Physically Based Simulation and Visualization of Fire in Real-Time using the GPU

Abstract

In this paper we present a physically based framework for real-time simulation and visualization of fire using the GPU. The physics of fire is modeled through a combination of a fluid solver and a combustion process causing the characteristic motion of fire. The simulation results are then rendered using a particle system combined with a black-body radiation model where the physically based simulation governs both the motion and appearance of the particles. By performing individual slice simulations in 2D and combining them using volumetric extrusion we achieve better performance than by performing the simulation in 3D without compromising the visual quality. Thus, achieving our goal of visualizing bonfire and torch-like fire effects with high visual quality in real-time.