Dagenais, F.Gagnon, J.Paquette, E.Chen, Min and Zhang, Hao (Richard)2018-01-102018-01-1020171467-8659https://doi.org/10.1111/cgf.13091https://diglib.eg.org:443/handle/10.1111/cgf13091We propose a new explicit surface tracking approach for particle‐based fluid simulations. Our goal is to advect and update a highly detailed surface, while only computing a coarse simulation. Current explicit surface methods lose surface details when projecting on the isosurface of an implicit function built from particles. Our approach uses a detail‐preserving projection, based on a signed distance field, to prevent the divergence of the explicit surface without losing its initial details. Furthermore, we introduce a novel topology matching stage that corrects the topology of the explicit surface based on the topology of an implicit function. To that end, we introduce an optimization approach to update our explicit mesh signed distance field before remeshing. Our approach is successfully used to preserve the surface details of melting and highly viscous objects, and shown to be stable by handling complex cases involving multiple topological changes. Compared to the computation of a high‐resolution simulation, using our approach with a coarse fluid simulation significantly reduces the computation time and improves the quality of the resulting surface.We propose a new explicit surface tracking approach for particle‐based fluid simulations. Our goal is to advect and update a highly detailed surface, while only computing a coarse simulation. Current explicit surface methods lose surface details when projecting on the isosurface of an implicit function built from particles. Our approach uses a detail‐preserving projection, based on a signed distance field, to prevent the divergence of the explicit surface without losing its initial details. Furthermore, we introduce a novel topology matching stage that corrects the topology of the explicit surface based on the topology of an implicit function. To that end, we introduce an optimization approach to update our explicit mesh signed distance field before remeshing.fluid modellinganimationphysically based animationanimationCategories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.5 [Computer Graphics]: Computational Geometry and Object ModellingPhysically based modelling I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: Three‐Dimensional Graphics and RealismAnimation10.1111/cgf.13091444-457