Publications

Varela, J.M. and Guedes Soares, C. (2014), “Ring Discretization Method of the wave spectrum for real-time numerical simulations of the sea surface in Computer Graphics”, Computer Graphics and Applications (IEEE), Vol. 34, pp. 58-71

Interactive ocean scenes based on real wave spectra usually don’t exhibit the original sea state’s statistical properties. The proposed discretization of the wave spectra obtains a sea state statistically more equivalent to the original. This method can also improve visual realism and real-time performance. Real-time sea surface simulation is important in many video games and simulation tools. In particular, immersive 3D ship simulators employ such simulation to train pilots and ship masters and to study ship maneuvers and operations such as rescuing, ship-to-ship off-loading, or tugging. These situations require well-defined sea states to evaluate correctly the procedures for each specific case. So, the sea surface simulations must be both visually and physically accurate. The predominant method for simulating large extents of realistic sea surfaces in 3D virtual environments relies on the numerical simulations that Gary Mastin and his colleagues introduced and that Jerry Tessendorf improved.2 However, this method enforces constraints on the spectrum discretization that conflict with theoretical assumptions underlying wave spectral models. Applying this method doesn’t guarantee that the simulated sea state and the original one are equivalent. To fill this gap, we’ve decomposed Tessendorf’s single-grid discretization into subdiscretizations with different user-controlled levels of detail, applied to disjoint ring-shaped subregions in the frequency domain. Our method offers three main advantages over Tessendorf’s method. First, it avoids the physical inaccuracy that might occur with Tessendorf’s method. Second, it simulates a sea state more equivalent to the original one. Finally, it improves visual realism and real-time performance because it represents a wider range of frequencies, using simulation grids with substantially fewer points.

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