The Triton Ocean SDK version 1.3 is now available for Windows and Linux. We’ve enhanced our support for ship wakes substantially – in addition to tuning the Kelvin wakes behind a ship, which displace the ocean surface in 3D, we’ve added propeller backwash and the turbulent wake resulting from it. This results in visually identifiable trails behind the ships in your scene, which are important for training purposes and for realism. The new WakeGenerator class allows you to specify a ship beam width and ship length, and the trail behind the ship will grow at a realistic rate given these parameters. We’ve also added a configurable distance between the optional spray effects and the wake itself, so you can simulate spray at the bow of a ship, and a wake emanating from the stern.

We’ve also made a lot of improvements to our support for geocentric / ECEF coordinate support in Triton. With Triton 1.3, you’ll get the same visual quality using WGS84 ellipsoids or spherical coordinate systems as you’ll get in flat coordinate systems, free of precision issues. You’ll get more visual detail on the waves and foam, and wind-blown spray effects that move fluidly.

You’ll also find that height tests conducted with Ocean::GetHeight() are much more accurate in choppy seas now. View the full Triton release notes for a complete list of improvements; there are quite a few, so we recommend this update for everyone.