Abstract This work presents a new methodology to animate liquid objects depicted in a still image. In contrast to existing techniques, the proposed method relies on a physical model to accomplish the animation, resulting in realistic effects. Image perspective is handled through a simple user assisted camera calibration scheme which allows to project the image layers to be animated into the horizontal plane in the threedimensional space. Shallow-Water equations drives the simulation and the resulting height field is projected back to the image space via ray-tracing. Refraction and lighting effects are also accomplished during the raytracing stage, resulting in realistic and convincing animations.