Efficient animation of water flow on irregular terrains

Abstract

We present an optimization of the water column-based height-field approach of water simulation by reducing memory footprint and promoting parallel implementation. The simulation still provides three-dimensional fluid animation suitable for water flowing on irregular terrains, intended for interactive applications. Our approach avoids the creation and storage of redundant virtual pipes between columns of water, and removes output dependency for the parallel implementation. We show a GPU implementation of the proposed method that runs at near interactive frame rates with rich lighting effects on the water surface, making it efficient for water animation on natural terrains for Computer Graphics.