As a long-haired individual, I understand the struggle of maintaining a perfect hairstyle, but if I were a game character, I’d definitely want Nvidia’s cutting-edge RTX Hair technology, especially given what it has accomplished for the cast of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

Nvidia unveiled RTX Hair earlier this year as part of its toolkit for RTX 50-series graphics cards. Initially described as a future update for Indiana’s latest escapades, it is expected to arrive this September.

Nvidia RTX Hair Technology
(Image credit: Nvidia)

Besides making hair look stunningly realistic, this technology addresses a frequent challenge in graphics rendering—how to portray individual hair strands without them appearing like clumps of straw, all while keeping the performance impressive.

Traditionally, game hair is rendered as linked triangles, which creates a heavy load for graphics cards to process. However, RTX Hair introduces a more efficient way to render strands using Linear Swept Spheres (LSS). This leads to more lifelike hair shapes, smoother performance, and better shadowing and illumination effects.

In the past, many gamers are familiar with Nvidia HairWorks, particularly popular in games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Although visually impressive, it often adversely affected performance and was typically one of the first settings players would turn off.

If RTX Hair succeeds in enhancing visuals while maintaining a smooth frame rate, we could witness a new wave of beautifully rendered hairstyles in future games.

The anticipation is high for Nvidia’s technology, and whether it can deliver the high-quality in-game hairstyles we’ve always wanted remains to be seen.