Rendering

Validation
 

By changing some of the physical properties of snow, the basic algorithm can also simulate the accumulation of water, from the sky or elsewhere. The figure on the left shows an example of an empty fountain slowly filling up with water. Only the patch of sky shown as a red square has any mass to contribute, approximating how water appears at a spout, fills the first basin, and overflows to lower basins. All surfaces are generated automatically, freeing animator from having to do it  by hand.
 
 
 

Wind is a major factor in the large-scale transport of snow, producing some very compelling and interesting effects. Our model handles wind in both snow accumulation and snow stability phases.  Wind velocity vectors can  be approximated with a constant direction, or much more accurately computed  off-line.
 

Because of the complexity of most scenes, we use a fairly simple model of snow properties that assumes snow falls in a single homogenous layer. However, by running the algorithm several times, we can accumulate multiple layers, each with different properties.