NVIDIA this week announced it will be demonstrating the first fully interactive GPU-based ray tracer. The NVIDIA-developed tracer is running on four of the company's next-generation Quadro GPUs set in Quadro Plex 2100 D4 Visual Computing System. It is capable of three bounce linear scaling rendering at up to 30fps at resolutions of 1920x1080.  The demonstration features linear scaling rendering of a complex, two-million polygon image of a car, the Bugatti Veyron, pictured, that is anti-aliased.

Ray tracing allows generating images by tracing the path of light through pixels in an image plane, resulting in high levels of realism, as it's capable of creating shadows, reflections and refractions in real time.

NVIDIA did not reveal how much the Visual Computing System cost, or when or if it would be available to customers. The Qudro Plex, will cost $10,750 for the entry model, it launches this fall.

NVIDIA shows interactive GPU raytracer