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Xander Berten

@hellcatpnext.bsky.social
584 followers 164 following 60 posts

- MSc in Graphics Programming @ Charles University - Looking for remote (or Prague based) internship/job 🇧🇪in🇨🇿 Portfolio: xanderbert.github.io/portfolio Blog: xanderbert.github.io

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Xander Berten @hellcatpnext.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I've been working on a new portfolio site, and somehow i decided to build a ray-marcher inside of it. Shaders are written with slang. Those are being cross-compiled to WGSL (WebGPU) and GLSL (WebGL fallback). here are some debug views that can be viewed from the site
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Xander Berten @hellcatpnext.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Today i added a new example to my rendering framework, This one implements a third party rendering library (Noesis GUI).
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Jacco Bikker 🎦 @jbikker.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
ReSTIR PT, by @daqilin.bsky.social Daqi Lin, Markus Kettunen and @wymancr.bsky.social Chris Wyman: research.nvidia.com/labs/rtr/pub... I3D'26.
research.nvidia.com
ReSTIR PT Enhanced: Algorithmic Advances for Faster and More Robust ReSTIR Path Tracing | NVIDIA Real-Time Graphics Research
<p>Algorithms leveraging ReSTIR-style spatiotemporal reuse have recently proliferated, hugely increasing effective sample count for light transport in real-time ray and path tracers. Many papers have ...
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jb @jbakergraphics.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
some more 2D spectral pathtracing
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Yining Karl Li @yiningkarlli.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
There's a neat short paper from Eurographics this year that evaluates how well microfacet shading models actually predict measured reflectance. The answer is: not nearly as well as one would hope! (1/3) ssteinberg.xyz/2026_surface...
Screenshot of the first page of a computer graphics research paper titled “On the Accuracy of Surface Scattering Theories,” by Matthew Avolio, Eugene D’Eon, and Shlomi Steinberg from the University of Waterloo and Nvidia. The page uses a standard academic layout with a large centered title, author names below, and a wide comparison figure occupying most of the page.

The main figure compares real photographs of reflective metal surfaces with rendered predictions from two surface scattering models. Five vertical panels, labeled 1 through 5, each show checkerboard reflections on glossy metal viewed at grazing angles. Within each panel are image strips labeled “photo,” “GGX,” and “SSA,” allowing direct comparison between measured appearance and rendered results. The surfaces range from blurry and diffuse on the left to sharper and more mirror-like on the right. Above each panel are colored line graphs representing measured surface profile data, and along the right edge are small blue-green 3D visualizations of microscopic surface geometry.
The figure caption explains that the paper compares photographs to GGX microfacet and smooth-surface generalized Harvey-Shack predictions derived from measured surface geometry using AFM and profilometer scans.

