NVIDIA WaveWorks

Cinematic-Quality Ocean Simulation

NVIDIA WaveWorks enables developers to deliver a cinematic-quality ocean simulation for interactive applications. The simulation runs in the frequency domain using spectral wave model for wind waves and displacements plus velocity potentials for interactive waves. A set of inverse FFT steps then transforms to the spatial domain ready for rendering. The NVIDIA WaveWorks simulation is initialized and controlled by a simple C API and the results are accessed for rendering as native graphics API objects. Parameterization is via intuitive real-world variables, such as wind speed and direction. These parameters can be used to tune the look of the sea surface for a wide variety of conditions - from gentle ripples to a heavy storm-tossed ocean based on the Beaufort scale.

Key Features

NVIDIA WaveWorks features include:

• Spectral wind wave model, based on dual JONSWAP spectra
• Interactive waves simulation, with dispersion relation
• Dynamic PBR-ready anisotropic BRDF
• Foam simulation
• Multiple simulation LOD settings
• Quad-tree tile-based geometry generator
• Host readbacks for in-game physics
• DX11, DX12, Vulkan
• A "no graphics" path for clients & servers