🔨 Wave Forge Studio - Custom Wave Profiles for NextGen 2.0
Wave Forge Studio is our companion WebGPU application for designing custom breaking wave profiles. In NextGen 2.0, these profiles integrate directly with the engine for unprecedented control over wave shapes.
🎯 What is Wave Forge?
Wave Forge Studio is a browser-based spline editor that lets you:
- Design complete wave lifecycle profiles visually
- Preview waves in real-time 3D
- Export directly to HLSL shaders
- Bake high-resolution textures for optimal performance
Think of it as a wave shape designer - you control exactly how waves form, break, and dissipate.
📐 The 21-Spline System
Wave profiles are defined using 21 Hermite splines, each representing a stage in the wave's lateral evolution:
| Splines | Phase | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1 | Swell | Deep water approaching |
| 2-4 | Rise | Wave steepening |
| 5-13 | Barrel | Breaking with curl (9 splines for detail) |
| 14-17 | Collapse | Barrel falling |
| 18-20 | Wash | Foam rushing to shore |
Each spline maps X position (0-1000) to height (Z), with Hermite tangents for smooth interpolation.
🌊 The Coordinate Space
Waves exist in a normalized space:
static const float MaxSplineHeight = 176.2; // Max wave height
static const float MaxSplineLengthX = 1000.0; // Wave profile length
static const float LateralRange = 2000.0; // Cross-shore extent
The 21 splines span Z from -1000 to +1000, representing the wave's evolution from formation to wash.
🔧 Spline Data Structure
Each spline has variable control points:
// Control point counts per spline
static const int SCount[21] = {
6, 6, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9, // Swell → Barrel
9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, // Barrel → Collapse
5, 3, 3 // Wash
};
// Offset into position/tangent arrays
static const int SOffset[21] = {
0, 6, 12, 20, 28, 36, 44, 52, 60,
69, 78, 87, 96, 105, 114, 123, 132, 141,
150, 155, 158
};
The barrel phase uses more points (9 per spline) for detailed curl geometry.
📊 Control Point Format
Positions and tangents are stored as float3 arrays:
// Example: Spline 8 (peak of barrel)
float3(0.0, 0.0, -200.0), // Start at shore
float3(363.6, 152.2, -200.0), // Rising face
float3(549.2, 171.0, -200.0), // Peak crest
float3(643.2, 75.3, -200.0), // Curl over
float3(660.5, 22.6, -200.0), // Falling curl
float3(626.9, -5.2, -200.0), // Below water!
float3(663.9, 7.2, -200.0), // Recovery
float3(768.6, 28.7, -200.0), // Foam zone
float3(1000.0, 0.0, -200.0) // End at water level
Notice how the curl actually goes below zero - creating the hollow barrel shape.
🎨 Hermite Interpolation
Smooth curves use Hermite interpolation with Catmull-Rom tangents:
// Hermite basis functions
float t2 = t * t;
float t3 = t2 * t;
float h00 = 2*t3 - 3*t2 + 1;
float h10 = t3 - 2*t2 + t;
float h01 = -2*t3 + 3*t2;
float h11 = t3 - t2;
// Interpolated position
float3 pos = h00*P0 + h10*T0 + h01*P1 + h11*T1;
This creates smooth, continuous curves without the oscillation of polynomial interpolation.
🖥️ Procedural vs Baked
Wave Forge supports two integration modes:
Procedural Mode
Real-time spline evaluation in the shader:
Pros:
- Infinite resolution
- Dynamic parameter changes
- Lower memory usage
Cons:
- Higher GPU cost per pixel
- Complex shader code
Baked Mode
Pre-computed textures:
Pros:
- Fast texture lookups
- Simple shader integration
- Consistent performance
Cons:
- Fixed resolution (up to 8K)
- Larger memory footprint
- Requires re-bake for changes
For most projects, we recommend baked mode with 2K-4K textures.
📦 Baked Texture Format
Wave Forge exports two textures:
Projection2D (RG16F)
- R: Horizontal displacement
- G: Vertical displacement
Derivatives (RGBA16F)
- R: dProjX/dU
- G: dProjY/dU
- B: dProjX/dV
- A: dProjY/dV
Derivatives enable dynamic normal reconstruction from static textures:
// Decode derivatives
float4 derivRaw = Texture2DSample(BakeDerivatives, Sampler, UVs);
float dProjX_dU = (derivRaw.r * 2.0 - 1.0) * DERIVATIVE_SCALE;
float dProjY_dU = (derivRaw.g * 2.0 - 1.0) * DERIVATIVE_SCALE;
// Reconstruct normal
float3 TanU = TanU_base + dD_dU;
float3 TanV = TanV_base + dD_dV;
float3 N_world = normalize(cross(TanU, TanV));
🔨 Wave Forge UI
The web application provides:
Spline Editor
- Click-drag control points
- Tangent handles for curves
- Real-time preview
3D Viewport
- Rotate/zoom wave preview
- Toggle wireframe
- Animation playback
Export Panel
- HLSL code generation
- Texture baking (PNG/EXR)
- Resolution selection
Preset Library
- Plunging breaker
- Spilling breaker
- Surging wave
- Collapsing wave
🎮 Integration Example
Using baked profiles in your material:
// Sample baked data
float2 Projection2D = BakeProjection2D.Sample(Sampler, UVs).rg;
// Apply displacement
float2 DisplacementEffective = float2(
DisplacementHorizontal / 100.0,
DisplacementVertical / 800.0
);
float3 worldOffset = float3(
Gradient * Projection2D.x * DisplacementEffective.x * BreakerStrength * 100.0,
Projection2D.y * DisplacementEffective.y * BreakerStrength * 100.0
);
🌐 Accessing Wave Forge
Wave Forge Studio will be available at:
waveforge.galidar.studio (Coming with 2.0)
Free for all NextGen 2.0 customers.
📚 Workflow Tips
Creating Realistic Barrels
- Start with the "Plunging Breaker" preset
- Adjust barrel splines (5-13) for tube size
- Lower control points below zero for hollow effect
- Smooth tangents for clean curves
Matching Reference Video
- Import reference frame as background
- Trace wave profile with spline points
- Repeat for multiple frames/stages
- Interpolate between stages
Performance Optimization
- Use 2K textures for distant waves
- Use 4K for hero coastlines
- Enable mipmapping
- Consider LOD texture sets
🎯 Best Practices
- Start with presets - they're based on real wave physics
- Keep tangents smooth - avoid sudden direction changes
- Test at multiple scales - zoom out to check overall shape
- Bake at 2x final resolution - allows for detail loss
- Name your presets - you'll want to reuse them!
Ready to forge your perfect waves? The studio awaits! 🌊
Questions? Join our Discord #wave-forge channel!