Below the figure is the abstract, which states that the paper evaluates how accurately surface scattering theories predict appearance directly from measured geometry instead of fitting reflectance data. The authors conclude that existing models fail at some viewing angles, especially grazing angles, and suggest that the characteristic “GGX look” may result from wave-optical effects on Gaussian surfaces rather than non-Gaussian geometry.
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Jendrik Illner @jendrikillner.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Graphics Programming weekly - Issue 438 - April 27h, 2026 www.jendrikillner.com/post/graphic...
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Xander Berten @hellcatpnext.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
I think the game jam got out of hand....
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nicebyte @nicebyte.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
INTRODUCTION TO SPHERICAL HARMONICS FOR GRAPHICS PROGRAMMERS finally done. gpfault.net/posts/sph.html
gpfault.net
Introduction to Spherical Harmonics for Graphics Programmers
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mamoniem, et al. 🌹♠️🦷🌿 @mamoniem.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Behind the pretty frames of #PRAGMATA. Breaking down many tricks and hidden gems of the renderer behind CAPCOM's RE Engine. i hope you enjoy & find this few months worth of freetime article useful... mamoniem.com/behind-the-p...
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Xander Berten @hellcatpnext.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Slang autodifferentiation is pretty cool. Neural BxDF training on the fly :))
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Xander Berten @hellcatpnext.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
I've been working on comparing 3 Direct Shadow Techniques. 1) CPU Cascade's 2) Compute Cascade's: Calculating the cascades based on the current depth. 3) Using RayTracing
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Jendrik Illner @jendrikillner.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Graphics Programming weekly - Issue 430 - March 1st, 2026 www.jendrikillner.com/post/graphic...
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MAK @makramd.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Real-time Rendering with a Neural Irradiance Volume Delivering fast inference (~1ms/frame), a tiny memory footprint (1-5MB), 10x quality gains over probe-based methods @ equivalent mem budgets, bringing neural rendering within reach of consumer hardware without RT or denoising. arnocoomans.be/eg2026
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Xander Berten @hellcatpnext.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Today i added Temporal Accumulation in my GTAO Implementation. I used Interleaved Gradient Noise as a low discrepancy noise. I could practically halve the render time, while still having better results. Here is a comparison with and without: it's with 2 hemisphere slices and 4 samples each.
Temporalnon-Temporal
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Jendrik Illner @jendrikillner.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Graphics Programming weekly - Issue 428 - February 15th, 2026 www.jendrikillner.com/post/graphic...
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saschawillems.bsky.social @saschawillems.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Looking for a basic @vulkan.org #Vulkan descriptor heap example? I've got you covered: github.com/SaschaWillem...
github.com
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AMD GPUOpen @gpuopen.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Want to build your own ray tracer or path tracer on AMD GPUs? Our #Raytracing using #HIP paper covers: 🎇 The essential math 🎇 Camera setup, intersections, NEE, BVH 🎇 How to accelerate everything with HIPRT Find it with our papers: gpuopen.com/learn/public... 30MB PDF: gpuopen.com/download/202...
Cornell box rendered by ray tracing using the pinhole camera model and the camera model with radial distortion - a comparison.
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Xander Berten @hellcatpnext.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
I recently read this paper. Interesting idea to use infrared to decompose the lighting terms. ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp....
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Jendrik Illner @jendrikillner.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Graphics Programming weekly - Issue 424 - January 18th, 2026 www.jendrikillner.com/post/graphic...
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Jendrik Illner @jendrikillner.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Graphics Programming weekly - Issue 423 - January 11th, 2026 www.jendrikillner.com/post/graphic...
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Xander Berten @hellcatpnext.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
Anddd We have NEE and MIS implemented
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Jendrik Illner @jendrikillner.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Graphics Programming weekly - Issue 422 - January 4th, 2025 www.jendrikillner.com/post/graphic...
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Mike Turitzin @miketuritzin.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
I just released my video about the engine (and game) I've been working on. The engine is based on dynamic SDFs, and the video describes how it works and what it makes possible. Link in the reply! This is my first YouTube video and it took forever - please repost!
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Martin Fuller @martinfuller.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
GPC 2025 slides are now up! graphicsprogrammingconference.com/archive/2025/
graphicsprogrammingconference.com
Graphics Programming Conference
The Graphics Programming Conference is a conference for graphics programmers, from student to industry veteran, taking place in November in Europe.
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ceruleite.bsky.social @ceruleite.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
#SIGGRAPH2025 Advances in Real-Time Rendering in Games course talk recording of "MEGALIGHTS: STOCHASTIC DIRECT LIGHTING IN UNREAL ENGINE 5" by @knarkowicz.bsky.social‬ and @tiagocostav.bsky.social‬ from @epicgames.alt.store.ap.brid.gy is now online: youtu.be/dmmN8_c8Tb0?... Enjoy!
youtu.be
SIGGRAPH 2025 Advances in RT Rendering: Megalights: Stochastic Direct Lighting in Unreal Engine 5
YouTube video by SIGGRAPH Advances in Real-Time Rendering
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Amélie Heinrich @dispatchgraph.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
-- JOB SEARCH POST/RT APPRECIATED -- Hello everyone! I am available for work (full time position/internship) anywhere in the world with priority going to the EU, starting June 2026. 🧵
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Sebastian Aaltonen @sebaaltonen.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
My "No Graphics API" blog post is live! Please repost :) www.sebastianaaltonen.com/blog/no-grap... I spend 1.5 years doing this. Full rewrite last summer and another partial rewrite last month. As Hemingway said: "First draft of everything is always shit".
sebastianaaltonen.com
No Graphics API — Sebastian Aaltonen
Graphics APIs and shader languages have significantly increased in complexity over the past decade. It’s time to start discussing how to strip down the abstractions to simplify development, improve pe...
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Jacco Bikker 🎦 @jbikker.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Ke-Sen Huang has a large batch of SIGGRAPH Asia papers today: www.realtimerendering.com/kesen/siga20... Among them: "ReSTIR PG: Path Guiding with Spatiotemporally Resampled Paths" by Zeng et al., which describes a *real-time* framework combining ReSTIR PT and path guiding.
