Mmmm... virtual beer...

Where were we? Ah, right. Virtual beer. Researchers from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (its national science agency) and Japan's ETRI will simulate the pouring of a virtual mug of beer next week at the SIGGRAPH graphics show. That's a still image from the program to the left -- yep, that's CGI beer.

Why? Because simulating the actual action of beer as it pours, complete with the delicate amber hue, the foaming head, the tiny bubbles slowly making their way to the top -- well, it's hard.

Simulating the interaction of surfaces, such as the polygons that make up virtually any video game, are relatively easy. But amorphous substances -- air, fire, liquids, mist, and smoke -- are difficult to model accurately, as their appearance depends on the interaction of millions of particles.

The goal is to create softwre algorithms that could be used in movie and CGI houses to improve the appearance of liquids. Clever math called smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) helps the software do its job by working smarter, not harder, according to the CSIRO researchers. The software uses less computer power and takes less time to get better results than other special effects software it has been benchmarked against.

While it's technically impressive, we're sure you have the same reaction: why the need for CGI beer, anyway?