Floating objects

You can float objects in your Oceans and Ponds using fluid locators. You can add these locators to objects individually, or you can use commands in the Ocean or Pond menus to quickly create a buoy, float an object, or make a boat.

When an object is parented to one of these locators, the object responds appropriately to the motion of the waves. Fluid locators are connected to the displacement channel of fluid waves and are controlled by predefined expressions. These expressions define the attributes that control the movement of the target object.

You can connect the following types of locators to objects:

• Ocean Surface locators that follow the motion of the ocean in the Y direction only.
• Dynamic locators that follow the motion of the ocean in the Y direction and also react to dynamic attributes such as buoyancy, gravity, and damping.
• Boat locators that behave like dynamic locators and also rotate in X and Z.
• Motor boat locators that behave like boat locators and also include throttle, rudder, and roll attributes to realistically reproduce the motion of a motor boat.
  Note

  The water line does not respect the external shape of floating objects, so the water line might be visible where the internal shape is below the water line. For example, if the object is an open row boat, the boat may look like it’s flooding. In these situations, render your object and ocean separately and composite or use render layers.