Animation of Fluid: The Challenge

Film Animators are dissatisfied with at least one thing they do - the
animation of fluid. To date, the art of animating fluids has drawn on
relatively unsophisticated scientific models, but these approaches have
not delivered anything approaching realistic motion.

Mathematicians at the Australian research institute CSIRO and Korean
Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) are
determined to tackle this last big challenges in animation. CSIRO
researchers will come to the rescue of film-makers by providing them with
more sophisticated models. Predicting the flow behaviours of entities such
as waves, bubbles, splashes, eddies and whirlpools, particularly when they
interact, requires complex models and is best dealt with by means of
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques.

They are taking the mathematical equations used to model complex fluid
interactions, such as the aerodynamics of aircraft or the behaviour of mined
ores in crushing mills, and applying them to animating fluids for motion
pictures and computer games.

CSIRO and ETRI will deliver these new CFD tools for animators working
with fluids. Korea is a global leader in animation. ETRI has chosen to work
with CSIRO because they understand that the leap forward in animating
liquids can only come from advanced mathematics.

For prototype examples of such animations, visit this CSIRO site.