For this deliverable we will render the actual scene: creating the pool, adding color and adding a distant light source (which will basically model the sun). By the end, we should have a working, interactive scene with fully rendered caustics. The caustics will change as the surface of the water responds to impulses from the user interface (mouse and keyboard commands) ie: rain, ripples, etc.
First attempt at caustics...
Better attempt at caustics due to better rippling and blending...
Better attempt at caustics, using the texture map for a "seabed"...
Caustics and ripples without filling in polygons...
Here is the executable that produced the above screen shots. The .tga file is also necessary for the texture mapping.
Second Deliverable Executable
User interface is basically the same as before, important keys are:
- 'v' for rain
- '5' for a center ripple - very nice circular caustics are created, in addition to a "splash" with our particles
- 't' toggles the texture on and off
- 'r' drops a red box into the pool
The main difference between this deliverable and the first deliverable was that we improved the ripples, with help from a rippling algorithm that we found on the internet. This greatly improved the look of our caustics, since the ripples were much smoother than our previous attempt. We also filtered out the dimmest caustics so that only the brightest spots would show.
We also spent quite a bit of time learning about blending and texture mapping, and made a passing attempt at particle systems. As a result, the water surface is translucent and as life-like as possible. We still need to improve on that, and we hope to figure out how to add lighting to the scene. For now, we have some ambient light.
We lucked out with texture mapping, since we map to a planar surface that doesn't change. Most of our problems therefore, were with loading a texture.
Don't worry about the large red cube at the top. You can watch it drop if you press 'r', but it really does nothing right now. We implemented a very basic particle system to simulate splashing when the box hits the water surface, but the behavior of the particles have nothing to do with physics or water. In the final submission, we may keep the particles as eye candy, but they are still undecided.