In Vortex® Studio Editor, you can add an ocean to your scene which contains the dynamics and graphical extensions.

To add an ocean:

If you are not already in the Scene editor, either open an existing scene or create a new one.
Select Marine from the Toolbox, and then double-click Ocean to add it.
The Ocean Dynamics folder appears in the Explorer tree containing the Ocean Graphics extensions, and the Ocean Dynamics extension's parameters appear in the Properties panel.

In the Properties panel, configure the following fields:

Setting the Ocean Quality Level

The Quality Level setting found in the Ocean Dynamics extension supports the following different models:

Level

Description

Tessendorf

This the fastest model but the least accurate.

Use this one if you anticipate a change in wind direction and/or speed every frame.

Pierson-Moskowitz

This simulates a fully developed sea.

That is, a sea produced by winds blowing steadily over hundreds of miles for several days.

JONSWAP

This extends the Pierson-Moskowitz setting with an added artificial factor that makes waves less linear. It is however the slowest.

Use this one if you are building a maritime training application or you need realistic ship motions.

Setting the Ocean Sea Scale

You can set the Sea Scale Type setting found in the Ocean Dynamics extension in one of the following ways:

The Beaufort Scale is an empirical measure that scales sea conditions based on wind speed.

To use this scale, set the Sea Scale parameter which determines the height of the waves as specified in the following table:

Sea Scale	Height (in meters)	Sea conditions
0	no wave	Flat
1	`0-0.20`	Ripples without crests
2	`0.20 - 0.50`	Small wavelets
3	`0.50 - 1.00`	Large wavelets
4	`1.00 - 2.00`	Small waves with breaking crests
5	`2.00 - 3.00`	Moderate waves with breaking crests
6	`3.00 - 4.00`	Long waves
7	`4.00 - 5.50`	Sea heaps up
8	`5.50 - 7.50`	Moderately high waves with breaking crests forming spindrift
9	`7.00 - 10.00`	High waves whose crests sometimes roll over.
10	`9.00 - 12.50`	Very high waves with overhanging crests
11	`11.50 - 16.00`	Exceptionally high waves
12	`14.00+`	Huges waves

The Douglas Scale measures the height of the waves as well as the swell of the sea.

To use this scale, set the Sea Scale and Swell Scale parameters which are described by the following tables.

To determine the height of the waves:

To determine the state of the sea:

Swell Scale	Description
0	No Swell
1	Very Low (short and low wave)
2	Low (long and low wave)
3	Light (short and moderate wave)
4	Moderate (average and moderate wave)
5	Moderate rough (long and moderate wave)
6	Rough (short and heavy wave)
7	High (average and heavy wave)
8	Very high (long and heavy wave)
9	Confused (wavelength and height indefinable)

This scale type allows you to manually determine the wind velocity:

Set the Wind Velocity parameter value to the speed of the wind in meters per second.

Follow this procedure to add a list of swells to your ocean component.

In the Ocean Dynamics extension Properties panel, set the number of swells you want to use in your scene in the size parameter under the Swells section.
As you increase the size value, a new set of four Swell parameters appears under a numbered section.
For each new set of parameters, you can set the following values:
- Wave Length: Set the length of the swell wave, from peak to peak, in meters. Swells are generally around 100-200 m. (Default value: 100 m.)
- Wave Phase: Phase of the swell wave, in radians, from -Pi to +Pi. (Default value is 0.)
- Wave Height: Swell wave height, from peak to trough, in meters. Swells are generally around 2-4 m. (Default value is 2 m.)
- Wave Direction: Direction of the swell wave from the X axis, in radians, from -Pi to +Pi. (Default value is 0.)