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Flow Map Generation

Flow Map Generation Header.

I was asked about flow map generation the other day, and found a lot of different methods for creating them. However, all of them seemed to take a reasonable amount of effort or set up. I wanted to try create something simple and intuitive. Basically, you've already modelled the river/waters surface, so you don't need to figure that out. All I really wanted was to automatically show how my water should flow over this surface.

Flow Map Generation Flow Map Explanation

In the vertex colour channel of the mesh, I've painted green where I want water added to the simulation, and red where I want it taken away. The component in my engine then integrates over the texture calculating a pressure based flow. The direction the water is moving is stored in a texture, and is updated live while I watch it simulate.

Flow Map Example Video

The above is a video showing the affect. The shader for displaying it is pretty simple, and I've put no effort into making it actually look like water :P