The Flame development team has been doing a great job at implementing user requested features.
I’ve been waiting for Native Ray Tracing Integration in Flame, but noticed nobody has ever put in the request. So Today, I made one!
The addition of real-time ray tracing support in Autodesk Flame, and taking advantage of the dedicated ray-tracing hardware now standard in modern GPUs (RTX, Radeon, Apple Silicon).
This would be a game-changing upgrade for Flame’s 3D compositing and look-development capabilities, especially as workflows rapidly shift toward AI-generated and hybrid content.
Why Ray Tracing Makes Sense in Flame
More 3D in comps thanks to AI image-to-3D
With the rise of AI tools that convert 2D images into textured 3D models, artists are more likely than ever to bring 3D objects directly into Flame composites instead of relying solely on pre-rendered CG. A proper ray-tracing engine inside Flame would allow those AI-derived models to sit in the scene with physically accurate shadows, reflections, and refractions, dramatically improving integration fidelity.
Realistic lighting on non-traditional CG sources
Artists are increasingly working on top of AI-generated imagery and video-to-VFX pipelines, rather than conventional offline renders. Ray-traced shadows, reflections, and ambient occlusion directly in Action or 3D Composite would make it much easier to ground these elements believably in live-action plates.
Amplifies existing PBR and material tools
Flame already supports PBR shading, Substance-based materials, and image-based lighting in its 3D compositing tools. Adding ray tracing on top of this would unlock more physically accurate specular response, contact shadows, and bounce lighting, rather than relying on lighting cheats or multiple passes from an external 3D package.
Better integration of 3D props into live action
A native ray-traced mode would allow artists to add or adjust 3D props, logos, set extensions, and environmental elements inside Flame with higher realism—matching plate lighting, reflections in surfaces, and subtle inter-reflections between objects, all while staying in the finishing environment.
Leverages modern GPU ray-tracing architectures
Real-time ray tracing and hybrid rendering pipelines are now standard in many real-time engines, combining rasterization with ray-traced effects for interactive performance. Flame could similarly offer an optional ray-traced mode that uses GPU acceleration for previews and final renders, aligning with current industry rendering trends.
Future-proof for AI-driven pipelines
As AI-to-3D, relightable 2.5D assets, and automatically generated PBR passes become more common, Flame is well positioned to be the hub where all of this is composited and finalized. A ray-tracing engine inside the compositor ensures those assets can be lit, relit, and integrated with physically plausible results without round-tripping to a separate DCC.
Potential Implementation Ideas
Ray-traced mode toggle in Action / 3D Composite (hybrid raster + ray tracing).
Ray-traced shadows, reflections, ambient occlusion, and optional global illumination as GPU-driven options per light or per object.
Tight integration with existing PBR/Material/Substance and image-based lighting workflows, so current Flame setups can be upgraded rather than rebuilt.
Adding real-time or near-real-time ray tracing would position Flame not only as a finishing system, but also as a look-development environment for the new generation of AI-assisted 3D and PBR-driven compositing.
Please upvote this feature request. I believe it will be an important milestone in flame.
At its core, Action is a game engine where we hack and cheat to get near real-time interactivity. I wouldn’t want to sacrifice the current implementation. What could be done is a new action-like node that doesn’t have to be compatible with the current Action node but can support USD, raytracing, new plug-in architecture, etc…
I would LOVE that. But again, it’s all about priorities and channeling development budget where it would be most use to most users.
I get where you’re coming from, but I don’t think adding real‑time ray tracing would turn Flame into a “bastardized” 3D app. It’s about strengthening the 3D compositing side that’s already part of Flame.
Having proper ray‑traced shadows, reflections, and lighting in‑scene would make a huge difference when working with modern, machine‑learning‑derived elements especially as AI image‑to‑3D tools generate usable geometry with full PBR texture sets. These are assets we’re already dropping into Flame; ray tracing would simply let them look and behave more realistically without leaving the finishing environment.
The industry is shifting fast toward hybrid and AI‑assisted workflows. A built‑in, GPU‑accelerated ray‑tracing option would give artists that middle ground bringing realism, flexibility, and speed together in one tool, without needing a full 3D department for every small addition. Naturally it would only be an option to turn on when needed. I would be curious to know how much processing impact it would have with the modern RTX technology. Check out realtime rendering systems like marmoset toolbag to get an idea of the kind of quality that could he achieved with raytracing complementing a PBR system like we already have.
I still vividly remember the scene when Steve Jobs launched the first generation iPhone in 2007: “An iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator…”… “Today, Apple is going to revive the phone.” True innovators are not only meeting existing needs, but also creating potential needs that lead the future. Without a doubt, Steve Jobs was a true innovator!
Flame，As a Finishing System under the listed group company Autodesk which has numerous products, does not actually have a wide range of users. Perhaps Autodesk did not invest a large amount of funds and engineers, and the development team of Flame may not have absolute leadership and strategic planning over Flame. Therefore, there is no motivation or passion to carry out radical reforms and innovations in Flame, of course, this is my speculation.
Anyway, it is necessary to reform and innovate Flame’s 3D system block to support USD, Ray Tracing, and even Realtime Rendering. Perhaps Flame can learn Nuke and develop a new 3D system based on USD while retaining the old 3D system. For example, developing a new “Action Live” 3D real-time compositing node to meet the new demands of the AI era and make the Flame system more powerful and efficient!
We all use Flame in different manners for different needs. On our side, as a VFX studio, we’d like more resources spent on ray tracing and usd than on subtitles or not yet competitive ML stuff. (Since we already use more efficient ML stuff)
We use CG in Flame when it makes sense, but it’s too limited, very old. But when we do, it’s so much faster than maya round trips. Wysiwyg, allowing us to explore more options and make quick creative choices.
My 2 cents
The micropolygon displacement maps of RenderMan Render that NUKE used to have were really amazing and I loved them. The node itself is still available, but RenderMan has stopped supporting REYES.
There will be mixed opinions about Flame’s ray tracer implementation, but I think it would be better if it could accept USD, and I would also like it to support Hydra.
I’d like to see raytracing added in sooner than later and not wait for a complete redesign of flames 3d system before it happens.
Everything seems to be there already except for the button that enables raytracing and a handful of parameters to control it on lights and materials. (But yes, I’m sure it’s far more complex than that ..)
The possibilities of this feature will blow minds!
@Stefan - If i were @FrancisBouillon right now, it is highly improbable that I would give any f*cks at all about flame.
Autodesk HR are monsters… (most likely unqualified monsters)
This is the downside of large listed companies. Autodesk has acquired a bunch of companies and products, but not many have become better or stronger, and many products are already half dead. If the company behind Flame is an independent small company like Filmlight, Foundry, SideFX, etc., customer-centric, boutique operation, perhaps the products will be more competitive, and fierce market competition can give rise to a strong sense of crisis, so as to be prepared for danger in times of peace, carefully polish products, and better meet the needs of the times. But large listed companies are more focused on finance and capital rather than the future or even the survival of a specific product. The position of the Flame team within the Autodesk conglomerate may not be optimistic.
here is what i want .
