Realism of scenes involving water surfaces during rendering

A water surface mesh is determined for a scene to be rendered. This water surface mesh includes a grouping of geometric shapes such as triangles that represents the surface of the water. This water surface mesh is then used to create a refracted or reflected mesh. The refracted or reflected mesh shows an effect produced by the water surface's refraction or reflection of light. The relationship between the water surface mesh and the refracted or reflected mesh is then used to determine how to illuminate elements within the scene. This eliminates some previously necessary steps during rendering, and enables an accurate depiction of caustics within a scene that can be performed in real-time.