Efficient Representation of Detailed Foam Waves by Incorporating Projective Space

Abstract

We propose an efficient framework to realistically simulate foam effects in which 3D water particles from a base water solver are first projected onto 2D screen space in order to reduce computational complexity of finding foam particles. Because foam effects are often created primarily in fast and complicated water flows, we analyze acceleration and curvature values to identify the areas exhibiting such flow patterns. Identified foam particles are emitted in 3D simulation space, and each foam particle is advected by its classified type based on its velocity, thereby capturing the essential characteristics of foam wave motions (e.g., floating waves or scattering bubbles). In addition, we provide an intuitive and flexible mechanism (e.g., user sketch or image) to customize parameters and control the appearance of foam effects while minimizing the occurrence of popping artifacts. Experiments convincingly demonstrate that the proposed approach is efficient and easy to use while delivering high-quality results.