Here's the paper mentioned in the slide: http://wnbell.com/media/2005-07-SCA-Granular/BeYiMu2005.pdf. You should definitely give it a read! In order to effectively render granular particles, the authors used advanced Physics models to simulate collisions, frictional forces and shear forces. They then lumped spheres together to create non-spherical grains in order to produce more realistic interactions. Finally, they encoded interaction with larger rigid bodies such as the grey shapes shown in the picture. In order to produce movement, they need to solve the differential equations describing the movement of the particles, and use the Runge-Kutta-Fehlburg method (This page leads to a bit of a rabbit hole, but it's worth checking out anyway if you're interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg_method) to do so.
Here's the paper mentioned in the slide: http://wnbell.com/media/2005-07-SCA-Granular/BeYiMu2005.pdf. You should definitely give it a read! In order to effectively render granular particles, the authors used advanced Physics models to simulate collisions, frictional forces and shear forces. They then lumped spheres together to create non-spherical grains in order to produce more realistic interactions. Finally, they encoded interaction with larger rigid bodies such as the grey shapes shown in the picture. In order to produce movement, they need to solve the differential equations describing the movement of the particles, and use the Runge-Kutta-Fehlburg method (This page leads to a bit of a rabbit hole, but it's worth checking out anyway if you're interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg_method) to do so.