Version 2.89 of the Triton Ocean SDK is out, featuring underwater “god rays” effects (AKA shafts of light, or crepuscular rays.)

Just call Ocean::EnableGodRays(true), and animated light shafts will be visible when you’re below the water surface and looking toward the refracted sunlight direction. Our god ray effect is tied to the actual 3D wave motion on the water surface, so its animation will match the wave conditions being simulated. It also honors the underwater visibility being simulated, which will control how deep you can see the rays from. The effect is fast, and highly configurable using settings in the resources/Triton.config file. We used realistic values for underwater light scattering by default.

It’s just an extra touch of realism, as we focus more on underwater views. We also improved the specular lighting effect from the sun on the water surface when viewed from below in Triton 2.89.

Here’s a short video of it in action!