Water Surfaces

Water surfaces depict a representation of fluid like surfaces with waves generated based on factors including wind strength and wave characteristics. 

Water Surface Setup

As with height mapped surfaces, 1st select a surface as Surface A and create a double sided surface.  Water surfaces are created from double sided planar surfaces.  Select the double sided surface as Surface A, go to Water tab in Surface Effects dialog and enable check box.

Using rectangle object surface to create a double sided surface


Enabling Water surface from Surface Effect's dialog


Water Surface Effects

Settings  
Vertex Granularity  Vertex density for a given area 
Wave/Wind   
Wave Scale  Width/length of waves on the surface 
Wave Amplitude  Traverse wave oscillation  
Long. Wave Amplitude Amplitude for longitudinal waves 
Wind Angle  Direction of wind 
Wind Speed  Strength of wind on the water 
Wind Dependency  Damps out the waves against the wind direction 
Displacement   
Scale  Height of waves displaced from surface 
Falloff Depth  Depth at which scale begins to reduce
Falloff Factor  Rate wave scale is reduced as depth continues to decrease 
Falloff Degree  Percent of wave scale reduction as water intersects with a height map 
Foam   
Wave height start  Where along wave height foam begins to form 
Turbulence  Degree of foam accumulation for wave height start 
Fade  How much foam accumulation dissipates over the waves 
Accum. Depth  Depth at which foam accumulates along edges of height map surface 
Accum. Factor  Degree of foam build up approaching edge of a height map surface 
Accumulation  Intensity of foam build up along edge of a height map surface 
Color  
Water RGB water surface color
Specular Specular reflection color
Specular power How sharp water specular color reflection is
Reflection   
Sky Only  Water reflection may includes only sky or additionally the surrounding scene for a full reflection 
Blend Color  Water color to blend with reflection color 
Contrast  Contrast of reflected image on water surface 
Reflectivity  How reflective water surface is 
Reflectivity Factor Increases the water surface's reflectivity based on view angle
Distortion Adjusts amount of texture based distortion that appears on the water surface
*When Sky Only option is unchecked
Blur  Blur degree of reflected image, only applies to full reflection 
Fade Dist. Start/End  Distance from water's surface reflected image fades to blend color, only applies to full reflection 
Wave Lighting Effect  Requires a directional light to be placed in scene 
Dir. Light Diffusion  Lighting effect is applied under/through wave crests  
Color  Light diffusion color for waves 
Distance Fade  View distance for which effect fades off 
Translucency   
Clarity  Water depth clarity 
Depth Color Fade  Fades underwater color with scene below water 
Depth Color  Underwater color 
Refraction   
Depth Adjust  Sets distortion degree based on water's depth   
Degree  Amount of refraction distortion when viewing through water's surface 
Frequency  Amplitude of distortion view 

Animating Water Surfaces

Water animation is based on time in seconds per frame.  Basic way of animating water's surface is to use an animation script to change time per frame as shown

FRAMETIME Time

repeat()
{
     //Water simulation is based on time in seconds
    GetElapsedTime( Time )
    //Update water surface time per frame and render the scene using ';' at end of line
    //'WaterSurface' is a named surface variable for the water
    WaterSurface.SetWaterEffectTime( Time.Seconds * 0.5 );
}







Visual 3D Modeler User's Guide    Rev 2.0