Patent ID: 7479963

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for performing computer graphic simulation of an incompressible fluid in motion, the method comprising: providing input data to a simulator module, the input data including a scalar field that defines a physical property of the fluid or of matter suspended therein and a sequence of target scalar fields that define a desired temporal evolution of the scalar field; simulating, in the simulator module, fluid motion by calculating a velocity vector u of the fluid at a plurality of points in the simulated fluid, at a plurality of time intervals, wherein said calculation is performed by solving an equation: u t =−u·∇u−∇p+f*+F where: p=hydrostatic pressure, f*=combination of forces acting on the fluid; F=a computed driving force that is defined by a predetermined function having closed-form terms based on an instantaneous state of the simulation at each simulation time step and that propels the fluid in such a manner that the resulting flow carries the scalar field towards the next target scalar field in said sequence thus avoiding any need for non-linear optimization; u t =is the vector of time derivatives of the velocity field u; using said velocity values at each time interval to advect the scalar field; sending the scalar field to a renderer module for producing a sequence of animation frames; and storing the sequence of animation frames for subsequent display.