Feature: 'Practical Fluid Dynamics: Part 1'

Author: by Staff

In a detailed bonus technical article originally printed in Game Developer magazine, Neversoft co-founder Mick West looks at how to efficiently implement fluid effects - from smoke to water and beyond - in video games, with example code. As West notes in the introduction to his article, which is the first of two to be published on Gamasutra, with the second appearing in the near future: "Fluid effects, such as rising smoke and turbulent water flow, are everywhere in nature but are seldom implemented convincingly in computer games. The simulation of fluids (which covers both liquids and gases) is computationally very expensive. It's also mentally expensive, with even introductory papers on the subject relying on the reader to have math skills at least at the undergraduate calculus level. In this two-part article, I will attempt to address both these problems from the perspective of a game programmer who's not necessarily conversant with vector calculus. I'll explain how certain fluid effects work without using advanced equations and without too much new terminology. I'll also describe one way of implementing the simulation of fluids in an efficient manner without the expensive iterative diffusion and projection steps found in other implementations." You can now read the full independent article on the subject, published as part of Intel's Visual Computing microsite, including plenty of specifics and specific source code on how to create such effects in games.