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Realistic and Fast Cloud Rendering in Computer Games
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Realistic and Fast Cloud Rendering in Computer Games,
2126

Programming, Lecture

Niniane Wang
,
Clouds play an important role in many games, particularly flight simulators where the sky takes up the majority of the rendered scene. This lecture presents a photorealistic cloud rendering system which extends clusters of texture splatted particles to model a dozen cloud types (e.g. stratus, cumulus congestus, cumulonimbus) with a 100-fold performance improvement over previous systems.

Compared with previous games which modeled one type of cumulus cloud, the variety in cloud types produces a higher level of realism. The system models each cloud via a cluster of textured sprites, and “mixes-and-matches” 16 textures to photorealistically produce cloud types such as nimbostratus and altocumulus with low video memory cost. The clouds look realistic from all camera angles and distances.

The cloud creation process uses custom-written plug- ins to 3D Studio Max to give artists immediate visual feedback and complete control over the result, essential to producing high-quality content. The cloud system achieves fast performance across a variety of PC configurations. It ships with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight, where it maintains 20 – 60 frames per second in typical user scenarios, including scenes of dense overcast clouds on low-end PCs. It achieves this performance by using an octagonal ring of dynamically generated impostors to reduce overdraw.

The shading model approximates ambient sky light and directional sun light, and allows artistic control without complex runtime computations. Sky light controls the brightness of clouds and gives cumulus clouds darker bottoms. Directional light creates dramatic shadows and interesting color variations, particularly appealing at dawn and dusk.

Finally, the cloud system allows animation of forming and dissipating clouds, by adjusting the alpha transparency on individual sprites. Changing the clouds over time in this way enhances the realism factor in games.

The audience learns about a cloud rendering system which produces realistic clouds spanning a dozen cloud types, such as stratus, altocumulus, and cumulonimbus. They learn how it achieves performance of 20-60 frames per second in typical user scenarios, including rendering scenes of dense overcast clouds. They learn about the shading model which grants a high degree of artistic control to yield beautiful results, particularly at sunrise and sunset. They gain knowledge of how to simulate cloud formation and dissipation in this system.

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