A frustum-based ocean rendering algorithm

Abstract

Real-time water rendering has always posed a challenge to developers. Most algorithms concentrate on rendering small bodies of water such as pools and rivers. In this paper, we proposed a real-time rendering method for large water surfaces, such as oceans. This algorithm harnesses both the PC and GPU's processing power to deliver improved computing efficiency while, at the same time, realistically and efficiently simulating a large body of water. The frustum-based algorithm accomplishes this by representing a smooth water surface as a height value of the viewer, since surface size can be fluidly calculated given the camera frustum position. This algorithm has numerous potential applications in both the gaming and the movie industry. Experimental results show a marked improvement in computing power and increased realism in large surface areas. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.