Making Animated Fluids Look More Realistic

brunascle writes "Technology Review has an article about recent advances in animated fluid dynamics made by Mathieu Desbrun, a computer science professor at Caltech. 'He and his team are developing an entirely new approach to fluid motion, based on new mathematics called discrete differential geometry, that use equations designed specifically to be solved by computers rather than people.' Desbrun explains that the currently in-use equations for animating fluid dynamics were not developed with computers in mind, and were simply reworkings of older equations. He claims that his new equations use about the same amount of computer resources, but with much better results. The article includes a 5 minute (flash) video demonstrating various results using his equations, ending with 2 fascinating and vivid displays: the first of a snowglobe, and the second of a cloud of smoke filling a volume in the shape of a bunny."

Comments

Funding

[skinfitz]

Like many technological advances, this could find funding from the porn industry...

Re:Fluids in games

[Soko]

Probably you'll first see "cosmetic" fluid dynamics, which don't affect gameplay, but still look pretty cool

Oh. I'd say that more realistically rendered fluid dynamics applied to, um, certain feminine features of a certain games heroine, would greatly enhance gameplay, especially visually.

Soko