firestarter – A Real-Time Fire Simulator

Many obstacles exist in attempting to graphically render physical phenomena that are highly fluid and ostensibly chaotic in nature. Fire is a prime example of such phenomena. Given the unrealizable computational complexity of chemical-atomic modeling, this paper explores how to best apply our current understanding of the physical fire model to balance computational stresses for optimal realism. Special emphasis is given specifically to the constraints imposed by real-time rendering, as opposed to production pipeline rendering, introducing firestarter – a real-time fire simulator developed by the author using OpenGL – which features some unique implementations of previously discussed topics. COMP489 firestarter – A Real-Time Fire Simulator 1