Animation and Rendering of Complex Water Surfaces

Douglas Enright (Stanford University and Industrial Light and Magic)
Steve Marschner (Stanford University)
Ronald Fedkiw (Stanford University and Industrial Light and Magic)

To Appear, SIGGRAPH 02

ball splash

Abstract

We present a new method for the animation and rendering of photorealistic water effects. Our method is designed to produce visually plausible three dimensional effects, for example the pouring of water into a glass and the breaking of an ocean wave, in a manner which can be used in a computer animation environment. In order to better obtain photorealism in the behavior of the simulated water surface, we introduce a new "thickened" front tracking technique to accurately represent the water surface and a new velocity extrapolation method to move the surface in a smooth, water-like manner. The velocity extrapolation method allows us to provide a degree of control to the surface motion, e.g. to generate a wind-blown look or to force the water to settle quickly. To ensure that the photorealism of the simulation carries over to the final images, we have integrated our method with an advanced physically based rendering system.

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glass example 1 glass example 2 wave example 1