New Fluid Simulation System Promises To Bring Realistic Water To Video Games

 Graphics  

PhysXInfo seems to have solved one of the tougher problems in computer graphics -  the appearance of realistic-looking water in motion. Their new demonstration of Position Based Dynamics certainly looks better than a bunch of triangles.

Simulating the physics of water was always tricky and game engines sometimes still have to use dodgy mechanics to make it feel marginally realistic. Now the developers at PhysXInfo have created a demonstration of their new fluid simulation technique is definitely getting close to looking like the real thing.

PhysXInfo has the details how it works:

Position Based Fluids is a way of simulating liquids using Position Based Dynamics (PBD), the same framework that is utilized for cloth and deformables simulation in PhysX SDK. Because PBD uses an iterative solver, it can maintain incompressibility more efficiently than traditional SPH fluid solvers. It also has an artificial pressure term which improves particle distribution and creates nice surface tension-like effects (note the filaments in the splashes). Finally, vorticity confinement is used to allow the user to inject energy back to the fluid.

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The demo below, which was showcased at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2013, was used to demonstrate several new features, which will be included in future versions of PhysX SDK and APEX – rigid body simulation with real-time fracturing, improved SPH fluid solver and interaction between the two.

In both of these cases, the simulations are not the best on earth, but are a sign of what the newest video game systems like the new XBox will be capable of.  Clearly as virtual reality becomes an increasing possibility with lighter and more powerful immersion technology, the graphic environments we will be experiencing will be very close to attaining a hyper-real look as well.




SOURCE  Kotaku

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