ABSTRACTThe spectrum‐based method, usually referred to as the Fourier approach, is considered to be an efficient solution for synthesizing and visualizing realistic ocean waves, and is widely used in films and video games. It is based on a spectra function describing the distribution relationship between the wave energies and various individual waves of different frequencies. However, the spectrum method is based on the assumption that the sea surface is homogeneous everywhere, and cannot reproduce the various inhomogeneous real‐world sea conditions for maritime simulators. This paper proposes a new model for ocean wave simulation which combines the spectral methods and wave‐particle theory to result in a flexible and physically accurate model for ocean wave simulation. In the proposed model, input environmental parameters can dynamically affect the shape of the spectrum, then control the properties of the wave particles by the spectral function, thus achieving local control of waves instead of global control. Through experiments, we verify that the proposed model can capture the spatially varying characteristics and reproduce real sea state. Experimental results also show that our model has considerable physical accuracy and can achieve good compliance with the statistical characteristics of actual sea.