Real-time water rendering

Abstract

This thesis will examine how a large water surface can be rendered in an efficient manner using modern graphics hardware. If a non-planar approximation of the water surface is required, a high-resolution polygonal representation must be created dynamically. This is usually done by treating the surface as a height field. To allow spatial scalability, different methods of “Level-Of-Detail” (LOD) are often used when rendering said height field. This thesis presents an alternative technique called “projected grid”. The intent of the projected grid is to create a grid mesh whose vertices are even-spaced, not in world-space which is the traditional way but in post-perspective camera space. This will deliver a polygonal representation that provides spatial scalability along with high relative resolution without resorting to multiple levels of detail.