CS 348C Programming Assignment #1: Position Based Fluids

Professor: Doug James
Due date: Thurs Oct 27, 2016



In this first programming assignment, you will implement a particle-based fluid simulator related to smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH).  Your implementation will be based on the recent "Position Based Fluids" (PBF) approach described in [Macklin and Muller 2013]. You will extend a simple starter-code implementation to support the basic PBF functionality, then extend it to produce a nontrivial animation/simulation of your choosing.

Groups: Work on your own, or in a group of at most two people. Additional work is expected from a group submission, such as a more elaborate creative artifact or modeled phenomena. PhD students are encouraged to work alone, and pursue a more challenging creative artifact. 

Starter Code: This project has basic starter code (available to registered students through Canvas, primarily to support basic OpenGL rendering and a simple Swing GUI. You are not required to use it or Java (more below), but it may make your implementation easier. In this assignment, you will modify this package as needed.

Software Dependencies:  The starter code is in Java and will compile and run using JDK 1.5 or later. Please see the starter code README.md document for information on getting it to run. Other links you may find useful:
Starter code tips:

  • Most of the action happens in ParticleSystemBuilder.java . This includes setup, GUI interactions, and time stepping. If you want to change something about the way the application runs, this is the first place to look.
  • By default, the simulation will perform several time steps per frame. Use the '-' and '=' keys to adjust the number of steps per frame as the program is running. Once you have implemented a better integrator (in ParticleSystem.java), you might choose to step once per frame, as fluid calculations can be very slow.
  • You can save the result of your simulation by pressing 'e' as the simulation runs. This creates a new FrameExporter (defined as a subclass of ParticleSystemBuilder) which will write the positions of each particle to a file every frame. You may want to write a program to import these files to a better renderer such as Mitsuba.
  • Within ParticleSystemBuilder, there is an abstract Task class that you may implement to add various GUI modes (e.g. adding particles, moving particles around, selecting particles and printing various stats about their current state, etc.) A simple CreateParticleTask has been included as an example. Switch between Tasks by adding new buttons in BuilderGUI.

  • Do I have to use the starter code? Can I program in C++? etc.: The starter code is provided to make your job easier, however you are not required to use it. Feel free to implement your assignment in any language or programming environment that you want (C++, processing, python, etc.). However you are still expected to implement the assignment steps listed below, and answer the questions. You may not use extensive libraries for particle systems or simulation since you are expected to implement the functionality from scratch (that's the point and the fun of it). However, please feel free to use any third-party graphics or 3D rendering software that you want: suggestions include Processing, Cinder, openFrameworks, GLUT, etc.

    Assignment Steps: The code provides some very basic functionality for a particle system, but does not implement any fluid-like forces, nor container boundary conditions to keep the particles from flying away.
    Tuning parameters can be a real pain in physics-based animation, and this simulation model, which has many parameters to adjust, is no different. Also, the parameters in this paper are coupled, e.g., since the paper uses m=1 for all particles, changing the particle size/resolution will affect the density. A student from a previous class asked Miles Macklin about suggestions for parameters, and here was his feedback:
    "Here are the parameters I would recommend for a traditional dam-break style scenario, similar to the ones in the paper:
    Particle mass: 1.0kg
    Kernel radius (h): 0.1m
    Rest density (rho): 6378.0kg/m^2
    Density Iterations: 4
    Time step (dt): 0.0083s (2 substeps of a 60hz frame time)
    CFM Parameter (epsilon): 600
    Artificial Pressure Strength (s_corr): 0.0001
    Artificial Pressure Radius (delta q): 0.03m
    Artificial Pressure Power (n): 4
    Artificial Viscosity (c): <= 0.01"
    After you get the basic simulator working, you should try something unique to your submission:
    Hand-in using Canvas:  
    Start early. Ask questions. Have fun!!! 

    On collaboration and academic integrity: You are allowed to collaborate on the assignments to the extent of formulating ideas as a group, and derivation of physical equations. However, you must conduct your programming and write up completely on your own (or with your partner), and understand what you are writing. Please also list the names of everyone that you discussed the assignment with.  (You are expected to maintain the utmost level of academic integrity in the course.)

    References: