Theory And Implementation Of Real-Time Rendering Of Water Surfaces

Real-time rendering of natural water surfaces has always been one of the most challenging tasks in computer graphics. Water is a liquid objects seen in the virtual scene frequently. The turbulence of the water can largely enhance the reality of the whole virtual scene.To meet the reality requirements, the rendering results must like the natural water surfaces. To meet the real-time requirements, programme must make full use of the hardware functions.In order to simulate the shape of the water surfaces, firstly, use the sine wave superposition model to model the water surfaces. Secondly, use the mesh to store the geometric information of the model. Lastly, calculate the geometric information each frame.The lighting model includes refraction, reflection, and Fresnel effects which are critical for producing the look and feel of water surfaces. Using the back buffer as the refracttion map, complete the simulating of refraction in a single rendering pass effectively, using the refraction mask technique to prevent the cross-border sampling of the refraction map. Simulate the water reflection effects with the reflection mapping technology. Calculated under the view-vector of the current pixel, estimate the value of the Fresnel term of the current pixel. Finally, draws the water surfaces with bump mapping, refraction, reflection and Fresnel effects.From the experimental results, it can be concluded that this method satisfy real-time graphics application requirements.