Atomizer
07-27-09, 07:25 PM
Yeah, you're pretty much right that doing large oceans using this system wont be very effective, not to mention if you are creating more water particles then they can be taken away(in the video it looked like there was a drainer on the far end that could "kill" the water particles to create new ones, thats why it didnt spill out of the level).
One way I remember coming up with years ago before PhysX was even made(Obviously got in over my head back then), was to do a particle based simulation using metaballs, but as particles touched eachother, forming pools of water, the particles would actually merge into larger particles, so if you had a large body of water, the particles would be much larger then ones spewing from a firehose, and given enough energy, it can break those particles up again into smaller ones, the original idea I had was for a rainfall system where rivers would form naturally on the world(yes yes, even now its not yet possible), and as the water flowed down if there was say a rock in the path, the water particles would hit the rock and split back into smaller particles, giving you a nice spray rather then large blobs, then as the particles reconnect with the river they would merge to become larger, easier to calculate partices.
Generally the more particles surrounding the larger they could become, so on the surface of the water you would have smaller particles then on the riverbed.
The best thing is they are just particles with a radius for collision purposes, you can use whatever you want to draw them, so for the small fine spray particles I pictured them being sprites, or traditional billboard particles, rather then actual spheres.
But regardless of all that, yeah that water video was mainly just to show off whats possible, rather then to say I want that water in games, I want that level of physics in games :)
This is what I really wanted to show off, but could not find the video before, somewhat more of a practical demo(and havok, not physx):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ0HNHO5Uik&hd=1
One way I remember coming up with years ago before PhysX was even made(Obviously got in over my head back then), was to do a particle based simulation using metaballs, but as particles touched eachother, forming pools of water, the particles would actually merge into larger particles, so if you had a large body of water, the particles would be much larger then ones spewing from a firehose, and given enough energy, it can break those particles up again into smaller ones, the original idea I had was for a rainfall system where rivers would form naturally on the world(yes yes, even now its not yet possible), and as the water flowed down if there was say a rock in the path, the water particles would hit the rock and split back into smaller particles, giving you a nice spray rather then large blobs, then as the particles reconnect with the river they would merge to become larger, easier to calculate partices.
Generally the more particles surrounding the larger they could become, so on the surface of the water you would have smaller particles then on the riverbed.
The best thing is they are just particles with a radius for collision purposes, you can use whatever you want to draw them, so for the small fine spray particles I pictured them being sprites, or traditional billboard particles, rather then actual spheres.
But regardless of all that, yeah that water video was mainly just to show off whats possible, rather then to say I want that water in games, I want that level of physics in games :)
This is what I really wanted to show off, but could not find the video before, somewhat more of a practical demo(and havok, not physx):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ0HNHO5Uik&hd=1