Real-Time Screen Space Cartoon Water Rendering with the Iterative Separated Bilateral Filter

Abstract

We present the improvements and new results of our method for rendering particle-based liquid simulations that runs in real-time and includes an adjustable performance/quality trade-off. Our approach smooths the fluid surface with an iterative version of the separated bilateral filter, and introduces a new method for generating foam and droplets that is appropriate for non-photorealistic styles. The entire method occurs in screen space, which avoids the usual artifacts of polygonization techniques. All the steps are implemented directly in the graphics hardware. Improvements include a new method to generate foam and droplets, visual enhancements in the optical effects generated by the interaction between water and light, and tests in a environment with support to collision of water particles with rigid bodies. Performance and visual analysis that includes comparisons with previous methods shows the applicability of our approach.