Authors : Muhammad Azam Rana , Mohd Shahrizal Sunar and Siti Mariyam Shamsuddin
Abstract: Clouds are an integral part in earth�s weather system, a strong indicator of weather patterns and changes and are an important component of the visual simulation of any outdoor scene. The complexity of cloud formation, dynamics and light interaction makes real time cloud modeling difficult for virtual reality applications. A fundamental problem of any modeling system is the creation of shape of clouds as they consist of small particles and therefore it is difficult to define their shape. This study proposes an efficient algorithm based on randomized method to create detailed volumetric shapes of clouds using particles system. This research consists of two phases. In the first phase, cloud shape modeling algorithm based on randomized method has been developed and tested. This algorithm creates particles data and places these particles randomly in cloud volume space so that they look like a cloud. Second phase of this research presents an intuitive and interactive editing environment-namely cloud macrostructure editor for designing cloud shapes. This bi-level technique provides integrated environment for modeling volumetric clouds with particle system. This randomized based algorithm has been tested and is able to create good shapes of clouds. It is simple to use, efficient and gives on-the-fly control over size of particles and number of particles to be used.
Muhammad Azam Rana , Mohd Shahrizal Sunar and Siti Mariyam Shamsuddin , 2006. Particles Cloud Modeling Algorithm for Virtual Environment. Asian Journal of Information Technology, 5: 555-565.