Water Caustics

Water Caustics casts the dancing web of light you see on the bottom of a swimming pool: bright, wavy lines of sunlight focused by a rippling water surface, spread over the floor around an object and across the object itself.

How it works

The water surface is a sum of travelling waves whose strength drifts slowly, so the pattern never repeats. Sunlight bends as it enters the water, more where the surface is steeper, and lands on the floor after passing through the depth of water. Where the curved surface focuses the light, it gathers into bright thin lines; where it spreads the light, the floor stays dim. Red and blue light bend by slightly different amounts, which splits the lines into fine coloured fringes. The object casts a soft shadow into the pattern, and catches the light itself only where it faces the sun.

Settings

• Water Depth: deeper water gives a coarser, more focused web.
• Wave Scale: the size of the ripples.
• Wave Height: steeper ripples focus the light into sharper lines.
• Dispersion: the strength of the colour fringes; 1 is real water.
• Radius: the size of the lit floor area.
• Show On Host: also project the caustics onto the object.
• Color: the tint of the light coming through the water.

Use it for

Pools and summer campaigns, underwater scenes, drinks and cosmetics shots. Pair it with the Ocean or the Tropical water material.