AMD announced that they have been working with Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics to create a new technology that generates the most realistic hair seen to date in a video game. The technology is called TressFX. With it, physics and collision detection can be done for each individual strand of hair, according to AMD. AMD goes on to explain how AMD Radeon cards, specifically the Radeon 7000 line, are best suited for the technology.

It is refreshing to see AMD take initiviate and promote how their cards work best with certain games, like Tomb Raider, and how they have been working with developers to get the best performance out of their cards. nVidia has been promoting their “The Way It’s Meant To Be Played” campaign with seemingly every PC game of the last decade. I’m personally pleased to see some competition in this arena.

However, unlike with some nVidia technologies, such as PhysX, TressFX will not be limited to AMD graphics cards. Any DirectX 11 GPU, whether it be from AMD or nVidia, will be able to take advantage of the technology.

Tomb Raider is looking very good on PC, and this new TressFX technology demonstrates that if you have a powerful and capable machine, the PC version is for you. Here’s some screenshots if you’re not quite convinced:

Related Link(s)

• Tomb Raider Review
• TressFX Hair: A new frontier of realism in PC Gaming