We’re proud to announce the release of SilverLining 2.36, available now on our download page. It’s got some exciting new features and performance optimizations that you’ll definitely want access to.

Real-time cloud growth and convection effects on cumulus clouds are now available through the CloudLayer::SetCloudAnimationEffects method. Check out this video, captured in real-time, illustrating how these effects can cause cloud coverage to increase over time with shifting, growing clouds driven by a real cellular automata.

We’ve also added a new impostor-based level of detail (LOD) scheme, enabling real-time performance with cloud layers that span hundreds of miles. It’s all automatic – distant clouds will be rendered to a 2D backdrop and updated only when the camera moves by a meaningful distance, or when the lighting conditions change. This screenshot illustrates 100 mile visibility with a cumulus congestus cloud layer configured for 100% cloud coverage – rendering this many clouds at once at real-time frame rates was never possible before. For even better performance, break up your large cumulus cloud layers into a grid of multiple cloud layers, enabling coarse-level culling at the cloud layer level.

Very large cloud area extending to the horizon at sunrise

SilverLining 2.36 Large Cloud Area Support

Finally, we’ve added a C# wrapper for SilverLining, opening up our 3D cloud, sky, and weather simulation to C# developers under Windows. In the samples folder of the Windows SDK, you’ll find a Visual Studio project to build a DLL wrapper for SilverLining, C# classes to access it, and a simple C# example application illustrating its usage. Refer to the readme file in the C# sample directory for more information.