procedural textures

Never mind all that scripted noise mesh distortion, the animated textures will do the job perfectly. I found that using a noise in the material and mapping to displacement gives me all kinds of flexibility with the waves. The offset x and y of the map can be animated to roll the sea in whatever direction I want, and the z offset works well to change the shape of the waves slowly over time. I'll probably use the voronai f1 texture for most waves displacement, maybe with a long slow wave effect on top to swell the water as well.

These animated procedurals are going to be of great use in many aspects of the project. There's a lot of special effects, like the squirming slimy sea that will be perfect for this technique.