Graphics & Games ยท 2018
Optical Flow-Based Smoke
Smooth real-time smoke and explosion effects by blending pre-rendered frames with optical flow maps.
As part of CSE 163: Advanced Computer Graphics at UCSD in spring 2018, we set out to replicate the smooth smoke and explosion effects found in many modern games, such as Star Citizen. The implementation uses optical flow maps to blend between pre-rendered frames, simulating smooth motion.
- Alpha, diffuse, normal and optical flow maps are pre-computed by simulating the effect in 3ds Max with the FumeFX plugin.
- A shader uses the optical flow maps to smoothly blend the transitions between pre-computed frames.
- A simple Phong shader is applied to the 2D billboard to give the effect some depth.
- It runs in real time at almost no performance cost.
The floating crosses are watermarks from the free version of FumeFX.