Physics-based Water Interaction and Shading: The SiViFlow Algorithm

Abstract

Current real-time applications feature rivers that are pre-calculated off-line and present static animations and behaviours. These pre-calculated approaches have several limitations when used in real-time applications such as video games as they usually do not react to changes performed by the user. Due to the continuous pursue for better realism, the techniques used to simulate rivers have not only to improve the appearance of rivers but also allow them to adapt to dynamic changes performed in real-time. The approach presented in this work allows the dynamic generation of the river given any riverbed. The algorithm is also flexible enough to adapt the river flow in real-time. This approach not only accelerates the creation of realistic rivers but also increases the realism as the river is able to react to dynamic objects that come in contact with the flow, by properly adjusting its course.