Simulated sky and ocean

Posted on June 04, 2015, by Richard Knol

Work on the sailing simulator advances steadily. Since the sky is the main source of reflection for the ocean underneath, the work on the atmosphere had to be completed first. Lots of little enhancements have been made and especially the cumulus clouds have more volume now.

With the main reflection source in place, it was the ocean's turn to be tweaked and optimized. Here are some results:


The basis for the sky is the Tenkoku sky module that is available in the Asset Store, but the shaders and scripts have been significantly altered.

The ocean is entirely computed on the graphics card for optimal performance. The overall appearance of the water consists of these components:
- an interference system with 5 different waves
- wave curve manipulation to simulated breaking waves
- 2 animated normal maps for ripples
- sky reflection based on the viewing angle (water is dark when you look directly down and a mirror when you look pas it)
- sun reflection
- underwater bubbles that create foam
- computer generated speckles to simulate tiny popping bubbles
- animated foam texture
- different water towards the sun
- different water color for wave tops