Tired of spending hours, days or even weeks rendering 3D spaces? Inverse rendering is the process in which artificial intelligence recreates a 3D scene using 2D images taken from different angles. By recognizing shapes and planes across multiple 2D images, AI can build a 3D representation that fills in the gaps. It’s a process that’s both labour and processor intensive.
Now Nvidia has combined this technology with neural radiance fields (NeRF) to create 3D scenes instantaneously.
“If traditional 3D representations like polygonal meshes are akin to vector images, NeRFs are like bitmap images: they densely capture the way light radiates from an object or within a scene,” says VP of graphics research at NVIDIA, David Luebke, in a blog post. “In that sense, Instant NeRF could be as important to 3D as digital cameras and JPEG compression have been to 2D photography, vastly increasing the speed, ease and reach of 3D capture and sharing.”
Instant NeRF is currently the quickest NeRF model. Additionally, it needs only seconds to analyze photos and their angles to render a 3D scene. NVIDIA displayed the new tech at NVIDIA GTC where researchers transformed a classic photo of Andy Warhol into a 3D scene. With instant NeRF creators can also make scenes for metaverse applications and virtual avatars.
NeRF Tech explained
NeRF requires several dozen images from varying angles to create a 3D scene. prevent blurring, however, photographers must quickly capture scenes involving movement. A small neural network then recreates the scene, filling in any gaps by predicting the color and direction of radiating light.
NVIDIA’s instant NeRF technology utilizes the company’s multi-resolution hash grid encoding. Developed with the Nvidia CUDA toolkit and the Tiny CUDA Neural Networks library, the new NeRF technology is a small neural network that can be run on a single Nvidia GPU.
NVIDIA in the Metaverse
Considering that NVIDIA is one of the pioneering companies of the metaverse, it’s no surprise that it’s at the forefront of the creation of 3D scenes. NVIDIA also overtook Meta in the Dow Jones market rankings in February. Additionally, the company revealed its own realistic omniverse avatars back in November.
Jack Brassell is a freelance journalist and aspiring novelist. Jack is a self-proclaimed nerd with a lifelong passion for storytelling. As an author, Jack writes mostly horror and young adult fantasy. Also an avid gamer, she works as the lead news editor at Hardcore Droid. When she isn't writing or playing games, she can often be found binge-watching Parks & Rec or The Office, proudly considering herself to be a cross between Leslie Knope and Pam Beasley.
