The Computer Graphics Gallery 1

This wave was ray-traced with a technique that allows procedural models with concavities and overhangs to be rendered. The wave is, in fact, just a planar surface that has been deformed through a procedurally defined vector field. The vector field was specified in an ad-hoc manner to give the visual resemblance of a breaking wave. Ray-surface intersection proceeds by inverse-deforming the ray into a parametric curve and finding its intersection point with the undeformed planar water surface. Foam and spray in the image were modelled as procedurally defined opacity fields, which were subsequently rendered by ray-marching. The model can be animated by having the parameters of the vector deformation field change through time.