Real-Time Simulation of Bleeding and Smoke Effects in Virtual Reality Environment

Abstract

This work presents a method for the generation of realistic bleeding effects in a real-time virtual simulation environment. This method is used in, but not limited to, the context of a virtual surgical simulator for laparoscopic surgery. In the proposed method, we employed a particlebased approach where quad-shaped decals with blood colored texture are used to simulate individual blood drops that flow out of an organ due to accidental contact with surgical tools during surgery. The path of the blood flow is computed on-the-fly such that it adapts in realtime to the organ deformation and the effect of gravity. Mechanisms are designed to emulate the behavior in blood emission and blood flow such as squirting at the wound and attrition due to friction. In addition, by using customized shader graphics, we are able to achieve a 3D curved-contour visual effect simulating the bumpiness of each individual blood droplet that adapts to varying lighting conditions. Our results indicate that we are able to achieve good visual realism, adaptive behavioural performance and modest computational footprint.