AMD announced the Radeon Ray tracing Analyzer earlier this year to assist with performance and "bottlenecks." The company has not released the code publicly like most previous applications and tools, but one week ago announced that it has been made public as part of its continued transparency with its coding.
AMD opens the Radeon Ray tracing Analyzer code to the public and the new Radeon Data File extension
AMD explains that the Radeon Raytracing Analyzer will allow users to monitor the performance of applications using raytracing and locate possible issues that could arise during use. Along with the announcement of RRA code becoming available to the public, AMD has also revealed the AMD Radeon Data File, a library on GitHub under "amdrdf," which will allow developers to open Radeon Data Files or RDFs. RDF is already in use, especially for users who have used the Radeon Raytracing Analyzer since its introduction.
AMD's Radeon Raytracing Analyzer tool uses traversal and geometrical modes and specific coloring options to locate areas in a scene that raytracing could optimize. AMD has simplified this process using the Radeon Developer Panel and open-source GPU driver. The RRA offers support for DirectX 12 and Vulkan ray-tracing methods for optimization.
The video below discusses the raytracing capabilities using the Radeon Developer tool suite.
The benefits of RRA allow developers to
- access acceleration structures, including TLAS (Tuned Linear Algebra Subprogram) and BLAS (Basic Linear Algebra Subprogram) information
- visualize the scene
- review ray traversals
- inspect instances
- receive information on every BLAS in each scene
Developers looking to utilize RRA in their applications must meet the requirements below and have the AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 22.7.1 or higher driver installed.
Supported GPUs
- Radeon™ RX 6000 series
Supported graphics APIs
- DirectX® 12
- Vulkan®
Supported OSs
- Windows® 10
- Windows® 11
- Linux – Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Vulkan® only)
- Linux – Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Vulkan® only)
The Radeon Data File uses the Radeon Raytracing Analyzer as a software storage device. The RDF is a "container file" outlining how disk space is maintained correctly, including compression support in an easy-to-use application for developers.
Developers can download the Radeon Raytracing Analyzer on the company's GPUOpen-Tools GitHub page.
News Sources: Phoronix, AMD GPUOpen news, AMD Radeon Raytracing Analyzer, GPUOpen Github
