A Survey of Ocean Simulation and Rendering Techniques in Computer Graphics

Abstract

This paper presents a survey of ocean simulation and rendering methods in computer graphics. To model and animate the ocean’s surface, these methods mainly rely on two main approaches: on the one hand, those which approximate ocean dynamics with parametric, spectral or hybrid models and use empirical laws from oceanographic research. We will see that this type of methods essentially allows the simulation of ocean scenes in the deep water domain, without breaking waves. On the other hand, physically-based methods use Navier–Stokes equations to represent breaking waves and more generally ocean surface near the shore. We also describe ocean rendering methods in computer graphics, with a special interest in the simulation of phenomena such as foam and spray, and light’s interaction with the ocean surface.