensing and system requirements
The FidelityFX SDK 2.0 package is compatible with Windows 10+. It requires DirectX 12. The source code is available under an open-source MIT license.
FSR 4 upscaling requires a Radeon RX 9000 Series GPU. The FSR 4 Unreal Engine plugin is compatible with Unreal Engine 5.1+.
Read more about FidelityFX SDK 2.0 on AMD’s blog
Download the FidelityFX SDK 2.0 package from AMD’s GPUOpen website
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