GPU rendering

GPU rendering moves the calculations that build an image from the processor to the graphics card. A GPU is designed to run a huge number of simple tasks at once, and rendering happens to be exactly that kind of work: the rays traced for each pixel are largely independent of one another, so the job splits across thousands of cores very naturally.

Why people choose it

Speed is the obvious gain, above all in interactive previews. Orbit the camera or change a material color and the result starts to appear within seconds. Physically based methods such as path tracing need many samples per pixel, so they benefit directly from that parallel power. In most engines, adding a second graphics card shortens render times too.

What to watch in practice

The real limit is video memory (VRAM). Geometry and textures have to fit on the card, and a scene full of high-resolution textures or dense planting fills that memory quickly. Proxy models, instancing and sensible texture sizes help a lot here. Check driver versions and which cards the engine supports before you commit to a workflow. Our free SketchUp plugin Render Fun is built this way: GPU-based path tracing. Inside SketchUp. Free.