A water system compassing realistic water surface dynamics, immersive underwater effects, and interactive features.
Water Surface
- Dynamic Waves
- Large-scale wave motion is achieved using noise-based displacement applied via Virtual Heightfield Mesh.
- Fine surface ripples are layered using normal maps blended with adjustable UV scales and speeds for added realism.
- Reflections
- Custom Screen-Space Reflections (SSR) are implemented via HLSL for more precise control over fading and edge handling.
- HDR-based reflections are overlaid to account for areas outside screen-space, ensuring seamless environmental reflection.
- Refractions: Refraction effects are created by distorting screen-space UV coordinates with noise, controlled by depth.
- Depth Fade: Two methods are used — an absolute depth fade to calculate shading variations based on water depth and a scene depth fade to create smooth transitions near the waterline.
- Fresnel Effect: A Fresnel term enhances edge realism, simulating how light varies based on the viewing angle.
- Specular Highlights: Specular lighting is manually calculated, simulating realistic water surface highlights without the overhead of the default lit material.
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Vignetting: An elliptical vignetting mask darkens the screen edges, enhancing immersion and guiding focus toward the center.
- Distortion and Blur: Screen-space distortion mimics the visual shift caused by water movement, while Gaussian blur softens underwater visuals for a natural effect.
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Depth Fog: Depth fog is calculated based on scene depth, gradually obscuring distant objects to simulate underwater light attenuation.
- Waterline Transition: A dynamic stencil-based mask separates above-water and underwater views, creating a smooth transition zone that adapts to camera movement.
- Underwater View of Water Surface: A custom-rendered surface mimics the water view from below, with dynamically adjusted normals and displacement matching the above-water material.
- Environmental Interactions
- Caustics: Decal-based caustics are projected with noise-distorted sampling and offer
handling for steep surfaces; RGB offset adds a dispersion effect, simulating light splitting into colors.
- Foam: Foam appears in shallow areas, driven by depth calculations, adding detail to shorelines and obstacles.
- Wetting Effects: Decal-based wetting simulates damp surfaces for nearby and submerged objects, blending smoothly with adjustable opacity and falloff.
- Caustics: Decal-based caustics are projected with noise-distorted sampling and offer
handling for steep surfaces; RGB offset adds a dispersion effect, simulating light splitting into colors.
- Character Interactions
- Wave Simulation: Render targets capture character movement to dynamically update water surface height and normals, generating realistic ripples and splashes.
- Camera Water Droplets: Procedurally generated droplets appear on the lens when emerging from water. The droplets slowly evaporate, with dynamic shapes and trailing effects created using noise-based algorithms.