AMD Capsaicin Framework
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Description
AMD GPUOpen's Direct3D 12 research framework for rapid prototyping of real-time rendering algorithms. Version 1.3 is open source on GitHub under a permissive license, targeting Windows 10 with DXR 1.1-capable GPUs.
The framework abstracts common rendering operations into modular passes with swappable tone mapping, TAA, ambient occlusion, and a reference path tracer. It includes scene loading, animation, an extensible ImGui-style UI, automated profiling metrics, HDR display support, and FSR integration.
Bundled AMD GI-1.2 demonstrates real-time global illumination with screen- and world-space radiance caching, specular reflections, reservoir sampling, denoising, and multi-bounce indirect lighting, evolved through published GI-1.x papers and GDC presentations.
Capsaicin prioritizes developer iteration and concurrent multi-researcher workflows over shipping performance. CMake-based builds target Visual Studio or VS Code; requirements include the Windows SDK and a DX12 plus ray tracing capable GPU.
Used internally and released publicly for graphics R&D on AMD hardware; a practical starting point for experimenting with GI and DX12 techniques before porting ideas into production engines.