Despite the variety of ocean add-ons available for Blender, Physical Open Waters has a strong lineage.

Its developer, Physical Addons, is led by technical artist and educator Martins Upitis, also known for creating the acclaimed cinematic tool for atmospheres, Physical Starlight and Atmosphere (PSA), used by several renowned concept artists and game developers.

The new addon, Physical Open Waters, is a procedural ocean surface generator. It's lightweight enough to work in real-time on consumer hardware (as shown in the video, it was recorded on a "mid-level laptop") and is compatible with Blender's Eevee and Cycles renderers. Large waves physically displace the water mesh, while smaller ones—creating "capillary" waves to add detail to close-up shots—use normal maps. LOD (Level of Detail) settings enable users to balance interactive performance and visual quality at various distances from the camera. Users can switch between presets from calm waters to stormy seas using simple sliders to adjust wave distribution and size. Notably, the control parameters can be keyframe animated. The addon can also generate waves for objects like boats moving over the ocean surface, but support for foam on the water surface is planned in a future update.

Physical Open Waters is compatible with Blender 3.6 and higher. It is priced at $50 for a single license or $250 for a studio license.