Caustics can be described as the light pattern you see at the bottom of a pool on a sunny day.
This tool will let you render such caustics light patterns.
The rendered images can be animated and are tileable in both space and time.
This means that they are ideal for use in real-time graphics such as games and simulations, but can also be used for architectural renderings, film rendering or advertisement renderings where water needs to be illustrated.
Caustics are a bit more than just the pattern seen on the bottom of the pool.
Caustics is the name for the light phenomenon of converging light.
Caustics are caused by the fact that light is reflected or refracted one or several times
before actually hitting a surface. The more light that is refracted to the same area
on a surface, the brighter the area will be lit.
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To the left is a real life example of caustics taken at a beach in Rättvik, Sweden.
The water is about half a meter to a meter deep where the picture is taken. Click on the image for a larger view. |
The patterns rendered by this program are calculated by simulating
the effect of light refracting through water. The water surface is
made tileable in both space and time. This means that you seamlessly
can tile individual rendered images both horizontally and vertically.
It also means that a full generated animation sequence will loop in
time.
The rendered images can be for example be used as realtime textures
for games and animations but can also be used as light textures for
film production, advertising renderings and architectural scene
renderings.
The Windows versions of Caustics Generator Lite and Caustics Generator Pro are available for online purchase.
A receipt of your order will be sent to your stated email address. When your order has been processed you will receive another email with download instructions.
Price list for Caustics Generator Lite / Pro including one year free updates and support:
| Caustics Generator Lite Windows executable | 35 Euro (+25% VAT in EU) | Buy Online |
| Caustics Generator Pro Windows executable (32-bit and 64-bit) | 120 Euro (+25% VAT in EU) | Buy Online |
| Caustics Generator Pro Linux command line executable | 170 Euro (+25% VAT in EU) | Email request |
| Source code licensing | Contact for pricing |
Invoice orders are available by email for an additional administration fee of 10 Euro.
Caustics Generator Free is available for download right here:
No installation is required. Just unzip the archive and run the program.
User's guide for Caustics Generator Pro is available for download here:
 Windows XP / Vista / 7
Linux (Pro version upon request)
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Caustics Generator 3.4 Free