Thanks for the ideas.

It's not a white-water river I'm trying to simulate, but something smoother, like the Ohio River. We regularly put boats on the river in my town and there are many things you must watch for when on moving water. There's laminar flow, eddies behind bridge columns and shore coves, dam boils, strainers, standing waves (just above rocks) etc. I would like to simulate the way a boat responds to river current. It is very interesting to operate under such conditions.

The direction of the current could change drastically - 180 degrees with eddies and boils, but I do like the method mentioned of using markers rather than textures. It even seems that there might be some use here for a State machine AI. There really wouldn't be much mesh deformation, as all movement would probably be accomplished with animated textures and u,v, animation.


Regards,
Ron