Liquid simulation with mesh-based surface tracking

  • Authors:
  • Chris Wojtan;Matthias Müller-Fischer;Tyson Brochu

  • Affiliations:
  • Institute of Science and Technology Austria;NVIDIA;University of British Columbia

  • Venue:
  • ACM SIGGRAPH 2011 Courses
  • Year:
  • 2011

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

Animating detailed liquid surfaces has always been a challenge for computer graphics researchers and visual effects artists. Over the past few years, researchers in this field have focused on mesh-based surface tracking to synthesize extremely detailed liquid surfaces as efficiently as possible. This course provides a solid understanding of the steps required to create a fluid simulator with a mesh-based liquid surface. The course begins with an overview of several existing liquid-surface-tracking techniques and the pros and cons of each method. Then it explains how to embed a triangle mesh into a finite-difference-based fluid simulator and describes several methods for allowing the liquid surface to merge together or break apart. The final section showcases the benefits and further applications of a mesh-based liquid surface, highlighting state-of-the-art methods for tracking colors and textures, maintaining liquid volume, preserving small surface features, and simulating realistic surface-tension waves.