Solaris: A WebAssembly/WebGL Architecture for Real-Time Viscoelastic Continuum Simulation and Tidal-Force Visualization in the Browser
Magda Hamilton · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
Solaris is a browser-based, real-time simulation of a planet-sized sentient ocean, built to run entirely client-side through a C++ physics core compiled to WebAssembly and rendered in WebGL. Rather than modeling the surface as water, the ocean is a Kelvin–Voigt viscoelastic gel solved on a 128×128 grid at 60 Hz, extended with two non-standard fields: a slow memory term that lets deformation persist, and an intent term that drives motion with no external cause. A dual-sun configuration feeds a per-cell tidal potential each frame; a small fraction displaces the surface while the remainder accumulates as a stress value surfaced in the fragment shader as a subsurface glow, presenting gravitational load as visible effort. Cursor interaction is routed through a drifting mood state that reshapes the material response, and six formation types emerge and dissolve on independent schedules. This report documents the architecture, the physical model, and the rendering and interaction pipeline. First published 22 January 2026 at magdahamilton.dev/solaris.html; the C++/WebAssembly architecture documented here was added on 16 February 2026. This edition prepared 24 July 2026.