Ocean for quick renders in Blender using Geo Nodes

This is a circular mesh displaced by geometry nodes with an ocean surface like material optimized for quick renders in Eevee.

I made it using very basic procedural techniques in my own personal time even though it was for use at work as I needed something simple I could just add to projects without any setup that "just works". I decided to release it now because it felt "good enough" and I think Blender should have more options available for ocean rendering, but I'm not a Blender geometry nodes or materials wizard so any improvements you make and want to share are welcome!

Limitations

• The ocean is not endless. It's currently a 5km in diameter disc placed at the origin, which is about half of what's needed to see to the horizon at average human height above water but Eevee Next currently suffers from "shadow acne" even at this size (which may get fixed in 4.5). If you need a larger ocean you can scale it up, increase the subdivision level and switch to Cycles.
• The ocean is not photo realistic. It's optimized for ease of use and quick rendering. I get 20-40fps during animation in the viewport on my PC depending on wind and subdivision level. If you want even more performance by sacrificing some of the natural motion of the ocean, switch the noise textures to 2D.
• The ocean is not very dynamic. The focus was on calmer waters to visualize boats in and there are sliders to tweak the appearance of that. If you want stormy seas, you will have to tweak the geometry nodes and materials yourself, and also swap out the disc mesh if you don't want detail to be reduced as you move away from the origin.

Downloads

OceanQuick5km by eobet is licensed under BY-NOAI-NC-NFC-NM-SA

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