I’m gonna try this. I’ve always liked creating CG oceans but have never gone for a full realistic simulation before. This should a fun learning experience. I havent figured out exactly what I want to do yet. I don’t have the software for simulation, so it’s going to be displacement maps.
I’ve been doing a lot of tests. This is the best I have come up with so far:
not bad man I like!
but shouldnt the foam diseapear after the waves pass?
Im having lots of problems with my own foam myself I dont understand what the heck foam is supposed to do! loll
But nice motion i like the waves in the background
Yes I think the foam should disappear, and some of it does. I just haven’t figured that part out yet 
I’m using a gradient to make the foam shader appear and disappear depending on the height of the waves, it isn’t working quite right yet.
I don’t know what app you are using, but in Electric Image I put a black/white gradient on the ocean object, oriented to the front(so that white is at the top of the waves and black is below them), then a foam/noise shader layer is multiplied on top of that. But I don’t have it working how I was hoping it would. Lots more tweaking to go :eek:
I hope that makes sense :bounce:
EDIT: oops I forgot, I render the foam pass seperate then a color pass and composite it together.
Hmm you just gave me an idea…
I think what ill do (3ds max) is render a pass with very contrasting light&shadows so that the top of the waves are white and the valleys are dark and then use that pass as an alpha map to assign my foam texture to OH OR maybe a fallof object map!
oh!(my brain has activated a lot)
gotta go!
hahaha
hey r u using 3ds max?..
u can try this to get the foams on the top of the waves.that’s what i did in my stormy ocean.
just assign gradient ramp map to ocean arrange the flags and colors so white color comes on top of the gradient.assign it to ur plane and change plane UV mapping to Y axis.and scale it down its gizmo so white comes at the top of the waves.
Or
Try this.Just put volume select modifier at top of the ocean plane.move it’s gizmo up a little.so only waves r selected.make the selection “invert” to invert the selection and apply “deletemesh” modifier above “volume select” modifier.so now u will have only waves where u want to generate the foams.rendered out those meshes with proper material and control it in compositing application.
Or
Use mentalray ocean(lume) shader over displaced geometry with a 6 or 7 steepness and lots of quantity hmm like 20 or 15 will give u nice random foams on ur ocean.but when u will render out even if u have set waves speed to 0 , ur animation would look horrible and unrealstic.but i think it’s the best solution.dunno why it’s giving me grainy animation.
I hope that will work.
-Jigu.
Hi mxax_power,
sorry i didn't see that it's ur thread. i thought it's quinn's thread..oops..
anyway r u using electirc image ? ur ocean looks nice.just give a little velocity to waves and also a foam looks little grainy.
else it’s coming very well.
keep it up.
Thanks jigu, I’ll try speeding up the waves. The foam is kinda grainy isn’t it, I’ll have to up the oversampling.
Joseph: it’s good to see you back on the run! :drool: I really still feel sorry for you that you didn’t get a top-3 place for the last challenge; you’d really have deserved it (unless Jigu’s stuff was also very cool 
). I really like the fact that you like to tell a full story (like me) instead of just ‘one perfect shot’. Thats why I liked your previous movie so much: the passion for that movie is very good visible in the movie!
Lets hope this time it will be of the same coolness level! That first movie you posted looks very promising yet: I only would think the waves might be moving a bit faster to get it look right… Further: I really like the fact you only use disp-maps and so, as it gets really effective in that way. You’ll only apply stuff you really need to get the effect, and use the compositing extensively, isn’t it? I really like that idea, as I apply that most of the times too. Simplyfying the ‘real world’ to a most effective solution (such as a displacement map on a flat plane ) it the most mighty of all!
Lots of good luck in the challenge! I’ll support you! 
-Gijs
Gijs, thank you sir
I am making a new displacement map with faster waves and more swells. I do like trying to keep things simple, but I could really use some good plugins for this challenge . I’m not exactly sure how to do what I want to do with the limited software I have :surprised
It is indeed a “Challenge” :eek:
I just can’t get anything to come out how I want it to. Maybe it’s my limited software or maybe it’s just me
So, I’m throwing in the towel on this one… I look forward to the next challenge
You should post what you have when the voting thread comes up.
I like it for what it is.
-R
Roberto, you inspired me to just polish up what I had and make a finished product, thank you.
It’s a 10 second open ocean shot with an ocean sound effect. It’s not what I had planned to do but I’m very happy that I got something done 
http://www.dobiedog.com/video/Max_Power_FXWARS_The_Ocean(640x360).mov
16MB
I’ll post some WIP images tomorrow.
Thanks Georgie
Here are the displacement maps I used:
Sample displacement movie: http://www.dobiedog.com/video/rollingwaves.mov
Sample displacement movie: http://www.dobiedog.com/video/smallwaves.mov
Water drops displacement:
Water drops displacement map: http://www.dobiedog.com/video/waterdrops.mov
The fractal maps were created in Commotion pro, the ocean was rendered in Electric Image(DV Garage version)
This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.