GDC 13: Intel powers up new game development tools

Intel has revealed an array of new development tools for rendering, graphics and performance optimisation.

Debuting a new extension for its upcoming HD Graphics platforms, PixelSync allows programmers to composite partially transparent pixels “without the need for an expensive sorting operation”. This has been designed to help developers render smoke, hair, windows, foliage, fences and other effects.

The second extension Intel is working on, InstantAccess, allows physical memory to be written and read from either the CPU or from the built-in Intel HD Graphics.

The real-time rendering extensions are set to be released before the launch of Intel’s new Core processors to give developers extra time to incorporate and test out the products. They will initially only be available through Intel’s implementation of Direct X and its fourth generation Core platforms.

Intel’s graphics performance analysers have also been updated to help developers optimise performance. The Intel GPA 2013 R1 includes a Geometry Viewer with support for shader stages to aid developers in debugging performance bottlenecks.

The computing giant has also included additional Android support and platform updates for its latest Intel processors.

As well as these new development tools and updates, Intel has released the Intel Perceptual Computing Software Development Kit 2013. This means developers can now make apps designed with the SDK available commercially.

It also claimed that when used in conjunction with the Creative Interactive Gesture Camera, developers using the SDK would be able to add “human-like” interaction to computers in the form of close-range finger or hand-tracking, speech recognition, facial analysis and augmented reality.

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