MIK,
I cannot help you with the LOD stuff, but I dont know if you need it or not because it is very possible to make nice looking ocean expanses in realtime, but you have to cheat a little and use multiple layers to generate the effect, here's what I would suggest you look at...
You can use a cube map to provide reflectivity off the sky, but alpha that layer down because the sea rarely looks like a lake or mirror, so you have to reduce the effect to make it look more realistic.
There is a piece of code in the archives called ripple mesh - check that out, and tweak the parameters a bit, use multiple meshes and alpha them. Beware though, the meshes become out of control after about 10 mins, so you need to refresh them on a regular basis. By that I mean alpha them away and introduce a new mesh - a replacement - to keep the density of the effect going.
I am in the middle of developing a simulation which requires this effect, but I can't post any shots just yet. I will release shots once the sim is in place, I may even release a little movie because still shots do not do it justice - watch out for those shots in the gallery in about a month or so.
IPete2.
I cannot help you with the LOD stuff, but I dont know if you need it or not because it is very possible to make nice looking ocean expanses in realtime, but you have to cheat a little and use multiple layers to generate the effect, here's what I would suggest you look at...
You can use a cube map to provide reflectivity off the sky, but alpha that layer down because the sea rarely looks like a lake or mirror, so you have to reduce the effect to make it look more realistic.
There is a piece of code in the archives called ripple mesh - check that out, and tweak the parameters a bit, use multiple meshes and alpha them. Beware though, the meshes become out of control after about 10 mins, so you need to refresh them on a regular basis. By that I mean alpha them away and introduce a new mesh - a replacement - to keep the density of the effect going.
I am in the middle of developing a simulation which requires this effect, but I can't post any shots just yet. I will release shots once the sim is in place, I may even release a little movie because still shots do not do it justice - watch out for those shots in the gallery in about a month or so.
IPete2.