Is there a good algorithm that simulates falling snow? I'm particularly interested in snow that falls slowly, so it doesn't quite fall in a straight line but deviates a bit. Maybe even including simulation of flurries (drafts of wind), variable size, etc. Are there any papers or articles on an algorithm that mimics real-life snow movements or simulates it in the context of a game?
I'm particularly interested in a 2D algorithm, but I imagine any algorithm can be taken to 3D easily.
Something like this?
Blurb:
Realistic-looking rain and snow greatly enhance scenes of outdoor reality, with applications including computer games and motion pictures. We present a novel technique for realistically and efficiently rendering precipitation in scenes with moving camera po- sitions. We map textures onto a double cone, and translate and elongate them using hardware texture transforms.
Rendering Falling Rain and Snow - SIGGRAPH submission of the paper
Actual published paper - Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow (and Rain) - Game Programming Gems 5
Written by Niniane Wang(absurdly smart, who gradautes cal tech in CS at 18??!!!@!@!$) and Bretton Wade
