Adding a Hull Wake

Owned by DEVOPS
Apr 21, 2021
2 min read
The Wake Effect extension is used to create a hull wake wave on the ocean.

The hull wake effect is simulated by moving the extension and generating particles.

To render a proper hull wake, its parameters require some adjustments. These parameters may have to change based on the vessel's speed and size, and they apply to the particles being generated.

Follow these steps to add a hull wake component to your scene or mechanism:

  1. Select Marine from the Toolbox, then double-click Wake Effect.
    The Wake Effect extension appears in the Explorer tree and the wake's details appear in the Properties panel.
  2. You must select the point from which the wake generates:
    1. Add Connections for the wake in the Explorer panel.
    2. As an input, drag and drop the wake's Parent Transform from its Properties panel.
    3. As an output, drag and drop the World Transform of the attachment or part from where you want the wake to generate.
  3. You can now set any of the following:
    • Speed: The initial speed of the particles (in meters per second). The higher this value, the faster it will reach the maximum width defined below.
    • Generation Width: Distance from the hull where the particles are generated (in meters). This field adds some noise to the particles' initial position.
    • Width: Maximum distance the particles will travel (in meters). The higher this value, the further the wake will go, making the V-shape's angle larger, assuming the particles are travelling fast enough to reach it by the end of their lifetime.
    • Lifetime: The amount of time the particles exist (in seconds).
    • Intensity: The field ranges between 0.0 (invisible particles) and 1.0 (maximum opacity of particles).
    • Particle Radius: The size of the generated particles (in meters).
    • Rotation Range:The yaw rotation applied to each particle. This field adds some noise in the particle generation, and greatly depends on the texture being used.
    • Texture: Click the button in this field and select the wake particle's texture.
    • Particle Limit: Determines the maximum amount of particles that can be generated, greatly influencing the visual effect. If there are not enough particles, the generation will be too far apart to create a line effect. If there are too many particles, the effect will appear to repeat too often.