DESERT SKYO B S E R V A T O R Y
A DAY IN THE DESERT

A sky taking shape.

Sandstone below. A world of weather above.

REALISTIC CLOUDS · SIMULATED REPLAYPreparing the sky
DESERT SKY OBSERVATORY

A day above
the sandstone.

Preparing cloud volumes and lighting…

FROM THE RESEARCH DESK

Field notes

This observatory brings the cloud research into one landscape. The weather is a deterministic replay of simulated volumes, arranged into an art-directed cloud field. It can be paused, scrubbed and viewed from any direction.

01 / WEATHER

Clouds with a lifecycle

Detailed simulated cloud volumes form and dissolve through a recorded convection lifecycle. Wind and timing arrange the weather across the basin.

02 / LIGHT

Light through atmosphere

Rayleigh and Mie scattering color the sky and sun. Detailed volume shadows, sky illumination and scanned sandstone surfaces carry that light through the scene. Compare also includes the research lighting models.

03 / PERSPECTIVE

One continuous world

Ground, edge, inside and above views use the same density field. Camera time is independent of weather time; pause a formation and explore it.

Open reference comparisons and measured performance ↗

Earlier simulated cloud lifecycleFormation studyEarlier simulation · fixed sunlightOffline daylight cloud referenceDaylight referenceImported cloud · offline path traceLive cloud renderer and path-traced comparisonRenderer comparisonSame simulated cloud and lightingDirect neural weight editing comparisonDirect weight editsAstra experiment · 38 weights
Explore controls

Drag: look · Scroll: move forward/back · W/A/S/D: move · Q/E: down/up · Shift: faster · Space: play/pause · 1–4: viewpoints · H: hide controls · F: fullscreen
TAKE THE SKY WITH YOU

Export the film

Save the complete 75-second cinematic flight at 60 frames per second. Rendering runs frame by frame, preserving the weather and camera sequence even when playback is slower than real time.

75 seconds · 60 fps · no audio

Watch the previous 1080p film ↗