Save the Ocean Sim!

Hello Ocean Sim Sponsors and Contributors!

Matt has been working hard on this project, and we are now elbow deep in coding and solving problems as they arise on this project. I hope this post will clarify the process as well as give you some insight into the challenges that we are facing to bring this tool to life.

Our Main Goals

The main goals of this project currently are the following:

1. To port the original Ocean Sim (which was Texture based) into 2.5 and replicate the original functionality.

2. Find a way to implement this tool in a better way. Based on Matt’s and Ton’s input, creating an Ocean Modifier tool that displaces the mesh directly seems to be the way to go.

3. Find ways to make the ocean wave generation algorithm future friendly, in the hopes that someone (not as part of this project) can more easily set up an Ocean Node in the future once the nodetree system matures.

4. Put time into additional features that would make the tool more valuable (multithreading, seamless tiling, foam maps, etc.). This is dependent on time spent on the first 3 goals.

Where We Are Now

✔ The Ocean Texture component has been ported and is able to generate waves using the displacement modifier (this is Goal 1).

✔ The Ocean Wave Algorithm codebase has been decoupled from the original Texture tool, thus making it easier for it to work with other tool types (modifiers, nodes, etc.)

✔ It took extra time, but multithreading is now working for the Ocean Texture tool.

✖ We have run into a bug/design flaw in 2.5’s RNA system that is preventing us from animating the Time parameter in the view port. This is really a showstopper for effective production use. Matt is consulting with other devs to see if a solution can be reached.

✖ Currently the Ocean Texture is not generating normals in order for use with bumpmapping. This can be overcome by using a high resolution mesh, but adds one more negative to the Ocean Texture solution.

Time Spent

• Currently Matt has spent about 2 days working on these issues. Our budget should allow for about a week’s worth of paid time to spend on this project.

Financial

• The SaveTheOceanSim project has currently spent $150 out of the donated funds as a deposit for the work.

Concerns

• We don’t want to waste too much time on the Time animation issue with the Ocean Texture if we can’t find a solution in the near future.

• Matt is fairly confident that the Ocean Modifier would not have this issue.

• We may need to make a decision to abandon the Ocean Texture and focus exclusively on the Ocean Modifier.

• Since the first group of donors were sponsoring the Ocean Texture porting, I will need to get some feedback from you prior to making this decision.

Thanks once again for all of your involvement in this project. As always, your feedback is appreciated. I will try to keep you up to date as we progress through the development of this tool. Fingers crossed!

Just wanted to let the community know that a deposit has been paid from this project to Matt Ebb to start the Ocean Sim Port to a 2.5 branch. He estimates that he should be able to work on it early next week. Stay tuned!

I'd also like to thank the community for trusting me with their hard earned donations. I will be endeavouring to keep you apprised of each development, as well as the features for Version 2 of the Ocean Sim tool once they have been established. It is of the utmost importance to me that the money is well spent. Thanks again!   Todd

Things are progressing well! Matt has started working on the porting of the original Ocean Sim texture into a 2.5 branch, and discussions for Version 2 of the Ocean Tools are being profitable.

Here's Matt's feedback after a day of working on the project:

Screen shot showing implementation of Texture Based Ocean Displacement working in 2.5 (click image for large version)

"… I worked on the ocean texture all day today and I've got it up and running. Rather than port it 100% directly from the 2.4 version, what I did was split up
the code a bit better so the core ocean sim sits in blender internally as more of a library, which the texture can then access via a clean separation. It was all rolled into one before, but doing it this way makes it easier to later on access this sim code from other parts of blender instead (eg. modifiers, node trees, etc) without having to re-do all the work.

So it's working, but I have noticed some further multithread-safety stability issues that become a lot more apparent in 2.5 due to the threaded render/texture preview render. I already fixed some outstanding threading problems along the way today, but it looks like there are more to ferret out – I have some clues though. Unfortunately I'm over a day spent now, I hope these won't take too much longer to fix.."

The general consensus when discussing Version 2 with Matt, and other developers is that it is too early for the NodeTree implementation of the Ocean Sim Tool. So, we are now setting our sites on an intermediate target that uses the Modifier Stack to generate the waves directly.

In addition, as Matt alluded to above, we also would like to make Version 2 as future friendly to the node system as possible, which is why he has made some internal code changes to make that transition easier for Version 2 and Version 3 (in the future). I really believe that the nodetree implementation of the Ocean Tool will be the most powerful way to do it, allowing the advanced effects of foam and spray generation from the wave peaks. It's just too early to invest in creating an Ocean node or some other tool to work directly with the nodetree system.

So, that being said, it would be great to see some more sponsors get on board. We really want to have something at the end of this we can be proud of, that works well and has had some time for significant testing. The more you donate, the more time can be put into making this tool something useful for all of us!

Thanks to the supportive Blender community, our initial donation drive has been reached within 24 hours of launching the fundraising drive! Thanks to all who
contributed!

Now that the funds have been collected, I will be working with the developer to start work on this project. News regarding the timing of the work will be announced a little later.

Thanks to all who contributed. If you didn't get a chance to contribute, please keep this project in mind for a Round 2 drive. If there is enough support, I'd like to organize a drive to add new features and improve the current state of the Ocean Sim.  Thank You!