Methodologies for Connected Structured Idealized Ice Crystal Growth Models

Abstract

Ice crystals are beautiful and intricate shapes. Our goal is to create ice crystal and other models with similar structure and render them in three-dimensions. Many of the current algorithms apply complex physics-based simulation algorithms to simulate the crystal growth, most are two-dimensional forms, and importantly they are made up of many disconnected parts (pixels); consequently they cannot be easily stored as a single model. However, our approach is to generate visually appealing 3d structures, rather than accurately model reality, that are geometrically connected together to form one connected model. These idealized structures can be easily stored, manipulated and included with other 3d-models and into virtual environments. This work is part of a larger project, thus in this poster presentation we merely describe several alternative methodologies to achieve this effect.