You can take a look how the Fountain and BeachWaves scenes are set up - both are using the Particle Shader in Point mode - Chaos Docs
Generally in order not to look flat the points need a bit higher shadow strength from the Particle Shader options and suitable lighting.
The bubbles and splashes have reflections and refractions so this creates additional calculations that need to be taken into account - it will look more realistic but in the expense of time.
A lot of people are using Distributed rendering where there are 2 or more machines rendering the same scene in order to speed things up.
I have to admit that I was wrong on my previous post.
I was ready today to write a post about it but you got me first.
Yesterday I examined the beach waves sample.
And there I began to realize how the point shader works
So you were absolutely correct, because a few hours ago (I had my pc render all night with point shaders and better adjusting)
I found that the speed was much better and the looks were similar (to the one I had with with bubbles and splashes shaders).
I am talking about 3 times faster (from 18 hours to 6,5)
Thus the answer is whenever someone do Ocean sims and has the camera in an appropriate distance should use point shaders.
Thanks again for your help
Now I have another question
How can I use a wind warp to make the splashes move according to wind but also to be in sync with the infinite ocean waves? (Because the wind wiil affect the liquid pool as well)
If your Plain Force is in front of the simulator make sure to turn on the Apply Force Behind Icon - this way the force will be applied behind the helper icon.
You might need to increase the Strength and decrease the Drag as well.
