Publicação
Real-time rendering of particle based fluid simulations
| Resumo: | Particle based methods have been been increasing in popularity in fluid simulations as of late due to the increases seen in computational power in the form of various many core devices like graphics-cards (GPUs) or high-core count CPUs. The increasing popularity of particle based fluid simulations resulted in a need for higher fidelity renders which portray the particle data in a cohesive substance rather than isolated particles. Rendering the particle data in real-time however is a difficult problem due to the fact that the simulations tend to be computationally intensive and, as a result, the rendering has to deal with computational constraints that make it difficult to achieve visual quality while, at the same time, keeping the interactive aspect of the simulation. Currently there are various approaches to rendering particle data which thread a balance between visual qual- ity and performance. These techniques can vary widely by having entirely different algorithms/approaches and having different objectives, some of them focusing on having the best looking surfaces, while others pretending to achieve the shortest render times, or even trying to have a low memory footprint. Computational constraints have kept certain techniques from being usable in the interactive realm. This con- straints have, however, been loosening up due to hardware advances which has, in turn, been lowering the gap between high-quality renders and interactive rendering and thus opening the door to new rendering approaches. This thesis aims to explore the implementation of real-time fluid rendering in conjunction with a preexisting particle-based simulation. The thesis will be divided in two halves with the first half covering a screen-space implementation, a family of techniques which aims to render the fluid surface while having a low computational cost, while the second half explores a volumetric render implementation based on a voxel grid while leveraging the computational power of a modern GPU. The screen-space implementation is able to represent the frontal surface of the fluid, and also implements the extraction of a back surface. This enables it to enhance its visual fidelity at a low computational cost. This work also compares different approaches used in the process of smoothing these surfaces, which enable a higher surface cohesion while tackling the preservation of the fluid’s edges. The volumetric implementation uses a voxel grid to represent the fluid, enabling it to render multiple refractions thus achieving a more realistic render. The volumetric implementations is also able to represent occluded fluid features such as air bubbles by leveraging the GPU memory, and a more accurate colouring of the fluid. |
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| Autores principais: | Fernandes, José Carlos Pereira |
| Assunto: | Voxel Screen-space Smoothing Reflection Refraction Ray-casting Fluid Particles Suavização Reflexões Refrações Fluidos Partículas Engenharia e Tecnologia::Engenharia Eletrotécnica, Eletrónica e Informática |
| Ano: | 2022 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | dissertação de mestrado |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade do Minho |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho |
| Resumo: | Particle based methods have been been increasing in popularity in fluid simulations as of late due to the increases seen in computational power in the form of various many core devices like graphics-cards (GPUs) or high-core count CPUs. The increasing popularity of particle based fluid simulations resulted in a need for higher fidelity renders which portray the particle data in a cohesive substance rather than isolated particles. Rendering the particle data in real-time however is a difficult problem due to the fact that the simulations tend to be computationally intensive and, as a result, the rendering has to deal with computational constraints that make it difficult to achieve visual quality while, at the same time, keeping the interactive aspect of the simulation. Currently there are various approaches to rendering particle data which thread a balance between visual qual- ity and performance. These techniques can vary widely by having entirely different algorithms/approaches and having different objectives, some of them focusing on having the best looking surfaces, while others pretending to achieve the shortest render times, or even trying to have a low memory footprint. Computational constraints have kept certain techniques from being usable in the interactive realm. This con- straints have, however, been loosening up due to hardware advances which has, in turn, been lowering the gap between high-quality renders and interactive rendering and thus opening the door to new rendering approaches. This thesis aims to explore the implementation of real-time fluid rendering in conjunction with a preexisting particle-based simulation. The thesis will be divided in two halves with the first half covering a screen-space implementation, a family of techniques which aims to render the fluid surface while having a low computational cost, while the second half explores a volumetric render implementation based on a voxel grid while leveraging the computational power of a modern GPU. The screen-space implementation is able to represent the frontal surface of the fluid, and also implements the extraction of a back surface. This enables it to enhance its visual fidelity at a low computational cost. This work also compares different approaches used in the process of smoothing these surfaces, which enable a higher surface cohesion while tackling the preservation of the fluid’s edges. The volumetric implementation uses a voxel grid to represent the fluid, enabling it to render multiple refractions thus achieving a more realistic render. The volumetric implementations is also able to represent occluded fluid features such as air bubbles by leveraging the GPU memory, and a more accurate colouring of the fluid. |
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