In light of recent criticisms faced by Nvidia for its DLSS 5 presentation, the company has offered up its own statement in a pinned comment right under the showcase video. In this statement, the GPU maker has noted that game designers will continue to have full control over the effects of DLSS 5 on any given scene.
Among the controls offered to developers through the software development kit for DLSS 5 include intensity, color grading, and the option to add masks in places where the effects shouldn’t be applied. Along with this, the company has also argued against the idea that DLSS 5 is simply an “AI filter” applied on top of the game’s visuals. Rather, the technology makes use of information it gets from the game for each one of its frames before generating the new visuals.
“Important to note with this technology advance – game developers have full, detailed artistic control over DLSS 5’s effects to ensure they maintain their game’s unique aesthetic,” wrote Nvidia. “The SDK includes things like intensity, color grading and masking off places where the effect shouldn’t be applied. It’s not a filter – DLSS 5 inputs the game’s color and motion vectors for each frame into the model, anchoring the output in the source 3D content.”
In its showcase of DLSS 5’s capabilities, Nvidia had used a number of games, including Resident Evil Requiem. However, the company came under fire for how the technology was making changes to protagonist Grace Ashcroft’s facial features, which some even called out as being “yassified.”
Among the critics is Noclip’s Danny O’Dwyer, who took to social media to write, “Weird that this impressive lighting tech also randomly turns everyone into yassified, looks-maxed freaks. it’s like all this technology can’t help itself but sexualize everything it touches. but like, through the lens of teenage boys.”
Game developers have also been calling out the technology. Concept artist Jeff Talbot said, “This is NOT the direction games should be going in. In every shot the art direction was taken away for the senseless addition of ‘details’. Each DLSS 5 shot looked worse and had less character than the original. This is just a garbage AI Filter. Lets not do this s***.”
Nvidia has described DLSS 5 as being able to take the color and motion vectors from each frame of a game as input, and making use of an AI model to “infuse the scene with photoreal lighting and materials that are anchored to the source 3D content and consistent from frame to frame.”
“Bridging the divide between rendering and reality, DLSS 5 empowers game developers to deliver a new level of photoreal computer graphics previously only achieved in Hollywood visual effects,” claimed the company.
Since Starfield was one of the games showcased in the presentation, Bethesda has offered its own thoughts on the matter, noting that “our art teams will be further adjusting the lighting and final effect to look the way we think works best for each game.” The company went on to reaffirm that it will be completely under the control of artists, and entirely optional for players.