This is a progression of concept tests for a breaking wave. The dynamic simulations use RealFlow, with the final tests having upwards of 500,000 particles. This setup used a vortex field and a geometry influence to get it's shape without having to calculate a ton of data in water depth. The geometry and test was designed in Maya and rendered using Mental Ray. Higher resolution version available on the site below.
http://uni3d.com/Tags:breakingwavecurlingrollingoceanwaterbreakrealflowrealflowmayauni3duni3dtroywhitmerdynamicsanimationcgi
I was recently asked to create a 3D wave that that's breaking for a simpler type of animation. Here's a couple stills, and the link to the video.Wave concept videocomc..