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About

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 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 Caustics Generator software is industry proven since over 15 years and has been included in the production tools of major studios in the animation and gaming industry. It is also very popular among the architecture firms as a way to improve still image renderings.


Buy

The Caustics Generator software is available for both Windows, Mac and Linux, but the Linux version has no graphical user interface.
All versions comes with a command line tool that can be integrated into existing production pipelines.

Price includes one year free updates and support.

Product

Unit Price (EUR)

Caustics Generator Lite

Windows (32-bit)

55 EUR

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Caustics Generator Pro

Windows (64-bit)

180 EUR

License »
Caustics Generator Pro (Mac)

Mac OS X

180 EUR

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Caustics Generator Pro (Linux)

Linux command line executable for scripting or integration into other tools.
This version does not include a GUI.
270 EUR

License »

All prices are given excluding VAT. Purchases within EU will add VAT.


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. If you do not receive the download instructions, check the FAQ for help.

Program Features

Caustics Generator is available in five versions.

The free version can be downloaded below and is free for non-commercial use.

There are also four commercial versions available that are aimed for the professional users. See product feature chart below for a comparison between the versions.


Free Lite Pro Mac Linux
Free for non-commercial use mark
Graphical user interface check check check check
Command line tool for scripting or integration check check check check check
Advanced control over caustics pattern check check check check check
Live preview output while changing parameters check check check check
Bitmap (BMP) file output check check check check check
Commercial use allowed check check check check
Animation playback preview check check check
Tiling preview check check
Motion blur check check check check
Spectral color rendering check check check
High dynamic range image output (EXR) check check check
TGA image output check
Fast rendering of animations on multi-CPU computers check check
Surface height map output check check check
Surface normal map output check check check
64-bit check check check check check
Image output size limit 512x512 2048x2048 Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited


Sample Images

Besides the caustics pattern, in Caustics Generator Pro you can also output the water surface as a height map and normal map. While the caustics images are good for lighting, the height map can be used for modelling the water surface and the normal map can be used for surface reflection and refraction effects.

All textures are tileable and loopable in time.

Click on images for a tiled example.

Caustics sample Caustics sample Caustics sample Caustics sample Caustics sample Caustics sample Caustics height map sample Caustics normal map sample

Sample Animation

Click on image to view an animation sequence of a looping caustics rendering.

This example uses 60 frames of rendering at 30 fps playback that is looped five times to create a 10 second animation.




Caustics Generator GUI screenshot

Application User Interface

The Caustics Generator user interface on Windows and Mac allows you to play with the parameters that form the caustic pattern.

If you turn on Auto Render, the image is updated live while you change the sliders. In Caustics Generator Pro you can also render and preview the animation directly in the user interface.

Download

You can download caustics generator free of charge from here. The program can be freely used for non-commercial purposes.


   release notes »

System Requirements

Windows

Windows Vista / 7 / 8 / 10
.NET Framework 4.0

Mac

Mac OS X 10.11

Linux

Linux 2.6.32