V-FIRE: Virtual Fire In Realistic EnvironmentsMichael Penick ◦ Grant Kelly ◦ Juan Quiroz

with Dr. Fred Harris, Dr. Sergiu Dascalu, and Brian WestphalDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno

Figure 1Screenshots of the V-FIRE Environment

DescriptionThe demand for tools that aid in the studying of fires has increased due to technological advances, especially in computer graphics and modeling. The increasing number of firefighter casualties in the United States and the staggering costs of damages due to wildfires show the need for a tool and remedy for this malady.

The main goal of V-FIRE is to provide the visualization of fire using various 3D graphics techniques. As such, the simulation of fire behavior is included as a key element. The long-term goal of V-FIRE is to create real-time, marketable quality graphics for fire visualization in a CAVE, which provides a full-immersion experience for its inhabitants.

V-FIRE is a 3D fire simulation and visualization tool that allows users to harness and observe fires within controlled virtual environments. The system is designed to model a wildfire as realistically as possible with the use of marketable graphics, an efficient physics model, and a mathematically based spreading algorithm. In addition, users are able to visualize the interaction of fire with other objects such as smoke, vegetation, and buildings. Furthermore, V-FIRE provides users with the ability to choose multiple view points for the main camera, such as aerial and full-immersion, while freely navigating the environment.

Future WorkThe future of V-FIRE is limited only by the power of computer graphics systems. As long as there are improvements in graphics hardware, there is room for improvement of V-FIRE. Primary areas of future work include a more advanced terrain system to better represent real environments, more realistic fire and smoke, and higher quality models for vegetation.

AbstractV-FIRE is a 3D fire simulation and visualization software tool that allows users to harness and observe fire evolution and fire-related processes in a controlled virtual environment. The system has been designed to model a wildfire as realistically as possible with the use of marketable graphics, an efficient physics model, and a mathematically based spreading algorithm. Computer modeling of fires is an effective alternative for scientists to experiment, study, and forecast the patterns of wildfires compared to dangerous “controlled” burn experiments. V-FIRE can simulate large-scale wildfires that would otherwise be disastrous in the real world.

This project was developed in CS 426 Senior Projects during the Spring 2005 semester

Figure 3V-FIRE Subsystems

ConclusionV-FIRE is an application designed to help researchers visualize wildfires in various environments. Modeling the chaotic nature of fire is an area that demands continuous improvement. The current implementation of V-FIRE provides single-monitor support, yet the flexible framework contributes to the long-term goal of supporting a fully immersive 3D environment.

About the FiguresFigure 1 contains two screenshots of V-FIRE. The top shows a terrain map populated with trees. The lines represent connections to neighboring trees. The bottom shows a closer view of trees on fire, billowing smoke into the sky.

Figure 2 is a representation of a scene graph to be rendered by OpenSG, a highly optimized, freely available scene graph. V-FIRE makes use of OpenSG to organize graphical data in a directed graph where the subsystems of V-FIRE manipulate this graph to fulfill their responsibilities. Visit http://www.opensg.org for more information about OpenSG.

V-FIRE is divided into subsystems as seen in Figure 3.

• The GUI subsystem contains the classes that interface with Qt, OpenSG, OpenGL, and control user interaction with the system.

• The Simulation subsystem contains the back-end that controls the simulation.

• The Terrain subsystem contains classes that describe the topographic features of the visible terrain.

• The Model subsystem contains classes that describe the visible state of 3D models.

• The Fire and Smoke subsystem contains classes that describe the visible fire and smoke.

• The Material subsystem contains classes that describe the properties and states of burnable materials.

Team01 would like to thank our advisors, Dr. Fred Harris, Dr. Sergiu Dascalu, and Brian Westphal for their

contributions and support for this project.

For more information, visit http://v-fire.sourceforge.net

Figure 2An OpenSG Scene Graph