Hi everyone,
now I can finally show you my results of my master thesis
I'll have the final presentation at 22.10. so please wish me luck ^^
PS: a demo will come soon (XNA)
Abstract
Lava is a fascinating, natural phenomenon. Researchers, like Arena or Vicari, are devoted to simulating its flow behavior after a volcanic eruption by applying the Navier-Stoke equation. In these cases, physical simulation, not visual appearance, plays the major role.
The purpose of this thesis however, is the conceptual development and implementation of a real-time capable visualization of lava, especially focusing on lava lakes. Special attention is paid to graphical presentation and movement of the cooled and dried rock crust. In these cases, liquid lava should be diverted at the edges of crust fragments and depending on the cooling stage of the lava, its color will change.
The incrustation of cracks, where hot lava flows, is also an aspect of the simulation. These cracks are the source for flames and smoke, which will be represented by a self-adapting particle system.
The real-time fluid simulation foundation is based on Stam’s and Vlachos’ algorithms. Stam utilizes the Navier-Stoke equation and Vlachos incorporates texture manipulation.
Taking the benefits of these algorithms and knowledge of non-real-time rendering methods, a lava simulation can be done.
Procedural textures, described by Perlin and Worley, play an essential role. Worley’s noise algorithm, which is based on the Voronoi diagram, describes the lava lake’s surface and splits it into crust and hot, fluid lava. Perlin’s noise algorithm will be used for simulation of color differences in fluid lava, visualization of bumps in the crust, and for warping the Worley noise texture.
The result is a natural looking real-time visualization of a lava lake though the combination of procedural textures and fluid simulation. However, for strict real-time processing, optimizations for higher problem sizes are necessary. Nevertheless, major changes are necessary to utilize the algorithms for visualization of lava flows.
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