About
The patterns rendered by this program are calculated by simulating the effect of light refracting through water. The water surface is made tileable in both space and time. This means that you seamlessly can tile individual rendered images both horizontally and vertically. It also means that a full generated animation sequence will loop in time.
The rendered images can for example be used as realtime textures for games and animations but can also be used as light textures for film production, advertising renderings and architectural scene renderings.
The Caustics Generator software is industry proven since over 15 years and has been included in the production tools of major studios in the animation and gaming industry. It is also very popular among the architecture firms as a way to improve still image renderings.
Buy
The Caustics Generator software is available for both Windows, Mac and Linux, but the Linux version has no graphical user interface.All versions comes with a command line tool that can be integrated into existing production pipelines.
Price includes one year free updates and support.
Product |
Unit Price (EUR) |
| Caustics Generator Lite Windows (32-bit) |
55 EUR License » |
| Caustics Generator Pro Windows (64-bit) |
180 EUR License » |
| Caustics Generator Pro (Mac) Mac OS X |
180 EUR License » |
| Caustics Generator Pro (Linux) Linux command line executable for scripting or integration into other tools. This version does not include a GUI. |
270 EUR License » |
All prices are given excluding VAT. Purchases within EU will add VAT.
A receipt of your order will be sent to your stated email address. When your order has been processed you will receive another email with download instructions. If you do not receive the download instructions, check the FAQ for help.
Program Features
Caustics Generator is available in five versions.The free version can be downloaded below and is free for non-commercial use.
There are also four commercial versions available that are aimed for the professional users. See product feature chart below for a comparison between the versions.
| Free | Lite | Pro | Mac | Linux | |
| Free for non-commercial use |  |
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| Graphical user interface | |
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| Command line tool for scripting or integration | |
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| Advanced control over caustics pattern | |
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| Live preview output while changing parameters | |
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| Bitmap (BMP) file output | |
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| Commercial use allowed | |
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| Animation playback preview | |
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| Tiling preview | |
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| Motion blur | |
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| Spectral color rendering | |
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| High dynamic range image output (EXR) | |
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| TGA image output | |
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| Fast rendering of animations on multi-CPU computers | |
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| Surface height map output | |
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| Surface normal map output | |
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| 64-bit | |
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| Image output size limit | 512x512 | 2048x2048 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Sample Images
Besides the caustics pattern, in Caustics Generator Pro you can also output the water surface as a height map and normal map. While the caustics images are good for lighting, the height map can be used for modelling the water surface and the normal map can be used for surface reflection and refraction effects.All textures are tileable and loopable in time.
Click on images for a tiled example.
Sample AnimationClick on image to view an animation sequence of a looping caustics rendering.This example uses 60 frames of rendering at 30 fps playback that is looped five times to create a 10 second animation. |
Example use-cases
real-time demo »Blender caustics tutorial »
Unity 3D caustics texturing tutorial »
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Application User InterfaceThe Caustics Generator user interface on Windows and Mac allows you to play with the parameters that form the caustic pattern.If you turn on Auto Render, the image is updated live while you change the sliders. In Caustics Generator Pro you can also render and preview the animation directly in the user interface. |
Download
You can download caustics generator free of charge from here. The program can be freely used for non-commercial purposes.release notes »
System Requirements
Windows
Windows Vista / 7 / 8 / 10 / 11.NET Framework 4.0