The new Square Enix ray tracing demo is a surprisingly intimate digital short film.

We already know that ray tracing can make existing games like Earthquake and Minecraft look good, but one of the most interesting aspects of this technology is how it will help shape future interactive experiences. And the best way to imagine it is to do technical demonstrations.

The latest, from Square Enix's Luminous Productions studio, uses graphic technology to create a surprisingly intimate short film of a woman preparing behind the scenes. It is a simple and brief scene, but it contains unimaginable details, from freckles on the face of the character to the photorealistic makeup brushes she uses.

In an article on Nvidia's blog, Takeshi Aramaki, head of Luminous studio, said the demo – dubbed "Back Stage" – aimed to answer a specific question: "How to use ray tracing in a game of next generation? "we'll see this technology soon implemented in Square Enix games, as Luminous is responsible for the publisher's internal game engine, the last of which is powered Final Fantasy XV.

Of course, Square Enix is ​​far from the only company to experiment with ray tracing. At GDC this year, Epic presented two great demonstrations demonstrating how ray tracing can be used in its widely adopted Unreal engine.