The system can be used to set up water ripples, foam, and current.
Tech Artist and Developer Dylan Meville recently shared a number of tech demos that showcase a cool fake-decal-based water system made with Unreal Engine. According to the demos, the system can be used to create realistic-looking water ripples, foam, and currents on the water surface by using corresponding fake decals. Each decal can be easily repositioned, rescaled, and rotated on a water mesh, allowing the artist to customize them in any way.
As for right now, the artist plans to add the ability to create waves using the same system. Once it is complete, Dylan plans to release a comprehensive breakdown and further explain how the system works.
"The idea is to make my own "faked" decal system. Place some "decal projector" objects in the scene. These have a transform and "texture-to-project". Then also have my water meshes. Water mesh is split up into smaller grid sections. Each mesh keeps a track of all the decals that it intersects with. Then for each water mesh, we push in a list of transforms/textures to each water material instance, and project it directly in the shader," commented the artist on the inner workings of the system.
And here are some of the demos shared by Dylan:
You can learn more and follow the development process here.