Snowflake simulated growth
Seed points are chosen to start the snowflake, and
particles are allowed to random walk on a hexagonal
grid until they hit a seed point. If enough particles
hit the seed point, the snowflake grows in that point.
Varying the number of particles necessary to grow the
snowflake will change the characteristics of the growth
from spiky to smooth. The third picture started out
smooth, and varied to spiky, simulating a snowflake
falling through different conditions within the atmosphere.

Seed points could be drawn by the user to create the
desired crystal shape.

Using the grey-value at each point on the grid as
a height value, the ice surface was imported into Maya
and rendered using reflection and refraction.


References: