drawing clouds in a flight sim

Norman Barrows · 2013-04-04T16:00:13

anyone out there done a flight sim where you drew clouds you could fly through? i'm working on a flight sim right now, and a simple skybox doesn't seem to be the way to go. maybe if its REALLY big, and used just as a "horizon" type background.... or do I just need to move it vertically with the camera as well as horizontally, make it really tall, and have it extend below the horizon ? I've heard things about MS flightsim 2004. often mentioned in threads. custom models and textures. and alpha bending most likely.

Graphics and GPU Programming Programming

Started by Norman Barrows March 26, 2013 08:11 PM

11 comments, last by Norman Barrows 11 years ago

Klutzershy

1,697

April 03, 2013 12:56 AM

The technique I've been thinking of implementing is based on particles. Basically, you sample a 4D noise function that creates animated clouds and create particles for each sample, varying size based on the density of the function.

"So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen: the only API I’ve ever used that requires both elevated privileges and a dedicated user thread just to copy a block of structures from the kernel to the user." - Casey Muratori

boreal.aggydaggy.com

Lightness1024

939

April 03, 2013 02:33 PM

The technique I've been thinking of implementing is based on particles. Basically, you sample a 4D noise function that creates animated clouds and create particles for each sample, varying size based on the density of the function.

Yes that is a nice idea, it can definitely create a cool effect. a bit heavy on the sides perhaps, also will need serious thinking about lighting. Scattering is not solved with this solution. There are some people who did that already, I can't finf the video again, but this one looks about like that: