Simulating Soft-Bodied Swimmers with Particle-Based Physics

Abstract In swimming virtual creatures, there is often a disparity between the level of detail in simulating a swimmer's body and that of the fluid it moves in. To address this disparity, we have developed a new approach to modeling swimming virtual creatures using pseudo-soft bodies and particle-based fluids, which has sufficient realism to investigate a larger range of body–environment interactions than are usually included. As this comes with increased computational costs, which may be severe, we have also developed a means of reducing the volume of fluid that must be simulated.