Nvidia and Mojang have just announced a new version of Minecraft featuring the company’s RTX (ray tracing) lighting technology for Windows 10, available as a public beta starting on April 16.
Minecraft with Ray Tracing for Windows 10: Release Trailer
Ray Tracing: RTX brings much more realistic lighting effects to a game world, allowing players to feel more immersed. In addition to streaming sunlight, the technology also allows for more realistic candles, glowing lava, reflective water, and more.
Windows 10 Only: This new version, Minecraft with RTX, is only available to Windows 10 Minecraft players. You’ll need an Nvidia RTX GPU, an Intel Core i5 (or equivalent) processor, and 8GB of RAM, according to Polygon. Folks with Macs or various console and mobile versions will have to wait until RTX is available on those platforms. Windows 10 players will have to grab the beta via the Xbox Insider Hub.
Nvidia says RTX will demonstrate "realistic hard and soft shadows throughout; global illumination realistically illuminates the world, filling interiors through windows and terrain openings; illuminated blocks and other light sources cast pixel-perfect light; reflections appear on all reflective surfaces and blocks with a level of fidelity that far exceeds that of screen-space reflections; light reflects, refracts, and scatters through water, ice, stained glass, and other transparencies; and atmospheric effects emerge naturally, resulting in high-quality volumetric fog and pixel-perfect sky rays."