SeaGen
HowTo
1. Run the SeaGen LScript. The following requester will appear.
SeaGen is a subdivided plane. The default subdivision settings are a compromise between polycount and detail.
The script will next inform the user with rough polycount for the OpenGL preview and final rendering resolution of the mesh. The default settings will give around 6800 points and 13600 polys for the preview, and 170000 points and 340000 polys for the rendered mesh. If the sea is calm (there's just ripples and no real waves) the subdivision can even be set to zero. You can change the settings easily later by running the script again with the SeaGen REF object selected.
2. Set the background
If the SkyGen is not already applied, the script will ask if you wish to add SkyGen background to your scene. SeaGen needs something cool to reflect, and if any kind of realism is the goal, this should be a sky - you can also use image world or sky tracer etc.
3. Animate the water
The waves can be animated by moving the SeaGen REF object. Usually some motion in Y axis will be needed for good looking wave motion. You can also affect the shape of the waves by scaling the reference object. The motion is seen in the OpenGL preview, the preview's accuracy depends on your subdivision settings.
4. Adjust the appearance
SeaGen_REF object also has sliders to control the sea.
Another option is the morph mixer: select the SeaGen_REF object, and press [p] for object properties. In the deformations tab, open the morph mixer plugin.
The sliders control envelopes in the SeaGen surface object's textures.
Most of the settings are self-explanatory for anyone who's used LightWave's surface editor, so let's just look at some of the SeaGen specific parameters.
There are four Waves displacement layers. The first layer deforms the geometry, and the others are bump map layers. The sizes of the waves get smaller as the number of the layer grows - layer 4 is really small ripples.
There's a slider for foam amount. This will fade in a foam like texture that only appears at the tops of the waves, when layer 1 is set to displace the water enough - The way the foam texture gets restricted to the top of the waves is simple: the texture is placed at 1.5 meters in the Y axis, with some strong falloff. Unless the water is displaced enough, the falloff will hide the texture.
Rain is an experimental feature. It's only really visible when there's very little or no waves in the scene. Rain REF null is used to move the raindrop hit like bump texture through the water surface.
5. Add a boat (optional)
SeaGen Boat script can be used to bob/float the selected object, it's siblings or children on the water surface, animated with the wave motion. There's an experimental feature called "add pitch target" which will attempt to also rotate the object along with the waves.