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juliushorsthuis.bsky.social @juliushorsthuis.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Experimenting with this look for the fractals.
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Xander Berten @hellcatpnext.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
Game Jam progress :)))
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Amini Allight @amini-allight.org · 28/11/2025
Dirty gamedev secret: sometimes instead of building proper debug visualizations I just dump the information to OBJ and use Blender to visualize it 😅 But now at least I know my SDF dual contouring is working
C++ code that emits an OBJ file filled with points from voxel edge/SDF intersections.A collection of vertices in OBJ plaintext format.A sphere of vertices in Blender.
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Xander Berten @hellcatpnext.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
I saw some really interesting talks today! Ive learned a ton about how virtual lights can improve indoor rendering and what the pitfalls are.
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Jakub Boksansky @boksajak.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
This is a great article about ReGIR / World-Space ReSTIR with nice improvements by Tom Clabault: tomclabault.github.io/blog/2025/re...
tomclabault.github.io
ReGIR - An advanced implementation for many-lights offline rendering | Tom Clabault
Tom Clabault's website
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Xander Berten @hellcatpnext.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Implemented whitted-style ray tracing with wavelength-dependent IOR today
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Gabriel Sassone @gabrielsassone.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
My talk about ray-tracing is out! youtu.be/CGR1gu2KW2s?... Here I try to explain it in simple terms, while giving some historical context as well. There is also a quick RTAO implementation with the worst denoise ever here: github.com/JorenJoestar... feedback is more than welcome!
youtu.be
Demystifying Vulkan Ray Tracing
YouTube video by Conferenza Italiana sul Game Development
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Guillaume Boissé @gboisse.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
New blog post! Behind the scenes of some of the techniques involved in making our last PC demo 💫 gboisse.github.io/posts/this-i...
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Oliver Franzke @p1xelcoder.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Bonus post to end the week: If you are a graphics programmer do yourself a favor and get a MIDI board. It makes the work way more tactile and fun. Full props to Matt and @aaronmjacobs.com for getting me on the MIDI train. :)
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Xander Berten @hellcatpnext.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
RayTraced AO 😍
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Jendrik Illner @jendrikillner.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Graphics Programming weekly - Issue 415 - November 2nd, 2025 www.jendrikillner.com/post/graphic...
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Gabriel Sassone @gabrielsassone.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
I've released a simple RTAO implementation, written for the DevGames2025 conference. a poor-man's RTAO, showing how much the real problem is denoising. I wanted to write the simplest RT as an introduction to it. Vulkan+HLSL+Code generation for Descriptors github.com/JorenJoestar...
github.com
GitHub - JorenJoestar/DevGames2025
Contribute to JorenJoestar/DevGames2025 development by creating an account on GitHub.
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Jendrik Illner @jendrikillner.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Graphics Programming weekly - Issue 394 - June 9th, 2025 www.jendrikillner.com/post/graphic...
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saschawillems.bsky.social @saschawillems.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Finally finished adding @shader-slang.bsky.social shaders to all my (almost 100) @vulkan.org open source samples and wrote a bit about it here: www.saschawillems.de/blog/2025/06... tl;dr: I very much enjoyed this :)
saschawillems.de
Shaders for Vulkan samples now also available in slang
A new shading language enters the ring Unlike other 3D graphics apis, Vulkan did decouple human readable shaders from the api using SPIR-V as an intermediate representation. This makes it possible to ...
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Inigo Quilez @iquilezles.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
I'll be talking about SDFs and creative workflows tomorrow, hosted by the SIGGRPAH San Francisco Chapter - please sing up here before they close registration tomorrow noon. www.eventbrite.com/e/unlocking-...
eventbrite.com
Unlocking Creativity with Signed Distance Fields
Iñigo Quilez shares his vision for a world post-polygon - easier to create 3D content, less technical, and more creative!
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Tuan Kuranes @tuankuranes.eurosky.social · 15/05/2025
Axis-Normalized Ray-Box Intersection "By transforming the ray we eliminate the need for one third of the traditional bounding-slab tests and achieve a speed enhancement of approximately 13.8% or 10.9%" graphics.tu-bs.de/publications...
Left. The dominant axis is x.
We first translate the ray along its direction vector such that the
transformed ray’s origin o coincides with the subspace spanned by
the other, non-dominant axes (only y in this 2D-example). Scaling
the direction vector by 1/dx the x-component of the transformed
ray’s direction d becomes 1. Now the intersection ray parameter
with the near and far plane along the x-axis directly corresponds
to the bounding box coordinates bminX and bmaxX without any further computations required
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Jendrik Illner @jendrikillner.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
Graphics Programming weekly - Issue 391 - May 11th, 2025 www.jendrikillner.com/post/graphic...
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Remedy Entertainment @remedygames.com · 29/04/2025
part of my job today was helping someone put sticky notes on themselves. we are so back
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Jendrik Illner @jendrikillner.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Graphics Programming weekly - Issue 387 - April 13th, 2025 www.jendrikillner.com/post/graphic...
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mjp @mjp123.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
In today's new blog post, I try to provide some intuition and clear up some misconceptions about early Z cull behavior on desktop GPUs. Have a read if that interests you! therealmjp.github.io/posts/to-ear...
therealmjp.github.io
To Early-Z, or Not To Early-Z
Depth In The Logical Rendering Pipeline Where Does Early-Z Fit In? When Does Early-Z Have To Be Disabled? Discard/Alpha Test Pixel Shader Depth Export UAVs/Storage Textures/Storage Buffers Forcing Ear...
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Jendrik Illner @jendrikillner.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Graphics Programming weekly - Issue 386 - April 6th, 2025 www.jendrikillner.com/post/graphic...
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unreal🌱garden @unreal-garden.com · 02/04/2025
How to set up an Unreal camera to work well with pixel art games. weareludicrous.com/blog/2018/pixel-… #UnrealEngine
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