Visual Simulation of Smoke and Fire

Abstract

The visual simulation of complex natural phenomena such as smoke and fireis a challenging and important problem in computer graphics. Applicationsrange from adding special effects to movies to enhancing the look and feelof video games. In this talk I will present different techniques to simulatethe motion and appearance of smoke and fire. My approach is based on thephysics of fluid flow, namely the Navier-Stokes Equations. I will presenta stable numerical technique which solves these equations. Stabilityallows the simulation to be advanced at any time step, which results in fasteranimations. Using these techniques animators can, for the first time,interact in real time with smoke and fire.